THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407190440
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Long : 148 lines
In sports today, the motto seems to be, ``You rest, you rust.''
Once, every sport had something we called ``the offseason.'' But for most sports there are no offseasons anymore. Serious young athletes feel they can't afford one. They have been taught that if you flake off at the beach, the competition will kick sand in your face.
Kids, we've always assumed, play sports for fun. But how many teenagers play because of the subtle fear that somebody might be gaining on them?
Basketball is a prime example of a sport that doesn't know its time or place. Kids camps and kids leagues, like those for the pros, don't stop for summer. The scrutinizing of young talent, even ninth- and 10th-graders, by college recruiters is more intense in July than in January.
This pedal-to-the-metal mentality is not exclusive to hoops. Other sports previously thought to be winter activities also resurface in the summer. There are camps for wrestling, volleyball and who-knows-what. Not just camps, but tournaments. Competition. Serious stuff that's getting more serious every year.
Rust never sleeps. Neither do many of our young athletes. Coaches, who are looking for an edge, have convinced kids of the necessity of year-round training and off-season competition.
``This coach pushes, so the other guy pushes. It's a constant escalation,'' says Dave Trickler, basketball coach and athletic director at Norfolk Academy.
The possible rewards are obvious - a college scholarship, media attention - so almost everyone feels the need to specialize in one sport. Everybody wants to keep up with the Basketball Joneses.
``It's hurting kids,'' says Tim Sweeney. ``As an educator and father, I think it's a bit too much.'' Sweeney, vice principal at Granby High, once coached the Norfolk Catholic varsity basketball team. His son, Tim Jr., is a promising shooting guard about to enter ninth grade at Maury High.
Tim Sweeney wishes that his son still had time to devote to other sports. ``He was a terrific baseball player,'' says Dad. Also, he feels that ``like anything in life, sports should help make you a more well-rounded person.''
Basketball, though, perhaps more than any team sport, doesn't like to share its athletes.
Tim Jr.'s basketball schedule is intense, though not terribly unusual for someone of his talent and ambition. Following a season of junior varsity basketball, he joined an AAU 14-and-under team, as well as a Norfolk summer league. Then he spent a week in North Carolina at a team camp.
This week he's taken time out from another summer league to travel to Los Angeles for an AAU tournament. Nike is paying the freight for this Boo Williams road revue. In LA, college coaches will be watching.
Tim Sweeney Sr., who is accompanying his son to the West Coast, is slightly conflicted.
``As a father,'' he says, ``I wish all this could stop for a while so that Tim could be exposed to other activities. But what can you say when you get an opportunity to play in front of college scouts?''
Sometimes you wonder how these young athletes keep up the pace. It seems a bit too much; burnout is always a possibility. And yet, we live in a world of specialization and instant gratification. A world where colleges assess 14-year-old jump shooters. What's a parent to do?
Trying to strike a balance
between athletics and ambition, Norfolk Academy has tackled sports specialization. The school discourages it, except for the gifted few who are good enough to play in college.
Says Trickler: ``We think it's in the best interest of most of our students to participate in a variety of sports.''
Speaking of variety, and knowing what we do of the academically impaired athlete, one wishes as much emphasis were placed on summer school as on summer ball.
Not everyone with a whistle and clipboard will admit it, but a summer sabbatical from sports may be in the long-range best interest of many young athletes.
``That's heresy to basketball coaches,'' says Sweeney.
The debate, however, may address a larger issue.
``The pace of life today is so much faster than when I was a teenager,'' said Trickler. ``Sports are reflective of everything else that's going on in our society.''
In sports today, the motto seems to be, ``You rest, you rust.''
Once, every sport had something we called ``the offseason.'' But for most sports there are no offseasons anymore. Serious young athletes feel they can't afford one. They have been taught that if you flake off at the beach, the competition will kick sand in your face.
Kids, we've always assumed, play sports for fun. But how many teenagers play because of the subtle fear that somebody might be gaining on them?
Basketball is a prime example of a sport that doesn't know its time or place. Kids camps and kids leagues, like those for the pros, don't stop for summer. The scrutinizing of young talent, even ninth- and 10th-graders, by college recruiters is more intense in July than in January.
This pedal-to-the-metal mentality is not exclusive to hoops. Other sports previously thought to be winter activities also resurface in the summer. There are camps for wrestling, volleyball and who-knows-what. Not just camps, but tournaments. Competition. Serious stuff that's getting more serious every year.
Rust never sleeps. Neither do many of our young athletes. Coaches, who are looking for an edge, have convinced kids of the necessity of year-round training and off-season competition.
``This coach pushes, so the other guy pushes. It's a constant escalation,'' says Dave Trickler, basketball coach and athletic director at Norfolk Academy.
The possible rewards are obvious - a college scholarship, media attention - so almost everyone feels the need to specialize in one sport. Everybody wants to keep up with the Basketball Joneses.
``It's hurting kids,'' says Tim Sweeney. ``As an educator and father, I think it's a bit too much.'' Sweeney, vice principal at Granby High, once coached the Norfolk Catholic varsity basketball team. His son, Tim Jr., is a promising shooting guard about to enter ninth grade at Maury High.
Tim Sweeney wishes that his son still had time to devote to other sports. ``He was a terrific baseball player,'' says Dad. Also, he feels that ``like anything in life, sports should help make you a more well-rounded person.''
Basketball, though, perhaps more than any team sport, doesn't like to share its athletes.
Tim Jr.'s basketball schedule is intense, though not terribly unusual for someone of his talent and ambition. Following a season of junior varsity basketball, he joined an AAU 14-and-under team, as well as a Norfolk summer league. Then he spent a week in North Carolina at a team camp.
This week he's taken time out from another summer league to travel to Los Angeles for an AAU tournament. Nike is paying the freight for this Boo Williams road revue. In LA, college coaches will be watching.
Tim Sweeney Sr., who is accompanying his son to the West Coast, is slightly conflicted.
``As a father,'' he says, ``I wish all this could stop for a while so that Tim could be exposed to other activities. But what can you say when you get an opportunity to play in front of college scouts?''
Sometimes you wonder how these young athletes keep up the pace. It seems a bit too much; burnout is always a possibility. And yet, we live in a world of specialization and instant gratification. A world where colleges assess 14-year-old jump shooters. What's a parent to do?
Trying to strike a balance between
athletics and ambition, Norfolk Academy has tackled sports specialization. The school discourages it, except for the gifted few who are good enough to play in college.
Says Trickler: ``We think it's in the best interest of most of our students to participate in a variety of sports.''
Speaking of variety, and knowing what we do of the academically impaired athlete, one wishes as much emphasis were placed on summer school as on summer ball.
Not everyone with a whistle and clipboard will admit it, but a summer sabbatical from sports may be in the long-range best interest of many young athletes.
``That's heresy to basketball coaches,'' says Sweeney.
The debate, however, may address a larger issue.
``The pace of life today is so much faster than when I was a teenager,'' said Trickler. ``Sports are reflective of everything else that's going on in our society.'' by CNB