sports crazy

Reviewed by Angie Abdou

1 june 2019 archive

Last year I published a memoir called Home Ice: Reflections of a Reluctant Hockey Mom (ECW Press). I shared a year in the life of a busy hockey family in order to explore youth sports and thereby present the case that we might all have lost our minds, just a little bit. To avoid pitfalls of memoir (i.e. self-absorption, navel gazing), I incorporated research and expert opinion about the state of sport culture for kids, particularly in North America.

When I picked up Sports Crazy: How Sports Are Sabotaging American Schools, I therefore fully expected to be on the same team as its author, Steven J. Overman. Overman already has a solid reputation in the field, having published books like The Youth Sport Crisis: Out-of-Control Adults, Helpless Kids. The chapters in this recent publication indicate a similar line of argument (e.g. "The Problems with Governance, Funding, and Professional Coaches," "How Parents, Boosters, and Sports Fans Drive the Agenda," "The Troubling Relationship between Interscholastic Sports and Academics," and "Physical Fitness – or Not? – of the Student-Athlete").

For the most part, I got exactly what I expected with this book. Overman begins by describing the way sports trump academics at the high-school level. Most parents will attend a basketball game before they attend a PTA meeting. We know the name of the star football player, but maybe not the name of the valedictorian. Local papers have a high-school sport column, but do they have an education column? Overman's goal is to examine the current status and consequences of interscholastic sports in American schools: "This book takes a critical look at interscholastic sports, first assessing their problematic influence on academics, student-athletes, school culture, and community and then proposing reforms to address these issues" (21). The book's goal is clear and its approach comprehensive.

Admirably, Overman does not restrict himself to critiquing the current system. Instead, he sets out a clear and forceful recommendation for change. He insists that Americans need to return more control to the students. He calls his approach the "intramural/sports club model" (36). Elite sports would be the concern of private or community-sponsored sport clubs, and school sports would focus instead on "healthy and enjoyable recreation, with competitive tendencies kept in check" (37). The majority of his book provides a guide on how to implement this change.

Sensible right? Overman certainly makes it seem so. He states his suggestions in such a matter-of-fact, common-sense tone that readers might be forgiven for forgetting that he is actually advocating for massive, controversial change. For example, "The officiating would be handled at the local level, with adult volunteers or students serving as officials" (63). Also, "the traditional school athletic director would be replaced by an intramural sports director" (63). And "the operating budgets under the intramural/sports club model would be much more modest, motivating schools to get out of the sports entertainment business. Spectators wouldn't be encouraged to attend student sports events" (63). Moreover: "Shifting from tackle football to flag football, which requires minimal protective equipment, would result in significant savings" (63).

Excellent! Perfect! Let's do it! Flag football! Volunteer referees! No spectators!

That's what I think, until I remember that we are talking about Americans and their football. These might be common sense suggestions, but they will not be well received by the majority of sport-loving Americans. In fact, I suspect those who pick up Overman's book and read through to the end will be those who already agree with him. Are those the same people who can make such monumental change happen? How do we get everybody to read this book? How do we get opposing sides to come together to do the hard work of real change?

There is much more to this book than I can capture here. Overman includes a fascinating analysis of how the current system subordinates music and academics to sport. He discusses the degradation of young adult women in current cheer-leading culture. He convinces me that sport culture enables a kind of misbehaviour in the athletically gifted and does so to the detriment of those teens developing into well-rounded adults. He complains about sports taking away resources and attention from classroom learning. He challenges the argument that the current sport model increases school "spirit." He paints an alarming portrait of the role of media in current teen sports and the ways sports make a lottery of youth. He includes the obligatory chapter on head injuries. He – with the backing of much expert opinion and detailed analysis – concludes that "almost from their conception, interscholastic sports have subverted schools' mission" (217).

I am convinced. I would love to see administrators follow his guidelines and de-emphasize elite athletics within the high-school system. However, my opinion is not important. What about all the American sport-lovers – or even more those who profit from youth sport as big business? How do you get them to read beyond the title? How do you stop them from rolling their eyes at the suggestion that math might be more important than football? How do you get them to consider the research and engage in the conversations this book initiates? That is the important next step.

I would love to see Sports Crazy become mandatory reading for athletic administrators, coaches, and sport parents. I would like to see communities take the book and its guidelines seriously and at least experiment with these new ways of approaching youth sport. The changes Overman suggests are huge and will be threatening to those deep in the system, but it's time. Change is needed – for the health and well-being of our children.

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