A few years back, I wrote a column about the state of youth sports today. Since that time, as much as I’d like to say we’re headed in the right direction as a society, I’m not sure we are. From college NIL (name, image and likeness) ”win-at-any-cost” rituals to high school “phenom campaigns” that place young athletes on far too high a pedestal, I don’t think we’re “getting it” yet as a culture.
Permit me to recapture much of what I wrote back then, and to underscore the rays of light I do see, especially within the Detroit Catholic High School League.
What I said back then holds true today, at least from my perspective. Sports programs aren’t what they used to be, at least some of them. Thankfully, many in the Catholic League still hold true to what’s important. But unfortunately, there are far too many sports programs — high school and college — that appear to be races to nowhere.
Before I delve further, let me say this: I love sports. I’m the first one to say “yes” to a college football game, and the last one to be watching sports until Sunday night. And living in a house full of girls who don’t share that same affinity, it can be a challenge. But youth sports aren’t what they used to be. It's rarer these days for kids to be able to dabble in two or three sports, or play “just for fun.” Today, many parents are tempted by expensive programs promising lots of exposure — and either you “toe the line” or your kids don’t play.
In an article titled, “The Race to Nowhere in Youth Sports,” writer John O’Sullivan points out the “nightmare” some parents experience when trying to provide their kids with an array of different extracurricular options. O’Sullivan describes youth sports today as an “adult-driven hyper-competitive race to the top that serves the needs of the adults, but rarely the kids.” And at best it doesn’t produce better athletes; it produces bitter ones who get hurt, burned out, and quit sports altogether. I’ve known a few of them; kids whose parents' dreams were broken when their kids decided to step away from the game they spent a lifetime — and a life’s savings — acclimating them to.
Many parents don’t follow this trend because they’re bad; they follow it because they fear their child will be left behind if they don’t. Today, rather than being encouraged to try different sports, many kids are being coerced into choosing only one at too young of an age. As O’Sullivan points out, parents realize that running their child ragged isn’t helpful, but they don’t see an alternative. Thus, “although we want to go on that family camping trip, we’ll have to miss it or the other kids will get ahead.”
The system stinks. It stinks for parents, many of whom don’t have the resources to keep one child “in the game.” And it stinks for coaches who actually care about their players. It begs the question: when did it get this bad? Are these just symptoms of a culture that’s replaced faith in God with faith in fame? What about coaches who truly care about their players?
The best coaches are able to develop not only better athletes, but better people. And sports should be an avenue to get there. Meantime, in the midst of our race to be parents of children who are lauded by the sports community, we’re robbing them of their ability to be kids.
This desire for fleeting greatness has even reared its ugly head in the way we play our games, from angry athletes who act out poorly on the field to head coaches who aren’t satisfied with just winning, but obliterating their opponents.
Thankfully, there are coaches in our Catholic schools who refuse to be steered this way — and I’ve been blessed to know a few of them through the years. There are men and women whose desire to build character supersedes their desire for prominence, and coaches who pull their faith to the forefront of all they do. That should give us hope.
Not long ago, on a warm September night, I saw one in action. Detroit Catholic Central, where I work, was beating a local Catholic opponent soundly, near the end of the first half. While standing in line for my second hot dog, I overheard a few individuals discussing head coach Justin Cessante’s decision to take out his first string. Catholic Central was ahead by nearly 40 points at the half. “Why did he do that so early?” one person asked. Without hesitation, another answered: “Because he’s got class.”
I couldn’t agree more. How easy it is for us to pitch our Catholic schools as genuine when the tenets of our faith are actually lived out on the field. And don’t think for a minute those kids on the turf didn’t notice. Did I mention, one of the people who asked that question was from the opposing team?
When goodness replaces trash talk, and virtue, selfishness, perhaps we’ll come to a place of balance again. Until then, we can continue to do our best to expand God from our churches onto the field. Maybe then we can start to reclaim what’s been lost for some of our kids.
Paul Stuligross teaches theology at Detroit Catholic Central High School in Novi, and serves as the school’s director of campus ministry.
