Who Took The Fun Out of Youth Sports?

For those of you who played Pee Wee football or little league, soccer or whatever you use to play...did you have fun? I remember my times playing youth sports as some of the best times of my life. The memories and friends I made seemed like timeless memories back then. It wasn't about winning or championships. It was about growing as an individual and learning key life lessons like teamwork, sportsmanship, and respect for others. But now its simply about winning, winning, and making it a career.

This weekend a thirteen year old football player in Delaware verbally committed to play quarterback for Lane Kiffin and the University of Southern California. That is if Kiffin is still there in 2015. But a thirteen year old kid? He has yet to enroll in high school and this is already happening. There are so many things that can happen between now and 2015.

USC's new 13 year old recruit David Sills

When the concern about his age came up, Sills personal coach said that because hes already six feet tall and has watched NFL game footage that he will be one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. And this is coming from the guy who has coached college greats like Matt Barkley. Yeah...thats the best name they can mention for credentials. When I look at that photo I see a shaggy haired string bean that is having his best years to make memories with friends and loved ones taken away. But he isn't the only young "star" that this is happening to.



If you haven't met him yet, meet Bryce Harper. Bryce is an outstanding baseball player out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He once hit a home run in a league game that was measured at 502 feet and hit the longest recorded home run at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay, Florida. And is projected to be the first overall pick in this years baseball draft. Bryce Harper is 17 years old.

His parents thought it would be best for him if they pulled him out of high school so he could get his GED and enroll in junior college so that he could enter major league baseball faster. His parents essentially took away his junior and senior years of high school just so he could get his millions that he'll get whether he goes now or after high school sooner. He was dubbed last year by Sports Illustrated as "the LeBron James of baseball."

These two aren't the only occasions of this. When Ty Willingham coached at Washington he was offering full rides to twelve year olds and before Jim Caldwell's Super Bowl days in Indianapolis, he was coaching Wake Forest and offering a fourteen year old Chris Leak a full ride.



It really pains me to see what kind of road youth sports and recruiting is going down. For me what makes it worse is the fact that the NCAA allows schools to scout and recruit athletes as young as twelve years old. Yes the NCAA not only allows it but considers them as "prospects" to colleges everywhere. So now parents are priming their children to become stars instead of letting them live their lives as they should. Growing up as kids, playing the sports they love while growing as members of society. It's okay to dream of being a pro athlete at fourteen, but can't we save the professional side till they are at least in college? Ask anyone, high school are the best days you will have growing up and for the gifted "superstars" of the 7th and 8th grade, they'll never get to live them.

More in store later. Thanks for tuning and logging in to Ice Cold Sports part of the Radio Blog Network.