Random Friday: A Change In Sports, Pt. 3

     Since last week was a holiday I decided to skip random Friday. This week we are back at it and this will be the final post on a change in sports. So the first week I stated that I noticed a change in how kids played one sport in today's society as opposed to when I was younger and played multiple sports through out the year. From the comments it seemed most people around my age agreed with me that there was definitely a change in the sports, but it also seemed that if you wanted your kid to succeed you had to steer them into a single sport at a young age.  In my second post I interviewed a 15 year old field hockey player who plays year round for her school and multiple club teams. From the interview I learned that a child who only plays for their school would have very little chance of competing with his/her peers unless they too were putting in the time and effort.
     So I guess this is my conclusion on my thoughts.  Like everything in society change is inevitable. What was once a year of playing multiples sports has now become a year of the same sport, seeing the same faces at games and tournaments. In the 80's and early 90's you didn't really have to think about a main sport until high school, now a days you have to think about your future at the age of 11 or 12. Let me rephrase that, your parent has to try and think about your future. For a person like myself it seems unfair, it seems like these kids are having a chance to play another sport ripped away from them. If you talk to a kid though today most of them will tell you that in order to compete this is a must. So now you are left with the decision do I play multiple sports and hope you are phenom at one or do your choose that one sport you felt you did a little better than the rest and make that your main sport. What is the outcome of all of this? you are hoping for a scholarship and if you are really lucky you are hoping for a career in sports. The odds of that happening though are very slim.

    One fact pointed out to me was girls in sports are playing for a lot less than the guys. By this I mean there are more professional sports out there for men than there is for the ladies. As a man you are wanting to get a scholarship and turn it into a career and as a woman you are hoping for a scholarship so you can get a free education and land a good career that does not involve playing sports. The girl I interviewed pointed out an interesting point to me, given the chance a woman can succeed just as much as the guys. At first I didn't understand what she meant until she pointed out the UFC Ronda Rousey who recently just had one of the highest grossing fights in UFC history. Also the woman's world cup team who people seem to go nuts for. I then understand where she was going but I quickly pointed out the WNBA, which even though it does good it will never get the hype of the NBA. So yes woman may get the short end of the stick when it comes to sports, but we live in a society where people enjoy watching the toughest, fastest person which is usually the guy.
    I guess I will leave you all by saying I am glad I got to grow up in the era I did. I got to play and enjoy multiple sports and never had to look at a sport as a career growing up. I do however respect kids who play sports today and are putting in the hard work year round to perfect their craft. It shows discipline and I would bet that most of those kids go on to succeed later in life, whether it be in their sport or in another career.