What Message Are We Sending Our Youth Athletes?
November 6, 2008
Minorities and Youth Sports:
Part I, the African-American male
We have created an environment that says if you are a minority (especially African-American) child who participates in sports and lives in a low income neighborhood, your best chance at a better life is to be good with a basketball, or a football, or to be fast on a track. This is especially true for African-American males.
The fact is the odds of getting a substantial college scholarship for athletics (including Division I-III) is probably about 1 in 6 (less than 20%). For Division I (the schools that can usually better afford full scholarships), this chance drops to 1 in 50 (about 2% chance). This drops even lower when we begin talking about just football and basketball.
The chances of getting an academic scholarship are quite obviously much greater. Look at any high school graduation. Look at the program or listen to the announcements. See how many academic scholarships are awarded and how many athletic scholarships.
So, if the odds of getting an academic scholarship are much greater, why don’t we push that? Isn’t the object to increase the odds of a better life?
That brings me to some very serious questions about the messages we send our young people. If one looks at media images (including the news) over the last few decades, the most praise one sees afforded to African-American males comes from sports and music. And I don’t just mean television shows. I mean the news, MTV, all of the above. No wonder many of these kids think this is all they can do.
Now, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics in 2002, African-American males participated in high school sports at about the same rate as Caucasian kids. So, what’s the problem? Well, then, they aren’t any more skewed toward sports participation than white kids, right? Wrong. Data like this ignores a couple of factors: 1) The importance of the sports participation relative to other aspects of life, 2) How this importance is affected by socio-economic conditions.
This is where social and economic issues collide to become what we call socioeconomic conditions. The social influences are synergized with the economic constraints. It is a synergy, which is greater than a simple addition, because economic issues have a way of exacerbating and solidifying social issues and images. For example, if I only value myself as an athlete; the only people I have seen make it out of the neighborhood are drug dealers and athletes; my situation really means I need to make it out of the neighborhood; well….
Furthermore, while the African-American male is expected to perform well, are they being taught and nurtured with the same dedication as their Caucasian counterparts? At least with regard to their own perception, the answer among this group may be no. As c cited in Research in Youth Sports: Critical Issues Status, by Hedstrom and Gould, Institute for the Study of Youth Sports (Michigan State University, 2004):
”African American and Hispanic American youth rated too much emphasis placed on winning, needing time to study, and the coach being an ineffective teacher higher than Caucasian youth” (Seefeldt, Ewing, & Walk, 1992).
This means that not only are African-American males being told that their only likely worth is in the athletic environment, they are even being disenfranchised within this environment.
So What’s The Solution?
1) Information. Guidance counselors and schools need to work more effectively with parents and the community to get the information out there about academic opportunities, such as scholarships and pre-college development programs.
2) We need to market information about academic opportunities as effectively as athletic opportunities are being marketed. Which means someone needs to throw some money at this.
3) Help from athletes. Well known minority male athletes need to help us promote education actively, and need to take responsibility for this message. If these children continue to get pigeon-holed into a track that has very little statistical chance of success, we will all be in trouble.
4) Change the youth sports environment. Coaches are guilty, too, of creating that environment that overvalues young minority athletes as commodities. Look at yourself and your program. Are you doing this?
5) Combine services. Youth sports programs should partner with after-care tutoring and academic development services to drive home the point that athletic participation and academic excellence are equally important. Coaches can roll academic development programs into their practice schedule.
6) More minority representation at the coaching level.
If we seriously employ some of these solutions, I guarantee that we can fix this problem. Who wants to work with me?
Visit my new blog at http://drkwamebrown.wordpress.com/
Dr. Kwame M. Brown
Consultant, Child Development / Physical Education
www.movetheory.com
Executive Director, Advisory Board Chair
Int’l Youth Conditioning Association
www.myyouthfitness.com
www.iyca.org
Related posts:
- In Response To: What Message Are We Sending Our Youth
- Scholarship Money For Your Athlete
- Self Esteem And Our Youth Athletes
- Youth Athletes And Injuries, Is Your Youth Athlete Next?
- Training of Elite Youth Athletes….. What Age Would You Start?
I often feel that African-American youth, both male and female, who compete and excel in Sports are unjustifiably made to feel bad about their accomplishments. While I agree whole heartadly that young athletes should maintain a proper balance between srorts and athletics, we should not deny the fact that African-American Youth, no matter how small, may have a leg up on acheiving success in athletics and the possibility of getting financial help in their college pursuits.
I am not, by any means, suggesting that they should focus entirely on athletics as their path out of a bad environment but they should give every opportunity the weight it deserves. I recognize the odds are against someone getting a scholarship to college and even longer against them turning professional in their athletis pursuits but to suggest that they not even try would be akin to acknowledging defeat without an attempt.
I do understand that many of our youth place a disproportionate amount of time on developing their athletic skills versus their academic skills. This must be corrected and brought into proper perspective but the dream certainly not destroyed.
I understand the premise but I question some of the logic in the message. We must teach our youth to be realistic in their pursuits but continue to dream and hope as long as the path permits.
Ron makes some excellent points. The quest for athletic success may not really be greater in the African American community. In fact AA kids are probably more likely to attend schools with fledgling sports programs. Very few AA kids attend schools or live in communities with well rounded sports programs that include good teams and coaching in baseball, swimming, football, track, cross country, volleyball, golf etc. The quest for athletic success is huge in American society in general.