Читать книгу Alternative Models of Sports Development in America. Solutions to a Crisis in Education and Public Health онлайн

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To date, Project Play has been focused on ages twelve and under, given the mountain of research on the physical, mental, social-emotional and educational benefits that flow to physically active kids. Getting them moving early unleashes a virtuous cycle—they go on to college more often, stay active into adulthood more often, make higher incomes in the workplace, enjoy lower health care costs, and are twice as likely to have active children. As a society, we must make quality, regular sport activity accessible to every child, regardless of zip code or ability.

At the same time, we recognize that the landscape of youth sports has been transformed over the past generation by the priorities of the two institutions that Ridpath explores in this book—school sports and college sports. NCAA member institutions today offer $3 billion in athletic aid, up from $250 million in the early 1990s, according to the NCAA. That’s a lot of chum tossed into the sea of youth sports. Even for the well-positioned, it’s rarely a meal, as full-ride athletic scholarships are confined to just a few sports; rather, it’s just enough to induce a feeding frenzy among parents, terrified about how they one day must pay hefty college tuitions. So they invest, at ever-earlier ages for kids, in private trainers, traveling club teams, and $300 cleats or bats.