Poll: How do club/travel programs impact young athletes?

In August, Coach and Athletic Director asked readers what kind of impact they believe club and travel sports programs have on young athletes. Here are the results of our poll, along with some of the comments.

• We are placing too much emphasis on winning and playing games. Do kids really need to play sports every weekend? What about overuse type of injuries? Maybe there is a better solution…we need to work on fundamentals, proper nutrition, and emphasize playing multiple sports.

• Not enough fundamentals being taught. Mostly bleacher coaches with these teams.

• There are some teams that have a positive impact. But, the vast majority of these teams are worthless.

• I think that there are aspect that are beneficial such as increased court time. I do however believe that many times young players become confused as to the benefits and want to relate their success or failure in these contests to legitimate regular contests. Many times the instruction is being provided by parents and coaching “wanna bes” that are trying to relive their childhood. Additionally, the players can actually spend too much time on the court and don’t get the proper recovery time.

• Too many games, kids are not fundamentally sound.