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19
The “competitive vs. noncompetitive” issue is the hottest issue in kids sports. What does it mean to be noncompetitive? Does it mean that we just don’t keep score, or is there more to it? Do we tell the kids to just have fun and get along? The approach isn’t very realistic – especially in football or hockey!
An absence of scorekeeping works well until about age seven. In tee ball for five and six-year-olds, the noncompetitive rules work OK. For example, everybody bats every inning, and the last person up gets a base-clearing hit, whether or not the hit gets out of the infield. The batting rotation is such that every kid gets a turn to “clear the bases.” Similar methods for other sports may work at that age. Although one wonders who is being fooled by the tactics, the kids or the parents?
Beyond that age, however, what can be done? You either have to drastically change the rules or live with the competition of sports and the natural competitiveness of kids. Face it, life is competitive. Life isn’t fair, either. Still, league officials should constantly strive to make the league as fair as possible.
Many leagues use the “Traveling Team” or “Competitive Team” approach. This assumes there are enough kids in the league to make at least one traveling team. The best kids in the league are offered a chance to compete with the best from other leagues. Voluntary tryouts are usually used to sort out the best kids for the competitive team(s).
Often, traveling teams are set up without any intention of balancing playing time. I think even traveling teams should have rules that balance playing time. Again, not necessarily equal time, but a minimum playing-time rule. Imagine how parents feel if their kids are selected for an all-star team and don’t play, or played only a token amount.
The traveling league should seek parity by examining the number of kids each league has to draw from. If the more populated leagues are required to have more than one traveling team, the talent will be better balanced, more kids will be participating, and some parity will result.
Does this mean that the kids in the rest of the league are noncompetitive? We could call them that if it makes some folks feel better, but who are we kidding? “Noncompetitive” in sports is an oxymoron. It is a wish masquerading as a policy!
Denying competitiveness among Americans is like walking to a lakeshore and denying the urge to skip a rock. “Traveling” and “in-house” are more meaningful terms.