I heard what I consider a very sad thing today– that American kids aren’t balancing on logs, crawling under tree trunks, and running through fields like they used to. Instead, they’re funneled right into athletic teams as early as at the age of five. Although organized sports obviously have a lot of benefits, such as leadership and sportsmanship, they may not teach all the coordination skills (and let’s not forget a certain sense of adventure) that good old-fashioned, unstructured play does.
This comes second hand, but ironically, from a coach at Velocity Sports Performance, a national franchise that trains youth as well as elite athletes to maximize their potential on the field or court. They boast a long list of clients who were prospects for pro football this year and advertise that they will “give you the training to get you in the game!”
Athleticism was never of too much interest to me until I discovered Pilates as an adult (and particularly equipment such as the Cadillac– not the car, if you didn’t know, but a table with a hanging trapeze). So I can see why a place like Velocity would be a draw not only for skilled athletes, but also for embarrassed parents and their kids who flail around on Field Day (a terrifying experience for me every year– why didn’t it ever include a dance component?) With Velocity and their expert coaches, everyone is likely to increase speed, power, and agility while training on state-of-the-art athletic turf fields, sprint tracks, hard court basketball/volleyball surfaces and Olympic style weightlifting equipment.
Speaking of Olympic style, Velocity asks on their website, “Looking to make the next Olympic team?” Their training programs are geared to attract all fitness levels, but competition is clearly a theme. Participants are training to make varsity or a college team, if they’re not headed to compete in the Olympics. On the other end of the scale, (as I swear I heard today) the participants’ parents noticed that they can’t run in a straight line and want their kid to look good out there. No matter what the level, it’s all about getting the edge. That’s why it’s amazing to me that this coach at Velocity thinks that part of his job is teaching his clients the coordination and agility that they could have learned if they had simply played outside on their own from the beginning.
Thus, I would argue that most of us (kids and adults) will benefit from going outside to play. Especially now that it’s almost summer! As for myself, I was lucky enough to spend a lot of my childhood free time at my grandparents’ farm, balancing on the edge of its mossy bluff and splashing around in its tadpole-filled creek. And this summer, (when I’m not writing or teaching writing) I’ll be climbing on rocks and jumping off of tree trunks in Colorado.
Sounds divine! To play. To jump. To skip. I won’t be in Colorado anytime soon, but I can climb on a rock in Central Park… thanks for the inspiration.
There are so many rewards from getting back to the basics. We need to keep reminding each other as we decide how to spend free time and the gifts to give to our children- what more loving gesture than channeling and developing a passion for a lifetime of outdoors, exercise and health? Echoing Kimberlee- thanks for the reminder.
As a young lad I spent my summers and winters building tree forts in the woods(snow forts in the winter), playing street hockey, playing – get this – tackle football in my parent’s basement(an early version of Arena football) making up new sports and endlessly getting into a lot of trouble. I wouldn’t change places with kids growing up today for a million dollars. The lives of our young people are overscheduled, completely controlled and void of any IMAGINATION time. Can’t we let kids be kids? Orlando and Francesca thank you Cristina!