Leading off today: Are kids' games out of control?
No, but parents need to know where to draw the line.
That's the starting point for a four-day series by reporter Kevin Witt examining youth sports that began yesterday in The Times Herald-Record in Middletown.
"Parents of small children have an innate desire to be protective of their child," said Fred Engh, founder of the National Alliance for Youth Sports. "This becomes very evident in organized sports, where they agree to officiate, run the leagues, etc. They too often lose sight of the fact that these are growing children who simply want to go out and play.
"In youth sports, approximately 20 percent (starting at age 6) will be natural gifted athletes. The rest are there because their parents signed them up wanting very much for them to be good athletes. In most cases, it doesn't happen and the parents show their frustration because of it."
Every reporter has his or her own horror story related to dealing with unrealistic parents. I had one football father who badgered me for months because his son "only" made the second-team of All-Greater Rochester — never mind that there were nearly 70 football-playing schools in our
