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DARIEN, Conn. All across Fairfield County, parents and coaches push their student athletes to excel and be the best of the best. But experts in student athletics at a Darien forum agreed that it is important to keep some perspective and to let the kids have fun.
Its very competitive out there, and it starts with the parents, said John Woodring, a former player for the Jets who now teaches at Tokeneke Elementary School in Darien and coaches youth sports. Parents like to think that their kid is the greatest, but they have to be realistic. Steering them to do something full time is something I disagree with.
Woodring was on a panel of coaches and youth athletic officials who spoke at Tokeneke on Tuesday night in a talk hosted by the Parent Awareness Network of the YWCA Darien/Norwalk.
Andy Copelan, coach of the mens lacrosse team at Fairfield University, said the college recruiting process starts younger and younger. It is important for students not to focus on specializing in one sport, but instead to play multiple sports, he said. Not only will it increase their athletic ability, but it will also allow them to have fun.
It bothers me when I see people passing up on things they enjoy or might be passionate about because theyre too concerned with putting the recruiting process on a pedestal, Copelan said.
He also pointed out the difficulty of making it onto college sports teams. According to the NCAA, only 5.7 percent of high school football players will make it to an NCAA team. The chances of making it onto an NCAA basketball team are 3.3 percent for women and 3 percent for men.
Caitlin Young, an assistant coach for the Fairfield University womens lacrosse team, said picking a college was about finding the right academic fit, with athletics as a second thought. Now its flip-flopped. Kids are making their decisions before they even have their drivers license.
However, Young said, changes can happen, such as a coach leaving or a student not making a team. If the athletics arent going well and youre still there, youre going to be very unhappy.
Fred Balsamo, director of the Connecticut Association of Athletic Directors, said there are strict regulations for high school coaches, but many youth programs are run by parents and are under no real governance.
When the kids get to high school, parents are supposed to take a backseat. But a lot of parents are not able to do that. They want to stay involved and keep pushing, he said. We have to ask, are our children being persistent, or are we?
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