All-Star teams! Travel leagues! All-Star seven year old travel T-ball leagues. Yes, even in the dead of winter, the communities that each park district serves are making their requests, early and often. It seems that every sport wants to separate the kids into "good" and "bad" divisions. Our clientele wants very competitive programs at all levels and in every athletic program. It seems to me that the parents want to use our athletic programs as feeder programs for the junior high schools and, eventually, the high schools. This madness has to stop.

Over the past four years, I have kept track of the progress of the so-called "All-Stars" through their high school years, and the results were as I suspected — the cream always rises to the top.

Every parent looks at their child through rose-colored glasses, and many actually live through their child during their playing years. To the parents, every child is an All-Star, and they remind us of this fact every day. At my district, we run All-Star teams at every level and in every sport, but when I look at the high school teams, I no longer see these "great" players. Most of the players have quit because they don't like the coach, but the reality of the situation is they were not good enough.

The system has built these youngsters up all during their growing years, and now they must deal with the harsh realities of the cruel world of competitive sports.

What ever happened to "just having fun"? Have we programmed these youngsters/parents so hard that they forgot about the really important meaning of sports?

As a child growing up in beautiful Highland Park, my friends and I would play pickup games or made up games. And guess what — we did not need a parent. We played because we loved to play. Teams were picked and changed numerous times until just the right mix of children were in place. We didn't care if you were good or bad, as long as the teams were even.

After playing our neighborhood games, we would embark to the park district programs where we would meet new youngsters. At the park district, we upgraded our skills and received cool uniforms. No, these uniforms were not major league replica jerseys of the kind we distribute today, but just a T-shirt with our sponsor's name on them. If you were lucky, your team would have a tow truck or a fire engine on the front, but more importantly, your T-shirt meant you were on a team; your team and your coach.

Oh, yes, our coach was a high school kid, not an adult, who knew a little about the game and a lot about having fun. We would huddle and wait for our positions. We all played for so many innings each game. We played outfield for two innings and infield for three.

The coach let everyone pitch and catch, but in the "big" game we knew who we wanted to pitch for us.

Funny, isn't it, how the players knew who was good and who was not so good. As a matter of fact, the teams were picked by us kids, in the old fashioned way which included sitting in the bleachers and waiting for your name to be called. The "head" coach would separate last year's All-Stars and made sure every team had some pitchers and catchers. We would also separate the weaker players and place them on teams after the All-Stars, but when this boring process was finished, it was our turn to choose the players. Some parents complained about the process, but it was our league, and we looked forward to this "draft" every season. Looking back, those were the most even teams in which I was ever associated.

Practice was fun. It was loosely structured, but we had a good time. Most of the fundamentals were explained, and we would work on them at home with our fathers or friends. We just wanted to play games. Sure, we would miss the ball, throw it all over the field and try to hit a home run every time, but we were having a great time playing.

As I looked back over my little league years with my friends, we did not remember the winning and losing. We remembered the bad plays, the over exaggerating distance of our hits, our coach, our uniforms and our "big" game. But most of all, the fun we had on those summer days. Just thinking about it makes me smile.

These are the things that make youth sports special. It is not life or death. It is not for the parents. It is for the children — every child, no matter what ability he/she possesses. It is all about belonging to a team and learning that fair play and good sportsmanship are lifelong lessons. It is about doing the best you can and feeling good about yourself. But most important, it is about FUN, not for just a few good players, but for everyone.

I hope when our players look back on their playing days with the park districts, they, too, will have a smile on their faces.

Chris Faggi is the Athletics Supervisor for the Park District of Highland Park. •

Illinois Parks & Recreation • May/June 1994 • 27