Sports vs. Fun

Organized sports are supposed to be fun, no? I think it's the supposed to be part that led me to creating my much less organized alternative that I eventually called "Junkyard Sports." Because, as some very serious people, like Canada's JustPlay, so astutely note:

"...the very existence of organized youth sport is being threatened by the increase in violence, harassment and abuse by sport participant groups - spectators, coaches and players."

I found out about them in this article, that cites the following research:

Of the three participant groups — players, coaches and spectators — players are the least often cited as the source of poor conduct.

Three-quarters of critical incidents reported originate from the adults. Coaches tend to be responsible for roughly 40 per cent and spectators for 33 per cent, while just over 25 per cent are caused by the players.

About 80 per cent of the time, behavior falls within the average range. But 20 per cent of the time it falls within the realm of unacceptable, indicating problems are more widespread than just the "few bad apples" commonly cited.

So it's not the players, and it's not the sports themselves that create this profound imbalance between organized sports and fun. It's the people who aren't playing. The Junkyard Sports solution is to make everyone a player: coaches become Junkmasters; spectators costumers, trophy-makers and half-time performers. The Junkyard Sports solution is to create an alternative. The JustPlay solution is to change the current model. The accomplishments of one can only augment the accomplishment of the other. May we both succeed beyond our wildest dreams.