WE’RE IN THE AGE OF ENTITLEMENT IN YOUTH SPORTS…AND THAT’S NOT GOOD

I’m becoming increasingly worried — and I’m wondering if you have noticed this happening in your world of youth sports as well.

It’s as though the boundary lines have gradually shifted – and shifted substantially  in our own lifetimes – and I’m increasingly nervous how this sense of entitlement in going to influence our kids and grandkids, and the way in which they go about playing and competing in sports.

Look around. You see it everywhere. Sports parents feel they are entitled to yell at refs and umps. Sports parents feel they can insist their kids should get special benefits on their travel team because the parents are paying the coach’s salary. And the kids begin to develop an attitude that their coach is only there to help propel the athlete to the next step up on the athletic ladder.

In short, this is a growing problem in sports.

At its root, the issue is that the way in which we treat our young athletes and basically – perhaps unintentionally – teach them on how to expect entitlements in their sports career.

In a way, this goes back to the mentality that every kid gets a trophy….and that in our deep desire to want to make sure our kids succeed in sports, we’re going to do whatever we can to insure that they do.

That is, there’s an undercurrent of entitlement that one is given an advantage, without really earning that break. We had some excellent calls on this morning’s show. Take a listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff