by Fred Bowen

The Washington Post

May 25, 2009

I recently read a new book called "Until It Hurts: America's Obsession With Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids," written by Baltimore sportswriter Mark Hyman. It is not a kids' book, but it's about kids' sports. Hyman argues that some adults -- parents included -- take youth sports too seriously, and that can spoil the fun for kids.

Here are some of the things I learned from the book that kids and their parents should know.

Overuse injuries from kids playing their sports too much at an early age are way up. They include sore ankles and knees from playing soccer or basketball year-round and sore elbows from pitching too much.

Lyle Micheli, a sports doctor in Boston, estimates that in the early 1990s, 20 percent of the injuries to kids he treated were from overuse. Now, he estimates, 75 percent are from overuse. Micheli says overuse injuries could be cut to almost zero if coaches and parents would simply let kids: (1) play a variety of sports; (2) take it easier; and (3) rest a day or two from sports every week.

Hyman tells the story of Whitney Phelps, an older sister of Michael Phelps, the Olympic gold-medal swimmer. Whitney was a great swimmer, maybe as good as her famous brother, but she never made the Olympics. She swam too much too soon, and she got hurt.

So if you are a kid who plays soccer or baseball in the spring and fall, maybe you should try another sport for summer camp.

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