BOSTON — Lawmakers on Beacon Hill are considering whether youth sports should be regulated in Massachusetts.
“I really think that we as a whole need to really look at the whole system that’s going on now,” said State Senator Barry Finegold.
On Thursday, lawmakers heard from coaches, doctors and experts about the negative impact the game and the pressure it brings can have on children in grades K-8, both physically and mentally.
“I know some of them are ready by the time they get to high school. They burned out. They traveled too much,” Mass. President David Moura said. High School Football Coaches Association.
The end goal for many is victory, promotion to the big leagues, but at what cost?
“You don’t recover. In the end they are broken. And they give up the sport because they’re tired and they resent the fact that they have to do it,” said athletic trainer Walter Norton Jr. “That they’re being put under so much pressure or something.” They have to fulfill a certain obligation. “
Senator Finegold leads the hearing and explains how college sports are overseen by the NCAA and college sports in Massachusetts are overseen by the MIAA.
“But why is there nothing out there for our most vulnerable population, youth sports?,” Finegold said.
Author Linda Flanagan believes a large part of the problem is parents pushing their children to specialize too much in one sport in order to secure college scholarships.
“They found that athletics was a good place to start, we saw that with the Varsity Blues,” Flanagan said. “Parents are therefore feeling pressure to raise their children to ever younger ages, and this is having a dramatic impact on their children’s well-being.”
So what’s the solution? Senator Finegold says limiting sports seasons could be a start, or setting limits on how long children can play organized sports.
“I worry about the amount of time young people have to spend at such a young age, and I also worry about the wear and tear on their bodies,” Finegold said.
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