Well I just opened my computer and found this page open, and I never hit publish. So sorry for the delay on my thoughts from the first presentation... Our last class a few of my classmates brought up some very interesting points on the psychology, biology and business of youth sports. Jericho mentioned an article that said the cream of the crop in youth sports receives the best coaching and opportunities. I would have to agree with this article. Growing up playing travel baseball, I saw a lot of those extra opportunities, and saw the better players receive even more. The better players played on better teams, went to more competitive tournaments and for the most part, received better coaching. The one exception I noticed while growing up was the players with affluent parents also received a lot of these opportunities, regardless of skill level. They would receive the best coaching, from the former professional players their parents would pay for lessons. They would play for the teams that traveled the most, since their parents could afford to pay for airfare and hotels. I'm not saying that was always the case. I received professional pitching lessons from the time I was 9, until I entered college baseball. My mother was a secretary and my father was an auto mechanic. So I guess a better way of saying it would be: the kids with the parents willing and able to pay for these extra opportunities, are the ones that receive them.

Muhammed Ali

Our last class we discussed the Muhammed Ali story in groups. Our group had the task of analyzing the writing, Ali Then and Now. Having met Ali just a few years ago, I found this writing very interesting. Before reading the piece, I was under the impression that "now" meant modern day. I actually enjoyed reading about the "now" being in the 70's. Ali is one of the greatest athletes in the history of sports, and it is a lot better reading about the healthy man, and not the Parkinson's stricken man that I met. Parkinson's or not, it was still a tremendous honor meeting one of the greatest sports heroes of all time.

The questionable future of football

I found it very interesting that while I was watching ESPN today, they had an Outside the Lines report about a young boy whose life was drastically changed while playing football in Southern California. Donnavon Hill was paralyzed from the neck down, after leading with his head while attempting to make a goal line tackle. This story sheds more light on the uncertain future of youth football, and football as a whole. To watch it for yourself, follow the link http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8307824. We spoke in class about all of the medical dangers, but didn't speak about too many prevention measures. This tragic story could have been prevented if Donnavon's coaches had taught him proper tackling technique. I think these safety measures need to start at the youth level. It will take a generation to make football a safer sport. With the knowledge we have now, we can better train the coaches of youth football, which would mean we have more players that are learning the proper fundamentals