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Posted by Steve Busch
on March 18, 2002, 7:22 am
The boy is NOT "banned from basketball" as the headline states. Get a clue folks, get the coaches and adults out of the way and let kids be kids as long as they can. How sad that our culture is so overly focused on competition and winning that we have limited 6 year olds to adult coached, organized competitive sports training programs. Young kids need to learn to just go out and play with each other. Instead, they are being taught aggressive and overly competitive skills way too early. That's why when they get to be adults, those who have developed the best skills often turn out to be prima donna jerks, incapable of forming lasting relationships with anybody. But where is the common sense in this story? My 20 year passion has been to incorporate adults with and without developmental disabilities together in all kinds of sports and recreational activities. I've coached and played on basketball teams composed of athletes with and without various disabilites. As a coach, one of my primary concerns is always safety. The players, regardless of disability, must be able, within reason, to match up in size, speed, and strength. Our "fully integrated" basketball teams have gone way beyond the various levels of "Special Olympics" to compete in City and County leagues and 3x3 tournaments. While it is desirable for a non-ambulatory 6 yr. old child to play games, including basketball, with his young ambulatory friends, it certainly is not ok during organized competition. Basketball is one of the leading sports for injuries, and placing a hard mobile object on the court, at waist and knee height during competitive play, poses an unneccessary risk to everyone concerned. As the level of competition increases, a child or adult in a wheelchair is at a distinct disadvantage on a basketball court. Everyone's fun factor and everyone's safety will diminish exponentially as the level of competition increases.
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