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American Morning

Violence at Youth Sports Events Becomes Growing Trend

Aired June 08, 2001 - 10:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Youth sports can be a fun experience for kids and parents alike but, as we have seen of late, there can be a downside. Kids' sports can take a violent turn when competition leads to confrontations between parents and coaches. In Chicago, there's a national summit on raising community standards in children's sports underway.

And joining us now to talk more about the issue is Christine Brennan; she's a sports columnist for "USA Today."

And good to see you. Good to meet you and see -- and finally put a face and a voice to the words.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, "USA TODAY": Well, thanks, Leon.

HARRIS: How are you doing.

BRENNAN: I'm doing great, how are you doing.

HARRIS: I'm all right.

And surprised that we've even come to the point where we have to have a summit on something like this. I mean, how would you characterize this trend?

BRENNAN: Well, I think what it is, Leon, is basically the kid's sports becoming too important to the adults; which is no surprise. Anyone who's listening to us right now and watching us knows that -- they've seen a parent go crazy at little league game, if it's just verbal abuse of a child -- which is not just -- if it's abusing the referee.

My goodness, now there are 16 states in the country, Leon, that have laws that prohibit assaulting officials of a sport -- a sports official by a parent or a kid. So you know, obviously I think we're headed probably to 50 out of 50 states on something like that.

So it seems to be escalating. My sense is it's because sports is so important in our society. And the fact that so many parents believe that their kids -- their kid is the one and only; that child, boy or girl, is now going to make it to the Major Leagues. That's the lottery ticket for the family.

So everything seems to be much more intense. And the pressure on the kids and the parents in sports at a very early age seems to be getting -- skyrocketing, as opposed to the fun, kind of normal way it used to be, say, in the '50s and '60s.

HARRIS: You know, this is the only way you could possibly find a negative angle to the Tiger Woods story, here. Probably every parent out there thinks that somehow, some way, they could be the next Earl, Woods, huh?

BRENNAN: Yes; oh, absolutely. And you know, I think the first message we should probably give parents today is, no, that's not the case. To put your kid on TV at age 3, as Earl Woods did with Tiger with "The Mike Douglas Show" is not a smart move. Tiger Woods was an exception.

But I see it all the time in figure skating, in gymnastics. We've seen it in tennis -- boys and girls tennis. And, of course, now we see it in the team sports: on the soccer fields, in the little league fields around the country. And it's not just one area. It's not the suburbs, it's not the city; it's everywhere. Obviously it's continuing to be a problem.

HARRIS: And I've noticed it depends on which locality you happen to be in. I know here in Georgia there's been a number of incidents here. In fact -- I mean, with my kids and their soccer leagues that we've been around the state, and it's every league -- almost every county has a whole different rule. We've seen these silent weekends, where they make the parents shut up. And the kids actually play better when that happens.

Is that the kind of thing that we're going to see more of, do you think?

BRENNAN: I think we will, Leon. In Cleveland they had that with the girls' soccer for a day, the silent Sunday, and the kids said they loved it.

I think parents just have to be smart about it. Realize that your child is not, probably, going to be a Major Leaguer. The zillion-dollar contracts we see for the occasional superstar, unfortunately or fortunately, maybe, your child is not going to be that, so let sports be fun.

But, again, the way we all -- we've got a 24-hours new cycle; you can't dream anymore in just, kind of in a naive way, as a parent. Now you can go on the Internet; there's rankings for all these kids. We rank every sports team in every medium. High school sports ranking as never before. So we're making it so much more important, and the parents also feel that.

HARRIS: Yes, I understand.

I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut you off because we have the go now to live news -- breaking news right now in Florida.

(INTERRUPTED BY CNN COVERAGE OF A LIVE EVENT)

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