Kids Sports in New Jersey

Pompton Lakes, New Jersey -- It seems that every youth sport and activity in New Jersey is becoming more and more competitive. Look at latest sport section of the Bergen Record or the Star Ledger and it's plastered with advertisements for year round sports camps and sports training. In our ever competitive New Jersey landscape it seems that in order to compete you have to become a year round, single sport athlete. While that may seem like a logical decision it leads to specialization and exclusion which can be detrimental in your child's growth.

Specialization is the tendency to put "all the eggs in one basket". This is where your child is placed in year round sports training programs that will have him or her compete at higher levels within his or her age group. At first glance, this appears to be a good decision, who doesn't want their child to succeed and have the advantages you didn't have growing up. But, while you have the best intentions, you may be causing a huge disservice to your child.

When I began coaching in Bergen County in 1990, this "specialization trend" just started to begin. Parents were being told by coaches that their child had "scholarship" potential. Coaches did this in an effort to combat the looting of other sports to other sports. The thinking being, if the kids focused on one sport, they would become that much better. In the past, the New Jersey High School Athletic Association had strict rules about off season training. It used to be that coaches and athletes had a limited window of official practice time that was attached to the season. But all that is gone now.

In order to gain any advantage, the state and coaches have lifted those restrictions, now that they have free reign to coach year round. This has developed a cottage industry of summer sports camps and off season training schools. A football coach has a football camp, a soccer coach has a soccer camp and the same goes for baseball, lacrosse, wrestling and softball. You name it, if there is a youth sport, there is a specialty camp attached to it with a coach that has a vested interest. This has double benefits for the coach; first, they can earn some extra money and second, they have the athlete captive year round. This may seem to serve the New Jersey's youth well, but is specialization the way to athletic excellence?

It used to that all athletes were 2 and 3 sport lettermen (and women). Specializing in one sport was really unusual and unheard of. Today, the opposite is true. Kids are involved in year round soccer, baseball, wrestling and even football. With the growth of personal training, speed schools and "specialists" a large "skill" and "core" building industry has sprung up in the garden state. These businesses are fueled by the money of eager parents to give there child the ultimate edge in performance in hopes of a scholarship

Is training year round the answer? Well, it is my experience that the opposite is true. Focusing on one, single activity actual inhibits growth rate and causes more frequent plateaus in development. You need to take a step back in order to move forward. The mind needs to be challenged in different ways order to grow.

To do that you need to take a different approach from time to time. This is why cross training in other activities is your best bet. It develops both "left and right side" brain activity and accelerates coordination. When you cross train in multiple activities, you will see huge increases.

The next component is the competitive nature of New Jersey youth sports. Good and healthy competition is important, but the younger and earlier you start your child in competitive sports, the less chance they will have to develop. Sports like football, basketball, baseball, softball, wrestling, gymnastics and dance all depend on your child's natural ability to perform. They favor the larger, faster, taller, stronger and more coordinated athletes and leave the "late-bloomers" off to the side.

Most New Jersey kids don't even get the attention they need to develop and grow in New Jersey youth athletics. It seems we are teaching are kids: "if you got it, great and if you don't got it, wait!" When your child is excluded base solely on natural talent you're telling them that if you're not born with it, you'll never get- this can have serious ramifications.

What is the point of playing sports? A scholarship? A professional career? First, out of all the high school athletes only 4% actually go on to play any college athletics. Out of those 4% only 1% receives ANY MONEY. That includes financial aid, full rides, anything. So out of 100 high school athletes only a fraction (about .04) will receive any type of scholarship. When you do the math, you have a better chance of hitting the lottery than the chance of your child going pro.

I have to let you in on a little secret of full scholarship, or pro athletes. I was recently talking to a friend of mine (a 30 year high school football coach and he does PR for the Giants here in New Jersey). He says that all of the athletes on the Giants football team played 2 or 3 sports in high school.

As a coach, when you see an athlete of that caliber, they are so head and shoulders above the rest of the pack that they actually look out of place on the field. They move faster and just play on a different plane.

So if your child is not going pro, why do sports? You do them to develop life skills, working with others, making the best with what you have. You want your child to learn the value of hard work and self reliance. You want them to grow and become a confident and happy member of society. If they are happy and well adjusted, they will be successful. Well fortunately, there are still a few places your child can go where they don't have to be the fastest, strongest, largest or coordinated.

There is still a place that the "late-bloomers" can go and get the attention and the coaching that they need. That place is martial arts. It's no wonder that martial arts schools are growing at an alarming rate. Parents are responding to the "early-achiever" mentality that has become the problem with New Jersey Youth sports and the martial art f Judo is leading the way.

When taught properly, Judo teaches your child to channel their energy, work with others and make the best of the skills they have. They don't need to jump high, run fast, be strong or be mean. All they have to do is show up, learn and have fun and grow at their own pace in a positive environment.

The founder of Judo, Jigoro Kano, wanted to build better people and productive members of society, NOT professional athletes.

To learn more about alternatives to kids sports in New Jersey, click Martial Arts for Kids.

A Brief History Martial Arts and Self Defense

Many martial arts and self defense systems are derived from military combatives; the study of hand-to-hand combat and martial arts in warfare. After all, the term "martial art" means "art of warfare." For example, the sport of judo comes from jujutsu, which comes from samurai grappling, which was part of the training Japanese warriors received as preparation for battle.

Many weapon-oriented martial arts, such as iado, kendo, kyudo and naganata-do originated in schools of martial techniques for warriors. These weapons, the sword, bow and arrow, and pole arm, were the assault rifles and machine guns of their time--the default weapons of military fighters--and as such were key components in combat training.

The Western interest in East Asian Martial arts dates back to the late 19th Century AD, due to the increase in trade between America with China and Japan. Relatively few Westerners actually practiced the martial arts, considering it to be mere performance.

Edward William Barton-Wright, a railway engineer who had studied the martial art Jujutsu while working in Japan between 1894-97, was the first man known to have taught Asian martial arts in Europe. He also founded an eclectic martial arts style named Bartitsu which combined jujutsu, judo, boxing, savate and stick fighting.

William E. Fairbairn, a Shanghai policeman and at the time a leading Western expert on Asian fighting techniques, was recruited during world War II by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to teach UK, U.S. and Canadian Commando and Ranger forces Jujutsu.

The seminal self-defense book Kill or Get Killed was written by Colonel Rex Applegate, who worked closely with Fairbairn to train the "First Special Service," a joint U.S. and Canadian army unit; it became a classic military treatise on hand to hand combat and created the reality based martial art "Defendu." Modern variations that can still trace an authentic lineage to Applegate are very few.

Seeing the need to bring these legitimate and proven techniques and method of close-combat back into the Modern world of "hobby" Martial Arts (Karate, Kung Fu, Capoiera, Aikido, etc.) and "sport" Martial Arts (Judo, Brazilian Jui-jitsu, Wrestling, Kick Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Ultimate fighting , etc.), Yoshisada Yonezuka, Damian Ross, Roger Jones and Peter Barry have dedicated their lives to teaching, instruction, and spreading the "truth" about Martial Arts, street fighting, self defense, and close combat.

This site is the only link to that legacy