What’s Wrong with Youth Sports? – from Wakefield Observer

Robert S. (Bob) Bigelow (born December 26, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a retired American basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A forward, he played college basketball at the University of Pennsylvania. He played for the Boston Celtics and San Diego Clippers after playing for the Kansas City Kings for 3 seasons. Once the NBA began tracking turnovers in the 1977-78 season, Bigelow posted an assist-to-turnover rate of 1.39 for the remainder of his career.

He is now an author, having written the 2001 book Just Let The Kids Play: How to Stop Other Adults from Ruining Your Child’s Fun and Success in Youth Sports.

(Source: Wikipedia, See Bob Bigelow’s professional career stats)

How to make sports better for kids:

• Eliminate adult misbehavior
• Get qualified coaches
• Make playing time equitable
• Control excess travel sports
• Reduce overuse injuries

(Source: Bob Bigelow Website)

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Donna O’Neil published an article in Wakefield Observer on November 14, 2008 based on the interview with Bob Bigelow. The idea is that…

…adults involved in the organization of youth sports who are living out their own sports fantasy through their children are sending the wrong message to kids.

Bob says in the telephone interview that…

…in a utopian world, I would take adults out of the youth sports equation altogether.

Maybe the best summary of Bob’s message is this paragraph:

Although not based on anything scientific, but merely on personal observation, Bigelow said, “If I could take 20 percent of the adults involved in youth sports, and that’s a multi-million number, and put them on a spaceship to Marks, never to be seen again, it would clean up 99 percent of the problems with youth sports. Too much of what is wrong with youth sports is their competition. Only about 20 percent that do get it. I would love to keep them around. I am fighting for the other 60 percent in the middle. That is the battle royal.”

Bob wrote a book where he elaborated on his ideas about youth athletic development and what needs to be changed to make the system work better. Quite a bit of the book is, surprisingly, given at Google Books, certainly enough to get a taste and make judgement if it’s worth buying. If you do decide to buy it from Amazon, here’s the link:

Deliberate Practice

Reading one article on the web leads to another… and another. It started with Practice Preparation is Deliberate from Doc’s Head Games.

…becoming really, really good in a field is a grueling task for which many people are not willing to sacrifice their time and energy… or they are simply afraid to attempt.

Expertise at the highest degree, as in the elite, is something that has been nurtured through devoted training sessions, coaching, self-reflection, and hours upon hours of physical and mental effort. Yes, there may be natural aspects in brain or body type that allow the greatest to enhance potential, but those individuals still must have the appetite to eat away their days through focused and intense practice and preparation.

This article led to Deliberate Practice – Where Self-reflection, Work Ethic and Ambition Meet on OpenEducation.net, by certain Thomas.

…writer Geoff Colvin insists that the “conventional wisdom about ‘natural’ talent is a myth.”

“the real path to great performance is a matter of choice.”

In studies of accomplished individuals, researchers have found few signs of precocious achievement before the individuals started intensive training. Similar findings have turned up in studies of musicians, tennis players, artists, swimmers, mathematicians, and others.

Colvin goes on to note that current research of K. Anders Ericcson is providing a different rationale for success, something called ‘deliberate practice.’

The greatest performers have consistently combined these elements, sometimes just by luck.

…the idea of stretching one’s skills.

…‘before the work,’ ‘during the work‘ and ‘after the work‘ components…

Read more ->

Josh Childress’ Favorite Player

In my daily basketball readings certain things stick out. Over time they may become teaching points. Today, I read an interview with Josh Childress about the start of his European career in Greece. The interview was published at B92, a leading Serbian news source. Among other things, they asked Josh who was his favorite player of all time and his answer was Scottie Pippen. The reason is that Scottie did a lot of little things right. Then Josh said this sticky point: “Scottie was a born winner, he had capability to take over a game without scoring a single point.”

My first reaction was, hm, I heard people say this so many times, is it really true. Then, I thought, there are many aspects of the game, other than scoring: rebounding, assists, blocks, defense. I am not sure that’s what Josh is talking about. I think he is talking about intangibles. I’ve seen players whose quality transcends the stats. They make shooters on their team more confident, they toughen their team’s defense just a notch, they make opponent’s determination shakier – just enough to WIN. One European player who never played in the NBA was a Serb Zoran Savic. His stats were never great, but every team he played for was a winner.

Good luck in Europe, Josh!

Doc Rivers on The Value Of Ball Possession

Doc Rivers, in The Boston Globe of October 20, 2008, puts an emphasis on the value of the ball, aka cutting down the number of turnovers. He mentions the 2008 Playoffs in which the Celtics lowered the number of turnovers by  one and a half, which contributed to their victory:

The Celtics are stressing limiting turnovers, Rivers said.

“We’re starting to understand the value of the basketball but we haven’t exhibited it,” Rivers said. “I think they get that – what turnovers do to your team. But I don’t think we’ve put it in play yet. Our young guys are starting to understand how we want to play every night. They don’t have it yet, but they are playing with a heightened sense of urgency. I don’t think we were great last year in that department.

“In the playoffs, our turnovers were cut down by a turnover and a half. The speed of play was slower in the playoffs, that is part of reason for that. We want to score, we want to run, we want to push it up, and we want to value the ball. We play so hard defensively, it’s a shame to get it back and give it right back to the other team.”

Examining Dr. J’s all-time best

This article by David Friedman reasons about difficulties of choosing the best player(s) of all time in the game of basketball. It is brief and well written.

Per Friedman, the main reasons why this is difficult are:

• Various eras had different rules, different styles of play and different challenges
• A player’s statistics are influenced by the position he plays and his role on his team
• Greatness can be defined in various ways

Link to the original article: Examining Dr. J’s all-time best