Put Down the Basketball, Kid and Pick Up a Dang Rope

OK, stop me now if I am being ridiculous but it seems to me that things were a lot different back in my heyday of sports. Way, way back when — okay just 10-15 years ago — I thought I could become a professional at any sport I happened to pick up that day from baseball to backyard wagon racing. Man, those were the days.

I was basically in every youth sport opportunity that came my way from soccer to swimming — and I had fun doing it all.

It seems these days that kids are not afforded the same opportunity. At a very early age kids are streamlined into one sporting discipline that they seem naturally inclined towards and from there on out they play with a stamp on their forehead.

QUARTERBACK.

PITCHER.

SPRINTER.

There were symptoms of this when I was young as well.

All that my friend Andrew ever did was swim. Before school and after school he would be doing laps, working on the fine points of his turns and conditioning himself for greatness. He constantly smelled of chlorine and had a tan from swimming outside.

Andrew was a great swimmer — he had the fastest 50 meter sprint time for the whole high school as an eighth-grader — but I often wonder if he would have had fun doing other things as well.

I know a basketball player can learn a thing or two about patience from a baseball player and I am sure that Andrew could have gleaned something from some mean backyard wagon racing.
Right around now the summer rodeo season kicks into high gear and as the PRCA athletes come touring through town we all get to see first hand a sport that celebrates mixing things up.

Kids aren’t pigeon-holed into saddle-bronc riding, they are encourages to spread out their efforts over a variety of events.

Heck, there is even a winner for ‘all-around.’

There are those gifted youngsters who are so naturally inclined toward one athletic discipline that it would be a shame to not foster that; but for the vast majority, it is sad but true, transcendent athletic prowess is not on the horizon so diversifying our sporting outlets is a positive thing.

Getting out of one’s comfort is the best way to really grow.

So to all of the kids focused on being the next Derek Jeter or Michael Jordan, put down your baseball bat and basketballs and take a page from the rodeo book and jump on a steer, rope a cow or tame a bull — it might come in handy down the road.

Then again, I just might be ridiculous.

The love you give comes back in the end.
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