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Mark Hyman: The Reality Of Youth Sports

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Listen in as Positive Coaching Alliance goes 1-on-1 in interviews with top pro and college players, coaches, executives, and other major sports figures and academics who provide tips, tools, information and inspiration for youth and high school sports coaches, parents and student-athletes.

This 1-on-1 interview features Mark Hyman (@sportsparents), a faculty member at the George Washington University School of Business and teacher in the Sports Management Program. He has been writing about youth sports for 10 years, publishing 3 books. His writings have also been published in sources such as The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and TIMES.com.

Jim Thompson (@JimThompson18), PCA Founder, talks to Hyman about how his experience writing about youth sports opened his eyes to the dysfunction behind youth sports, the roles of parents in youth sports, and the reality of high school athletes playing in college.

Hyman examines the truth that youth sports is a controversial topic because they can create irreplaceable, positive memories, as well as negative problems for aspiring athletes. He is an advocate for competitive youth sports and believes sports are a wonderful thing for kids to participate in. Problems arise once sports reflect the interest of the adults, rather than the kids, involved.

Thompson and Hyman also discuss how there is a lot more hope that is sold rather than delivered within sports. Roughly 5% of high school varsity athletes will play college sports, amongst all the divisions. It is tough to deal with this reality as a parent, especially when they are “programmed to see greatness in [their] kids.”

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