CLAIRE’S CORNER (Musings from your DRE)

So what is the deal with organized sports for kids?  Take soccer—practices twice a week, games on Saturday.  In every season!  You can’t get away from it.  Fall soccer, spring soccer, soccer camps in winter and summer.  All to teach kids as young as 5 and 6 which goal post is their own and to stop doing handstands and run towards the ball!  And that’s soccer.  What about tee ball, softball, gymnastics, swimming, and football?  And let’s not even get into Marching Band (Is it a cult?  You decide:  Dress code that sets members apart, strict regimentation, mandatory endurance of harsh weather conditions at all times of the day or night—see what I mean?)  At least Marching Band is a sport with its own soundtrack. 

But is all this commitment to adult-organized sports really that necessary for kids to grow up into healthy citizens?  My husband—who played organized sports—gets a bit defensive on this issue.  Words like “builds character” and “being part of a team” float from his lips.  But all I have to do is whisper, “Tennis camp,” and he blanches remembering the overwhelming pressure to excel.  I’m sure we’re all aware of how organized sports can do more harm than good when parents and coaches are out for the ego gratification of winning at the expense of teaching skills, team work or simply the joy of the game.

I, myself, never played organized sports.  To my knowledge there weren’t any available for girls in San Jose, California circa the 1960’s.  However, my parents had 5 kids and a tight budget so they may not have wanted to let the word out.  Not that they were in danger from me.  My mother—a P.E. major—was always telling me to get my nose out of a book and go outside and play (at midnight, but that’s another story.)  What’s wrong with reading?  Why is chasing after a ball such a superior activity?  Dare I say it?  It’s only a game!

Games are good.  They have their place.  We all need to run around, get some exercise, learn some skills, have fun, and make friends.  Being athletic in our society is almost a guarantee of popularity.  Knowing the basic skills of most sports means that when your work place organizes a whiffle ball tournament (as happened to my husband) you’ll know how to handle yourself. 

Sports have their place.  My problem is that they dominate so many family’s schedules—especially with multiple kids all doing different sports—that other activities are set aside.  Like coming to church (now you see where I’m going with this).  I’ve talked with families over the years who tell me Sunday is their only day to sleep in, to do nothing, to have unscheduled time, because the rest of the week is so packed with activity.  I totally relate.  Working on Sundays as I do kills that day for my family as a day of rest, and it has hurt us as a family. 

We all need time—as families and as individuals—to regroup, to do nothing, to let our minds and spirits wander where they will.  It is in the spaces between activities where spirit and imagination flourish. We all need to slow down.  As Bo Lozoff writes in Deep & Simple, “We are deep, but our modern culture is not.”  We need to take time to explore our depths and that usually takes silence and unscheduled hours.

Of course, sports are not the problem, but the symptom.  So many of us live frantic lives; I often imagine myself on a little hamster wheel unable to stop running because then everything that needs doing will just pile up behind me and crush me.  I focus on all I have to do, and forget just to be.  We all need to step off that hamster wheel. Breathe.  In and out.  Repeat.  In this upcoming holiday season I hope you all find time to just breathe and be.