The Professionalization of Organized Youth Sport: Social Psychological Impacts and Outcomes

The notion of professionalism in sport is not a well-defined one. In essence, it is the degree of seriousness and importance given to it by the athletes, management, and spectators. Organized competitive youth sports ostensibly are for the young athletes, but the cross pressures and often overburdening demands from coaches and parents serve to make the sporting experience considerably less than relaxed and recreational. In most youth leagues the model of how sport should be approached is that of the adult professional ranks—those athletes who earn a living from their sport. The concern with winning above the concern with enhancing the experience of the athlete is at the core of the professionalization of youth sports. Little League baseball is used to illustrate some of the dynamics and processes by which the young athletes and the adults on the scene—coaches, parents, umpires, and league officials—interact and perpetuate a highly competitive, organized game for youngsters in the mold of the big leagues.