Both sides need to be open to the possibility that a blanket statement about Right and Wrong may or may not apply….. There are student/athletes that excel and should be allowed to be the best they can be. There are parents that work twice as hard developing balance in their child’s life, only to find out the child is sneaking into the Gym or running sprints when you are not around. The same child is #1 in class ranking… (think they call her—Ray Ray)
as we all know, this is not the norm and should not be pushed but rather embraced if you may be blessed with such talent.
With that said, as long as student/athlete is playing to her best ability, with proper recovery and balance life --- who cares about verballing early… YET the majority of these kids do not have a balanced life and have overzealous parents. The two combined will undoubtedly contribute to burnt out and/or injury. Therefore, Sam and the others may be correct on blanket statement of being too young (more referring to parents experience in my opinion)
I’d like to bring up another point that may contribute more to the parents’ necessity of verballing (early vs. late). Assuming coaches continue to verbal young and soon make this the norm, those who pound on their chest “its not right” may lose out on money? What a tangled web we weave