A defining characteristic of contemporary American youth sports is inappropriate early specialization—focusing on a single sport to the exclusion of others or participating in a year-round season that overlaps a child’s other sports. Early sports specialization is a symptom of professionalization. Professionalization in youth sports is the net result of a highly rationalized and deeply distorted sense that we’re doing the right thing for our children. Early sports specialization enriches a system that runs on endless and meaningless competitions. The payoff to kids is a brittle veneer of sport-specific athleticism, an often narrow set of skills that masks a lack of physical literacy and general fitness. This deficit is linked to a breathtaking increase in youth injuries. The win-now/win-at-all-costs mentality that privileges competition over the genuine pursuit of athletic development also fosters short-sighted talent selection that penalizes late bloomers, who might be so discouraged that they drop out before they have a chance to explore their potential. The system wins now, but loses later. Everyone loses later. CrossFit Kids always considers what is best for kids. All kids. This is why we don’t encourage or endorse fitness competitions for kids under age 12. The status quo of the American youth sports system has no place in our program, which is committed to making as many children as possible physically literate and physically fit. CrossFit Kids is not meant to select talent; it is meant to develop talent. To develop athletes. To make better people. This is in no way a statement condemning competition. In fact, when you take a look at the athletes that a full-blown CrossFit Kids program produces, you will see that we embrace the essence of competition far more than event organizers who ignore the scientific research and expert opinion contraindicating the status quo and who have zero education or experience training children.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 17:00:01 +0000
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