Its it a business? No, its youth sports!

Stress, infighting, jealousy, exhaustion, loss of jobs or positions, betrayal, out of control spending, loss of status, personal well-being sacrificed in the name of financial gain, and the benefit of few at the expense of many. All of these have become common place in the world in which we live. Are we talking about a corporation?

 NO. We are talking about youth sports.

The youth sports landscape has changed dramatically over the last thirty years. Some people write it off as a new social phenomenon when in actuality it is very much a man made disease.

All these things I have described in the previous paragraphs used to be pretty much exclusive to our corporate world, government, and TV soap operas.

 When we were talking about having youth sports teach our children life skills is this really what we had in mind?

Let’s look at the facts. Seventy percent of the children playing youth sports at the age of 10 quit by the time they are 13. The uninformed say that it is because of many reasons, but a study of 28,000 children by Michigan State University, and our own independent study, say that it is because the children are not having any fun. They are not getting to play.

Many parents, families, teams and organizations fight for status and short term wins at the expanse of our children’s long term mental and physical development.

Obesity has quadrupled over the last 20 years and about 30% of the children born after the year 2000 are headed for Type II diabetes, and yet we still head down this road of short sightedness for the benefit of a few at the expense of many.

The long term consequences can be seen strewn all over the landscapes as the reality of ONLY 1% of all the students who attend a four year college play intercollegiate athletics at the DI level, and only half of them play for free.

Children are dropping out of school when their dreams are crushed and the resulting hangover is having a devastating effect on our children’s long term ability to cope with change, adjust to not being the “chosen one”, and the resulting mental and physical effects of their pursuit of a dream that should never have gotten to the point of specialization at the expense of balance.

At Frozen Shorts we are putting the fun back into youth sports for ALL concerned. Our programs are reaching out across the country, across social, economic, and financial barriers to once again unite the young people in this country towards a common goal of benefitting from the journey of being a kid by having fun and just being a kid.

These children are not mini adults or micro professional athletes. They are not remote controlled robots attached to personal adult joy sticks.

We hold true to the belief that we are a community and the long term mental and physical well being and health of this future generation can be enhanced and proliferated by playing, socializing, and working for a common goal regardless of your background. Being active and having fun  once again will become a priority to be enjoyed by all, not twisted and bent for the individual personal gain of a few.