Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Too gifted in sports?

Agreed. The article hinted that it might be a form of payback because the kid didn't play for the team run by the league president (or some such petty dictator--I may have the details wrong), and that does seem possible under the circumstances.

The great players make the all-star team; they do NOT get booted out of the league!

Probably not. Pitching 40 mph at 9, he'll probably have a career ending shoulder injury by 16.

My read of the article was that he had the opportunity to play in a tougher league and declined. This one was a developmental league. Where we are, the developmental leagues are all-inclusive. The better players play all-star and travel leagues.

I don't believe he should be pitching 40 mph at that level. Besides, what type of practice does he get pitching fast balls against kids at the lower levels?

Also, the mother's behavior was out of control. Like most things, I think there's more to the story, and the kids are the unwitting victims.

The article also hinted at some type of misbehavior by his mother...

I think we were all reading the same article at the same time!


I think there is something to this, unfortunately. It would have been interesting if the author had dug into that more.

JB

Yeah, there is definitely more going on than was reported. Calling the police over a baseball game?

JB

Pretty great analysis, Questions, I think you are right.


That's a real shame.

That does sound odd. But maybe someone was threatening her. We just don't have enough information.

Thanks, but I've seen it all too often. Look at those Chinese gymnasts. If they are underage, it's not their fault. They're not the ones changing their passports. And if they get banned (and I expect they will if they are underage) they lose - forever.

Kids sports are out of control. And the adults don't care about the lessons they're teaching with their behavior.

I could go on ... and on... and on....

Interesting to think about this in the context of the Chinese gymnasts. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that the Chinese girls were under 16. On the face of it, at least, there seems to be some tension between being for acceleration in the case of baseball but against it in the case of gymnastics. Not that the two cases are exactly analogous, nor that anyone here has expressed this combination of views. But still, perhaps it's worth thinking about the two cases in relation to each other.

BB

I think the age rule for gymnastics has to do with the relationship between injuries and that kind of super heavy training at younger ages.


Me too!

Let's not.