Early Travel Team Play Fosters Elitism

One of the worst by-products of the select team system, at least before sixth grade, is that it foster elitism by creating groups of haves and have-nots:

• Too much of a community-or club-based program's resources (best practice times, facilities, coaches) end up being devoted to such select teams, leaving only crumbs to the kids who supposedly aren't good enough to be selected and are relegated to the less prestigious recreational or intramural programs.

• Less affluent families who cannot afford the cost of expensive travel teams are shut out.

• There is no proof that forcing "better" players to play with those who appear at an early age to be less skilled somehow keeps them from developing their "talent." As Michigan State's Daniel Gould observes in a 2004 article, "all children need coaches who are trained to be positive and encouraging," and that "young athletes who play for such positive and encouraging coaches have higher motivation, enhanced self-esteem, lower anxiety and lower dropout rates than children who play for coaches without these qualities."

• So-called "better" or "more talented" players do not deserve to play with similarly "gifted" players. At levels below high school varsity, every child deserves the chance to play, the best coaching, and to play on the best fields.  This is especially true given the fact that it is close to impossible to predict with any degree of accuracy which players at age nine, ten or eleven will be "stars" at age fifteen, sixteen or seventeen.