ESPN’s Tom Farrey: Raising a Child Athlete? (VIDEO)

[ 0 ] August 17, 2011 | Tom Farrey

Watch genConnect interview Emmy Award-winning ESPN Correspondent Tom Farrey on his book, Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children, and how youth sports have changed dramatically over the last few decades. ”The sports system that we’re dealing with these days is very much focused on the idea of identifying athlete-entertainers, or future athlete-entertainers, from a very, very early age,” he said. “We tend to create these travel teams, these select teams, in the grade-school years now, and the other kids get pushed aside.”

TOM FARREY: Well, it’s not just about making champions in terms of putting someone on the Olympic podium. You can define champion in any number of ways. You could be a citizen champion. It’s just about developing a kid into the very best person he or she can be. That’s really what I meant.It’s meant to be a little bit of a provocative title though, as well. Because the sports system that we’re dealing with these days is really very much focused on the idea of identifying athlete entertainers, or future athlete entertainers, from a very, very early age. We begin to create these travel teams, these select teams in the grade school years now.And the other kids get pushed aside, the late bloomers, the kids from the lower income homes who can’t afford the $200 bats, and the kids from single parent homes who can’t ferry their kids to all these practices. And then the kids who end up staying in the system sometimes suffer from burnout or overuse injuries or otherwise.So we just had a major shift in our sport system, at least as it deals with children, over the past 20 years or so. So the book is an attempt to understand how we got to this place. How have things changed? And why have they changed so dramatically since I was a kid when I basically came home, hopped on my bike, rode a quarter mile away, got up a game with my friends, and played multiple sports into the teenage years? It’s a much different set of circumstances that today’s children are facing.KELLY HAYES: So it’s not just today’s children, it’s the parents of today’s children as well. Do you have any advice for how parents ought to look at sports and how their kids can be involved?TOM FARREY: I think the best you can do is try and look at the sports experience for children through their eyes instead of asking yourself, gee, what do I want my kids to get out of sports? Talk to them, and figure out what they want to get out of it. Most kids will tell you they want to have fun. They want to be around their friends. They want the challenge of competition. They want to get better at what they do. And so sports programs that speak to those characteristics, typically, are the programs that kids are going to respond to and want to continue to sign up for year after year. And they will develop a love of sport, which will transcend the organized practices.The way I judge a good coach is whether my kid comes home after practice and he still goes out in the backyard and wants to play on his own. Did the coach spark a love for the game? Did he or she teach my child skills that are going to make them feel confident? It’s really not about winning, and certainly winning at all costs, at the very lowest levels.KELLY HAYES: Well, Game On with Tom Farrey. Thank you very much for joining us here at genConnect.com. We look to hearing more from you.TOM FARREY: Great.

Watch Part 1 of our interview with Tom Farrey on how sports impact society.

genConnect covered the 2011 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo., where we interviewed the premier speakers and attendees at the conference. For more of our video interviews and articles from the Ideas Festival, click here.

Connect with more life’s experts; sign up for genConnect.com! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@genConnected) for additional Ideas Festival coverage (#AspenIdeas) and more snippets of wisdom from contributors on the site.

Tags: 100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America, 2.5 minutes with, Aspen Ideas Festival 2011, Aspen Institute, children's sports, ESPN, featured, Game On, Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children, genConnect, ideas festival, more than a game, Sports, Sports & Society, The Seattle Times, Tom Farrey, University of Rhode Island, video, youth sports

Category: Film, Music and Entertainment, Lifestyle, Videos, Views on the News

About Tom Farrey: Tom Farrey is an Emmy Award-winning correspondent for ESPN and the author of Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children. Farrey’s work over the years has explored the connections between sport [...]
View author profile.

Add a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

ESPN’s Tom Farrey: Raising a Child Athlete? (VIDEO)

Add a Comment

Connect With Us Elsewhere

Question of the Week

About genConnect