Sport and the Commodification of America's Youth | Travis Dorsch | TEDxPurdueU

"Participation is nice, but it's being the best that matters most", Travis says when it comes to sports. Travis' talk challenges the way society thinks about youth sport in America. Should parents be expecting some sort of return on investment when putting money into their youth's sports? Dr. Dorsch’s findings in the field of sports psychology have been highlighted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and TIME magazine, and are used by youth sports leagues, administrators, and parents to construct more developmentally appropriate sports contexts and to evaluate the role of youth sport in the family. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@joshhansen7560]

What an incredible perspective to share! Great talk from an impressive researcher.

[@paulmoggach8231]

Great message! I would also recommend reading Building an Uncommon Champion: Help Your Child Redefine Success by Jennifer Matras. Youth sports is an amazing platform for youth to engage-love-and learn with others. Coaches too, have to get on board with being transactional or transformational. The ROI should be better people, leaders, and successful humans.

[@Jenda-ld8dj]

A good parent knows that a well-rounded individual is one where the child has been introduced to a variety of healthy, wholesome activities that cover a wide spectrum of genres tempered by balance-not indulgence.

[@davidrowse1364]

This adds just another layer of evidence and reason to change the way we approach youth sports, from parents to coaches to administrators. This complements movements such as John O'Sullivan's Changing the Game Project and many others and lends more weight that will hopefully create enough momentum for change which then becomes the irresistible force that will overcome the immovable object that is the decline or erosion in youth sport structure and then much broader the provision, delivery and importance of physical education and physical literacy in our global youth, be it here in Australia or there with Travis in the USA.

[@yanpingru9519]

super, let our kids enjoy the sport