406. Let Kids Play: Fixing Youth Sports with Linda Flanagan Why have youth sports become a pressure cooker of competition, money, and burnout instead of fun, growth, and play? Journalist and author Linda Flanagan joins us to break down: -The three biggest reasons kids' sports have changed for the worse—and what we can do about it.-How parents can rethink their role on the sidelines, engage with coaches, and set healthy boundaries.-Why specializing in one sport too early can actually hurt long-term athletic success.-The hidden consequences of linking kids' self-worth to their performance. About Linda: LINDA FLANAGAN is a freelance journalist, a former cross-country and track coach, and the author of Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports—and Why It Matters. A graduate of Lehigh University, Flanagan holds master’s degrees from Oxford University and the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and was an analyst for the National Security Program at Harvard University. She is a founding board member of the New York City chapter of the Positive Coaching Alliance, a contributor to Project Play at the Aspen Institute, and a regular writer for NPR’s education site MindShift. Her columns on sports have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Runner’s World, and she is currently co-producing a documentary series on mental health in collegiate women athletes. A mother of three and a lifelong athlete, Flanagan lives in Summit with her fabulous husband, Bob, and a small menagerie of pets. She is still floating over Malcolm Gladwell’s recent claim that Take Back the Game was one of his favorite books last year. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Hey everybody, this is Amanda. Before we dive in, we want to say this. We believe in the power of sports. As the daughter of a football coach, the wife of a basketball and baseball coach, as myself the coach of my daughter's lacrosse, basketball, and volleyball teams,
And as the mother of two kids whose selfless, grounded coaches and dogged teammates have strengthened their grit, confidence, and leadership through sport, I know how remarkably invaluable sport can be to grow us and connect us. But as we are talking about today, sports are neither good nor bad. Sports are an empty vessel.
And depending on what you fill that vessel up with, sport can either be deeply nourishing or or deeply toxic. Today, we are talking about the flood of money and dramatic increases in stress and pressure in the sports industrial complex that are poisoning the vessel of youth sports for kids and families.
Journalist Linda Flanagan helps us unpack what's gone wrong and how we can bring back the best of what sports have to offer to our kids.
Welcome back to We Can Do Hard Things. And today to help us figure out what has gone wrong with kids sports and how we can make it just a little healthier for our own families and communities is Linda Flanagan. Linda is a freelance journalist, former cross-country and track coach, and the author of Take Back the Game, How Money and Mania are Ruining Kids' Sports and Why it Matters.
She is a founding board member of the New York City chapter of the Positive Coaching Alliance, a contributor to Project Play at the Aspen Institute, and a regular writer for NPR's education site, MindShift. She is also currently co-producing a documentary series, on mental health in collegiate women athletes.
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