A poll from Darien Conn., wherein over 800 students in sixth to eight grades who particpated in junior football and basketball were targeted, the crucial question were asked, "Why do you play sports?"
Turned out the answer were quite simple. Not to one day play in the Super Bowl, not even to win - but for fun! While parents dream big it seems as if the children focus on small stuff, like having FUN.
The single page questionaire asked to rank 11 reasons why children participates in sports. Options such as 'to have fun' and 'to make friends' were added to more serious options such as 'to win' and 'to earn college scholarships'. From the mound of data gathered, researcher Peter Barston found a striking pattern. No matter how he categorized the responses, the most important reason youngsters gave for playing sports was the same: to have fun. That was the top response from football and basketball players, from boys and from girls, and from players in each grade from fourth to eighth.
In fact, the response from male basketball players were 95% and from females 98% listing 'fun' as the most important reason for participation.
The preliminary findings are not far from what the Michigan State researchers Martha Ewing and Vern Seefeldt concluded in 1989. Their study of 28,000 boys and girls around the country asked, Why do you play sports? The top answer then was “fun,” followed by “to do something I’m good at” and “to improve my skills.” “Winning” did not crack the top 10.
All this is a good sign and a strong message to parents: Back off on the winning at all costs theory!
Michael Cordier
Source: EdWeek - Mark Hyman 1/30/10
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