January 2008
Editor's Note
I watched my 13-year-old, Lily, move into the key and back
up under the basket, arms held high. It was the first game of the season
at her middle school. A teammate spotted that she was open and passed
the ball. With a graceful turn, Lily tossed the ball toward the basket.
It missed by about two feet, but if you’d heard me cheering, you’d
have thought she’d just hit the deciding basket at the state finals.
My enthusiasm had no connection to the numbers on the scoreboard. I was
cheering because this daughter of mine, who has played about six hours
of basketball in her life, was in the game and having a good time. Sitting
next to me in the bleachers, a beaming father pointed out another player
on the team. “That’s my daughter”, he proudly declared.
“This is the first athletic thing she has done in her entire life.”
As obesity rates rise and screen time cuts into active outside play, we
all know we need our kids to make physical activity a regular part of
their lives. This month, our education writer Linda Thomas writes about
schools that are trying new approaches to teaching kids to eat healthy
and be fit. However, I suspect one factor plays a big part in keeping
those who most need the fitness programs from signing up: Many kids decide
at an early age that they are not “athletes.”
A friend told me recently that the memory still stings of the time almost
10 years ago when her middle-school boy overweight and not a “jock,”
signed up for the school’s “no-cut” basketball team.
He never missed a practice and gave good effort, but at the last game
of the season, with the team ahead by 15 points, her son was the only
kid on the team not to get to play. He got in the car afterwards and burst
into tears. You can be sure he didn’t go back to basketball again.
I have an older son who tried playing soccer and basketball when he was
in grade school. He was clumsy and self-conscious, and despite efforts
by the coaches to be nice, he quickly lost interest. Years later in high
school, he participated in the same athletic program my daughter now enjoys
and played basketball on one of their high school teams (they have several
teams for different skill levels). He started out with no confidence,
but the approach of this P.E. program changed forever how he saw himself
athletically. For one thing, the coach met each player at his own skill
level, rather than setting the bar unrealistically high. Equally important,
this coaching was not about offering passive sympathy to a klutzy kid.
Participants were expected to improve, and with much encouragement, playing
time and skill building, they did. Above all, the kids knew the athletic
department was a place where it was safe to take risks.
I guess my son is what you’d call a jock “late-bloomer,”
because now, in his mid-20s, he’s become a pretty good basketball
player, loves the game and plays several days a week after work to unwind.
The reasons to get more kids into school sports are obvious. A workout
not only is good for the body but clears the mind and cuts the stress.
Playing a sport offers a hands-on chance to learn lessons about competition,
fair play and teamwork. Plus it can be just plain fun. But if we are going
to convince all those “non-athletes” to turn away from the
computer screen and join the game, we better make sure they believe they
have a place on the team.
Ann Bergman, Editor/Publisher
abergman@seattleschild.com
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