The Value of Avoiding Travel Sports at a Young Age
Soccer star Alex Morgan encourages children to avoid specializing in one sport at a young age & recgonizes the blaue of avoiding travel sports.
Soccer
For Brazil’s Soccer Stars, Careers Often Begin On Makeshift Fields
The road to World Cup glory in Brazil doesn’t start in fancy soccer clubs or private schoolyards. It often begins in places like this poor neighborhood called Rio Pequeno in Sao Paulo and on a dirt lot, where a group of children are playing soccer.
Why California Coaches Feel There Are Not Enough Athletic Facilities
Why Coaches Feel There Are Not Enough Athletic Facilities If you ask any coach in Northern California if they think that there are enough athletic facilities almost uniformly, the answer would be “no”; speaking as a former baseball coach that was the most consistent complaint among my fellow coaches. Based on our Northern California facility study, …
Why California Coaches Feel There Are Not Enough Athletic Facilities Read More »
My Daughter Quit Sports, and This Is What Youth Sports Parents Need To Know
Originally published in I love to watch you play by Asia Mape My daughter quit sports, and this is what youth sports parents need to know. This is my oldest daughter Piper, and yes, I got her permission to write this. She’s a water polo player. Well – she used to be. She dreamed of playing for …
My Daughter Quit Sports, and This Is What Youth Sports Parents Need To Know Read More »
The Aspen Institute’s Participation Trends for 2022
Originally published in the Aspen Institute’s State of Play 2022 Kids are back to sports – sort of. As the impact of COVID-19 on our society lessened in 2022, how children participated in sports continued to evolve. The trends below come from the Aspen Institute’s State of Play 2022 report, courtesy of data collected or …
The Aspen Institute’s Participation Trends for 2022 Read More »
How France Really Won the World Cup
Originally published in the aspen institute by Tom Farrey on 10/2018 his was a tough summer for anyone who cares about soccer in the United States. The men’s national team failed to qualify for the World Cup, and on the day of the championship game won by France, a front-page story in the New York …
Sports Play is the Best Way to Improve Play Quality
Fred Rogers once said that “play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning…they have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they learn in new forms of play”. This basic truth applies to all aspects of child development …
Sports Play is the Best Way to Improve Play Quality Read More »
Sports Field Freakanomics – How Digital Tools Can Better Support & Grow Youth Sports
In the Beginning It was late October, 2008 in Oakland, California, -the Oakland Athletics just finished another frustrating season with a strong starting pitching staff and a not so great offense to support them and my four year old daughter Mia and I were watching the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays in the World …
Sports Field Freakanomics – How Digital Tools Can Better Support & Grow Youth Sports Read More »
Club soccer puts the sport out of reach for many kids
Originally published on NPR at this link Youth soccer coach Pierre Hedji co-founded the club DCXI to give kids in Washington, D.C., a chance to learn the game, develop their skills and compete, just as he did when he was a kid growing up in Benin. “It was street soccer,” he remembers, “you were using …
Club soccer puts the sport out of reach for many kids Read More »