Having competed in sports for about 90 percent of my life, the perception of those who don't participate in those sports, think that those kids, who start at an early age, is that the kids were "forced" into those sports.
Especially in this day in age, when various sport team involvement are part and parcel of daily life for kids and their parents.
There will always be stage parents who believe their little darlings have "potential", but in the realm of competition, that concept usually falls by the waste side quickly when those with real potential excel.
As for the kids who participate, some stop because it's not fun, some stop because of the stress, some stop because they physically aren't able to keep up and some stop because they just don't like it.
However, there are kids, contrary to popular belief, that have a lot of ambition and when you combine that with natural talent, you have an amazing athlete.
It's wrong to believe that children don't exhibit forms of ambition at an early age. Whether they are playing in sand lot baseball, a pick up game at the court or any other sport that comes to mind, there will always be that one kid that is different from the rest. One that sees how the game works better than everyone else. One that knows how to win 5 moves faster than the other kids and ones that are just naturally good.
Those are the ones with natural talent.
I have had the pleasure to know people like this from when I was a kid.
Two kids I played baseball with when I was a little (Under 8 years old) went on to play in the majors. And as a kid back then, I knew they were good, I knew they were just plane better than everyone else. They had normal parents. In fact, one of those parents confided in me many years later that, their son, without any encouragement by them, just loved playing the game and once told them, he was going to play in the majors.
Some kids are just like that.
I have had the pleasure of running against future Olympians when I was in high school. These guys were just different. They had such incredible natural ability that it was scary. They would beat anyone and everyone on the track. 3 of them made it to the 1984 Olympic team.
When you see you have a child with talent and they appear to enjoy their success with that talent, are we supposed to discourage them?
That said, we also hear of kids who, at an early age, display incredible mathematic skills, but because mathematics isn't "exploitive" we don't hear anything more about them. But yet, the parents of those kids also sacrifice to get the best education for there child. What about the kids who go to medical or law school when they are 12 years old? They are brilliant and we find that fantastic, but yet, when a young kid is "brilliant" in sports, that exploitive.
How is that kids ambition and his parents encouragement any different that someone who is good at sports? It isn't.
Not all kids are excellent at school, not all kids are excellent at sports, but I would be damned if I didn't do everything within my power to help my child get the best education or training if my child showed exceptional talent in either areas.
It's easy to place blame either on society or on the parents, but unless you have a child of exceptional ability, you have zero concept of what it's like.
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