New Index

Each week we open the show with some of the most glaring and reoccurring stories chronicling the ugliness surrounding youth sports organized by adults; issues pertaining to our children's health and education. These headlines clap like thunder across the country signaling a warning to parents, coaches, administrators, lawmakers, and community stakeholders that widespread change is imperative.

My good friend, and frequent guest on the show, Professor Doug Abrams of the College of Law at the University of Missouri, will add you to his daily mailing list of these stories. Simply email Doug and ask him to add your name to the list.

A blockbuster and controversial show with my guest John Gerdy, author of "Air Ball: American Education's Failed Experiment with Elite Athletics. John has been a guest before discussing his previous book, Sports: The All-American Addiction.

This will be the second in a two-part series concluding May 20 in which John Gerdy will discuss the urgency of reform of NCAA sports. In Part 2, we will discuss doing away with athletic scholarships; the professional coach; and the impact on high schools and youth sports.

John Gerdy has seen nearly every side of athletics. He is the son of a high school football coach and science teacher; he was an All-American and professional basketball player; he was a legislative assistant for the NCAA; and he served as an associate commissioner for the Southeastern Conference. In Air Ball, Gerdy brings all of those perspectives to bear and argues that the American system of school and community athletics is broken. But he is no mere naysayer. He offers a bold, progressive blueprint for reforming athletics to meet our country’s educational and public health needs.

Given higher education's historic role of providing leadership in our society, the initiative to restore a more sensible balance between athletics and education must begin with the reform of big-time college athletics. Despite widespread public skepticism regarding higher education's ability to change the system. Gerdy argues that the opportunity for reform has never been better. Using a provocative mix of research and thoughtful observation, he argues that, for the first time in the history of American higher education, the critical mass of people, organizations, and outside pressures necessary to drive and sustain progressive, systemic reform of the college athletic enterprise is in place.

The importance for high schools and youth leagues is that the professional model that exists at the intercollegiate level has professionalized the lower level of sports as well.

Gerdy believes that athletic scholarships must go as a first step in returning the true meaning of "amateurism" and "student-athlete" to college campuses. Professional coaches who are not first and foremost "teachers" concerned with education and graduation must change their focus on winning, entertainment, and shoe contracts.

You will learn about the slow, but definite process of change that began twenty years ago when college presidents asserted their control over intercollegiate athletics, and what is happening now to bring athletics in line with the educational, social, and public health mission of higher education.

I'll have some helpful hints for first-time and veteran coaches about what is really important.

Depends on my mood! There's lots to rant about parents' involvement in the games their children play. Just might rant on "giving the games back to the kids."

More on the "Parent Trap" of youth sports and how to be aware of it and how to protect yourself from becoming ensnared.