In Finland, many things are ruined when it comes to children’s and young people’s sports activities.
If this were an audio form of inspiration instead of a written comment, I would put DJ Ibusal’s song Pilla playing in the background of my speech.
Or maybe not. That song is too funny. There is nothing funny about spoiling the sports activities of children and young people.
“Early specialization strengthens the phenomenon of early termination.”
That’s what he wrote in his distinguished column Director of coaching and training of the sports association Jarkko Finni. I couldn’t agree more.
While reading Finn’s text, I suddenly realized that in my immediate circle there is an unfortunately apt example of what follows when the sports hobby of elementary school children is shaped by stupid decisions.
Now it’s not so much about the problem of specializing in one sport that Finn mentioned, but about ruining the hobby with crazy policies made by adults.
The walk turns into a long bus ride, without friends
Here is one example of how everything can quickly turn upside down.
An 11-year-old boy is passionate about basketball. He goes to training three times a week and to games on weekends. The sport itself charms and fascinates, but even more essential for a child is that you can play basketball with good friends.
The hobby of children, young people and adults is almost always united by the most important thing: friends. After all, that’s what sport is all about, playing together with others.
The 11-year-old in question has been allowed to do just that for several years, i.e. play basketball with his friends. The enthusiasm for basketball was sparked by the joint decision of classmates to join the same club.
And what’s best, the exercises are always organized close to home. We invariably go to training in a group, mostly on foot. Only one of the week’s exercises requires a short bus ride.
Next year, that will all break. The suburban hobby will end. All the boys in the age group are first gathered together in the club and then divided into level groups. In the future, the exercises will be held far from home.
A joint twenty-minute walk turns into almost an hour’s bus ride, for many probably without friends. Everyone understands whether it’s better for a child to walk to practice or spend almost two hours in one evening on the bus.
At that point, unfortunately, the hobby of many ends like a wall.
According to the Liitu study (2022), which investigates the exercise behavior of children and young people, the biggest external obstacle to the hobby is that there is no guidance for the sport of interest near home.
What is really wrong with us adults?
The same madness repeats itself in other sports, when younger and younger people are divided into level groups according to their skills, without caring about everything that would keep the children involved in the activity.
Many still seem to live in the misconception that, for example, hockey and football should be specialized as early as possible. I repeat the wise words of Jarkko Finn:
“Early specialization strengthens the phenomenon of early termination.”
What is really wrong with us adults who decide on children’s hobbies? Why the hell do elementary school-aged children have to be divided into level groups? Who does it serve? Why do we bully children who play sports with such nonsense?
The most important thing would be that the sports hobby of as many people as possible would continue to be meaningful until adulthood. The problem seems to be, as Finnikin stated, children’s elite sports.
We have created for young children the framework of professional sports in which they should practice. It seems downright illegal.
We discussed the topic in Urheiluhullui, where the topic of our discussion was competitiveness.
One “inspirer” of that theme was the chairman of the Olympic Committee Jan Vapaavuori, which has been concerned about excessive competitiveness. According to Vapaavuori’s understanding, it is a significant reason that a child’s or young person’s hobby ends.
No, competitiveness is not a problem at all. The Liitu study also confirmed it. If competing is a fair and educational activity led by a good coach, I believe that children will enjoy competing.
The most significant problem is that the groups of friends are fragmented and the hobbies are organized too far from home. On top of that, the ever-increasing price tag of hobbies, which is already so high that many families can’t even dream of a sports hobby.
Sports activities for children and young people should be organized as close to home as possible until they are at least 16 years old. So that the Friends Groups, which further commit to the hobby, would stay together.
Just think how we adults who enjoy exercise would feel if someone arbitrarily broke up, for example, a latkä, futs or sähly team, which has been hanging out with the same lineup and in the same place for years.
Mika and Seppo move to the A team, which is made up of the city’s best 45-year-olds. Jussi and Simo, on the other hand, are dropped to group C, because the level is lower than their best friends. All exercises are moved 20 kilometers away from the familiar hall.
No, you couldn’t even imagine that. But apparently it’s okay for children to do that. No one just knows why.