Little League and the arms race
Members of the Oklahoma City RedHawks stand beside young players during the National Anthem before the RedHawks minor league baseball game against the Nashville Sounds at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, June 17, 2009. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
Economist Charles Wheelan uses his expertise to evaluate what’s happened to Little League and other kids’ organized sports. He compares parents pushing their kids into more competitive sports at earlier ages to the U.S. vs. U.S.S.R. arms race of yesteryear. The result of everyone ramping up their efforts is that nothing really has changed competitively.
If everyone practices three times as much, the same folks will probably end up with the scholarships, prize money and Nike endorsements. And if we assume that the extra practice, coaching and spending on equipment comes at the expense of other things (like riding a bike for fun, playing other sports or doing something really crazy like playing “kick the can” in the backyard for a few hours), then our kids’ lives are worse for it.
But individuals can’t change the system, Wheelan writes. It would require most everyone to stop pushing the kids to restore the former order. And that has its own dangers.
Suppose everyone else does regain their sanity and vows to cut back on the crazy sports schedules. Then the rational strategy is to be the one who practices twice as much, because then your kid might get the tennis scholarship, even if she’s not the most talented.
And that may be why they call economics the dismal science.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
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