In Progress

Youth in the Republic of Play

I’m working on a book addressing what I believe is the most serious problem plaguing sport, that it’s become a mixed blessing for children and youth around the world. Sport at its best is a republic of play, offering an ethical and transparent vision of society that celebrates the body, mind, and camaraderie that comes from belonging to a team. Participants validate their worth by the strength of their opponents and absorb notions of fair play. Performance, not race, gender, or class background, is what counts, and children are welcomed into an arena where they can figure out something about who they are.

But just as the early American republic embraced slavery alongside freedom, sport can be a mean and vicious place—where youth are vulnerable commodities on a global supply chain, alienated from play, and damaged by their commitment. At its worst, many are denied the chance to play, athletes are traumatized, and sport used to promote anger and misogyny, bringing out the worst—not the best—in us. Sport for youth wasn’t meant to be that way. But global forces have made it a handmaiden to professional sport. I want to explain how sport became problematic for youth, identify where it optimizes access, health, and well-being, and determine what of those approaches might work elsewhere, especially in larger, less affluent countries.

Norway, New Zealand, and parts of Europe offer evidence of a better version of sport. So do sport & development projects and campaigns to reform sport where it’s damaged young people. Norway’s sport for all ethos, New Zealand’s Balance is Better campaign, and reforms curbing the abuse of children in camel racing in the Persian Gulf, addressing the shortcomings of Caribbean baseball academies, and clamping down on the trafficking of young African boys to foreign football markets show that change is possible. It’s incumbent on those of us who have skin the game to make that change happen.