Friday Night Tykes Analysis

It’s a Saturday afternoon and all around America kids are running around baseball fields playing the sport they love. Although this baseball seems the same, kids are in entirely different worlds than each other. While some are playing, and might not even be keeping score, others are in life or death situations to the point that the parents are more concerned about winning than the kids playing the game. This can be the bad thing about this beautiful game, when parents push their young kids too hard. For example, Friday Night Tykes is a show on TV that demonstrates the ugly realities of travel sports. On this show these kids get pushed too hard at their young age burning them out and making them not want to play the sport, which is saddening. …show more content…
With this lofty goal, that only 750 people get to experience, comes sacrifices for Jarrod and his family. “There was a time when the Petrees liked to drive to the beach on weekends, but weekends are now all about Jarrod 's baseball” (Corbett). His parents spend all their time trying to put Jarrod in the best possible position to attain his goal. Not all kids are fortunate enough to have the opportunities Jarrod is presented. This story is an example that shows one of the hidden success stories in travel sports. This young man is considered one of the elite prospects, in the whole country, in his age group. They say his precision accuracy locating strikes left and right leave kids that face him wondering how he does it. He plays on one of the best travel teams in the country as they had a record of seventy wins and nine losses last season. Jarrod is extremely dedicated to this game and it is admirable to see such a young person committed to the game like this. In no way did his parents force Jared into travel sports. He was presented with the opportunity, he took it and ran with it. He was playing in a mediocre recreational baseball league before he was presented with the opportunity of a …show more content…
One says kids get injured or burnt out too quickly from the game the other affects kids in a way that is indescribable. For the kids that get burnt out from the game it just might not be for them. Another thing is injuries happen, and most times they are cases of overuse. There is a point as a player or as a parent to shut your kid down and to take it easy to prevent injuries. No matter what, kids have fun playing this game whether it be in a mediocre hometown little league or on the big stages with elite travel ball. All that matters in the end is you learn life lessons and the love for the