The Sport

The idea of “dumbed down” sports is a scary concept for some. It can be hard for many adults, especially coaches, to accept. The mere idea of doing so can bring their coaching into question and evoke feelings of hesitation, resistance and fear. Many are often quick to admit, “My dad never ‘dumbed down’ sports for me, and I turned out fine.” However, watch a seasoned coach try to teach a young child without “dumbing down” sports, and they fail miserably. Still, purists claim “dumbed down” sports coaching is anything but natural.

The relative age effect adversely impacts children who have a birthday before the "cut-off" date. How do different sports arrive at these "cut-off" dates. Baseball has picked May 1 as their date. Does anyone know why it is May 1? Clearly children who have birthdays in the March/April dates are at a disadvantage. Why is it not on January 1? Anybody know or have any ideas of a way to equalize this RAE factor.

We thought the season was over. We all kind of had a little let down. There was the team picnic at the end of the year. Talk of spending the rest of summer lounging and relaxing took over the conversation. The kids on our team, 11 year olds, began to talk about water parks, bikes, Wii, and other ways to spend their time. Parents talked about getting away for a few days of baseball tournament-free time with the family. The end had come, we had a great season, and we were done.