Today's Parents #1

There's an old saying -- an axiom, really -- in the military establishment that armies are always equipped and trained to fight the last war.

When we gear up to deal with today's parents, we are always at risk of doing exactly what generals normally do. We view the wants and needs of today's parents based on our own experience with parents of a generation ago, or, if we take an academic approach to things, based on what has been written about soccer moms and the like.

Suffice it to say that, by the time a term like "soccer mom" has reached a level of popular acceptance that a spin-off term like "hockey mom" can be a key component of a vice presidential campaign, the train has already left the station with regard to soccer moms as we understand them.

A new generation of parents is solidly in place, and it is the children of this new generation who are the beneficiaries of any church sports programs out there that are not oriented toward adults. (I'm not disparaging church-based sports programs for adults; in fact I think they are a super idea and that more churches ought to be supporting them. It's just not what this blog is about.)

There are several ways the current generation of parents is different from those who came before. Here are a few of them:
--Family finances
--Demands on time
--Priorities
--Educational backgrounds
--Attitudes about church/religion
--Alternatives
--Expectations

Over the next few posts I'll look at these differences and try to project ways they affect parental attitudes about church and kids and sports.

Preparing for What?

Occasionally, even in our really small (comparatively) church summer soccer program we find ourselves in conversations with moms and dads whose children are with us for only one reason: to get mileage, in hopes they will eventually get an athletic scholarship.

The New York Times has been running an important series about athletic scholarships, and the lives they impose on their holders, particularly in Division I NCAA colleges. It's emphatically worth reading, especially if you find yourself occasionally (or frequently) in contact with parents (or kids) with athletic scholarship aspirations.

Two things the series make clear: (1) unless you're in one of the marquee sports, like basketball or football, full scholarships are very, very uncommon. Thus, there will also be major expenses associated with college. (Some people seem unaware of this, sadly). (2) an athletic scholarship is a job, and a very demanding one.

Questions that remain (at least so far) in my mind:

(1) given that division III NCAA colleges cannot give athletic scholarships as such but that there may still be a connection between a scholarship and athletic (or musical or artistic or whatever) prowess, how do expectations at division III schools compare with the bleak picture the articles paint of scholarship athletes' lives at division I schools? (As a lacrosse player many years ago at a division III school who did not have a scholarship, I suspect this question needs to be asked today as the experience of 45 years ago probably isn't representative of today's world.)

(2) what about private secondary schools that provide pretty much undisguised athletic scholarships? (In this case, I have a special concern about kids who may find themselves playing hurt just so they can continue their education even when they may only be in 9th grade or thereabouts.)

Glad to have thoughs or input on either of these questions.

What has this got to do with church? If you are involved with church and kids and sports, you'll get into this topic sooner or later. Might as well be informed on it in advance.