There’s a lot of good about youth sports. Sports keep our kids active, engaged, and out of trouble. And they teach some really important life lessons.

Americans just love sports. We watch and play sports. We hang out at sports bars and throw Super Bowl parties. We print out NCAA Final Four brackets and lay bets. We admire athletes and envy their lavish lifestyles funded by multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts and lucrative endorsement deals.

Our passion for sports even influences our parenting. We attend sporting events, tune into ESPN, discuss our favorite teams and players, and play sports with our children.

Children take notice. They rank famous athletes among the most admired people in their lives (73%), second only to their parents (92%).

Thirty-five million children in the U.S. play organized sports, and 60% of children play sports outside of school.

When our kids start to play competitive sports

When our children start to play competitive sports we enter a brave new world. For me and my husband, it started last year when our son, Nick, who was 8 at the time, said these words…

“I want to be a Major League Baseball pitcher.”

Cool, right? Professional athlete, fireman, President of the United States. These are standard and comforting responses to the question we insist on asking our children—what do you want to be when you grow up?

Only we weren’t asking. And Nick was intensely serious.

We had just finished watching a movie called The Rookie (it’s the true story, baseball version of Cinderella). I was about to utter something inane, like “Isn’t that nice, sweetheart?” when my husband responded:

“Maybe we should start with Little League first?”

Ok, so I admit it. My heart dropped a little at that moment. Despite America’s fascination with sports, I am not much of an athlete and I never pictured my son playing baseball. I immediately went to a sobering place, populated by mean coaches and belligerent parents. I imagined my son’s heartbreak, when he grasped that it wasn’t so easy to just announce your way into baseball glory. Then I realized that Ron went to a different place in his mind, where fathers and sons play catch together. Of course. How lovely.

We signed Nick up for spring baseball, and he was happy as could be. He was having a ball. (Did you know that this expression has nothing to do with sports? A ball was a medieval religious celebration in which choirboys danced and sang while catching and tossing a ball. They must’ve been having a great time, because the idiom stuck.) Anyway, Nick loved baseball. And he was indeed pitching—quite a bit, in fact. He was playing lots of other positions, too. His teammates were nice. Their parents were nice. The coaches were terrific, and they had only good things to say about our son.

What was not to like? We looked forward to having Nick play again the following spring. Then someone asked if we were doing “fall ball.” (Kids play baseball in the fall, too. Who knew?) Nick’s face lit up, and that sealed the deal.

From there, things started to snowball in ways that have grabbed my attention.

Nick had so much fun that his brother Ian signed up, too.

Then Nick made the travel team. In our town, kids who play “spring travel,” must also play “rec” (recreation or town) ball. This article describes some of the differences.

This spring, Nick was selected for the all-star team.

With one full year of baseball under our belts, I’m using a bit of summer downtime to mull things over. Let’s start with the good…

Baseball is a great game with important life lessons

My boys love baseball. They like being a part of a team. They are excited when they play well. They calculate their stats. They eagerly follow the other teams, and their standings in the league. When they lose to someone, they’re eager to play them again. When they win, they practically levitate.

Much to my surprise, I enjoy it, too—a lot! Rather than rush home to get a bit of work done after dropping them off, I find myself hanging out. It is fun cheering the team on.

My heart is with them… I feel every triumph and misstep of every single kid on the field. And I absolutely love watching my sons play. I am proud of them.

[Sappy mom alert] There is something very precious about little boys and baseball — the uniform and the way they adjust their hats… the serious “baseball ready” stance and accompanying expressions on their faces… their at-bat warm up rituals. I know why lots of grandparents show up for games, too. Little League baseball captures some of the perfection of childhood.

My parents are Taiwanese immigrants and I confess that I never quite understood the American fascination with baseball until my sons started to play. Sure, it was fun to sit in a big stadium, eat a knish, and hang with friends. But truth be told, the game itself was boring to me. I now know why plenty of fans say that baseball reflects real life.

I also came to appreciate how much time parent-coaches devote to the kids. A talented coach is a great teacher. Ron and I are grateful to these parents. We talk at length about the important life lessons they are learning:

• • You have to take turns.
  • People are counting on you.
  • Pay attention!
  • Shake it off!
  • Umps sometimes make bad calls.
  • It’s not all about you.
  • Someone will nearly always be better than you.
  • Make your contribution.
  • You get better with practice.
  • It only seems that nothing ever happens.
  • Suddenly, the ball is coming straight at you.
  • Go to the bathroom before getting dressed.
  • You don’t always get what you want.

As a parent, we can say these things ‘til we’re blue in the face. But now our kids are living it, on the field, and off the field as well.

No doubt about it—the good stuff about youth sports is exceptional… exercise, fresh air, new friends, new skills, playing on a team. This is what I wanted for my boys! So why is baseball keeping me up at night? My parenting antennae are vibrating. My gut is telling me to be careful.

Come back tomorrow to read why. This series also appeared in Pathways Magazine

Batter up: The Youth Sports Arms Race.

Note: when Fearless Parent changed its URL in 2013, we inadvertently lost all the “likes” to this post.

Louise is Executive Director of Fearless Parent and the geeky mother of two sports-loving tweens!