Little League Terror

The area I live in here in Vegas seems to be big on youth sports.  In fact, the city of Henderson was just voted the "Top Youth Sports Town in Nevada" by ESPN.  I end up walking by various nearby sports complexes, and I really don't like what I see.

For one, I don't see what the big deal is.  Here's what's really happening: a bunch of little kids are hitting a ball around.  Yet the amount of attention that adults are putting on this is enormous, and really it's too much.  Yes, I understand that parents want to see their kids do well, that sports teaches lessons, etc.  But the amount of attention put on this suggests to me that something else is also implicity involved: some parents' erroneous belief that if kids practice hard they can make it big (i.e. to the professional level).

What else could explain the money put into youth sports - the new uniforms, the new equipment, the upkeep of the field?  And what else could explain the intensity of some parents - parents getting into fights with umpires, yelling at their kids, etc.?

When I walk by the local tennis complex, I often see the same father and son practicing on the tennis court.  The father seems to be barking out orders and drilling the son the whole time, "bend your knees, move your feet," etc.  From my view, the son doesn't seem to be enjoying himself too much.  Is this child going to be the next Pete Sampras?  If so, the signs would probably be there already, and the drill seargent father won't really increase the odds of this kid making it.

When I played youth sports, it was really just "no big deal".  I don't remember my parents coming to many of my soccer games, and frankly, I probably didn't want them there.  Why?  Because it really wasn't that important.  We were just a bunch of kids kicking around the ball and having fun.  Silly me, I must have thought that adults had better things to do than to watch child's play.  I remember one parent who was at every game, always screaming at his son.  We laughed at him, because it was just funny that this adult took it so seriously.

Let's be honest: if a child truly has that one-in-a-million level of athletic talent, with just a little bit of guidance and opportunity, they will make it.  Sammy Sosa grew up in the Dominican Republic where they didn't even have baseball equipment, yet he comes to America and hits 500 plus home runs in the major leagues.  Lebron James grew up in a housing project in Akron, and yet was drafted into the NBA at age 18.  I'm sure some of Lebron's cohorts were also practicing hard and trying to make it out through sports.  Yet he's the only whose "Hoop Dreams" came true because of his immense talent.

So given that the chance of making it to the "big leagues" is governed almost exclusively by talent, are youth sports really that important?  For the kids, it's probably important as they want to make.  For the parents, I can't see what the big deal is.