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Speaker 1: I think it's really necessary to remember that there is

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Speaker 1: an youth sports industry that is the nineteen billion dollar industry,

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Speaker 1: and it's growing, and that you have to be skeptical

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Speaker 1: of the claim of the various groups you know trying

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Speaker 1: to get you to buy something or sign up for something,

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Speaker 1: because so much of this is not in your child's interests.

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Speaker 1: This is the Reformed Sports Project, a podcast about restoring

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Speaker 1: healthy balance and perspective in all areas of sports through

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Speaker 1: education and advocacy. Hi. This is Nick Monacore from the

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Speaker 1: Reformed Sports Project podcast. My guest today is Linda Flanagan, author,

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Speaker 1: freelance journalist, researcher, and former cross country and track coach, who,

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Speaker 1: like me, is extremely passionate about reforming today's youth sports culture.

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Speaker 1: Linda's new book title Take Back the Game, How Money

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Speaker 1: and Mania Are Ruining Kids Sports and Why It Matters

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Speaker 1: examines how big money and high stakes have transformed youth

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Speaker 1: sports and distressful all consuming endeavors. Linda and I discussed

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Speaker 1: strategies to help parents put their kids sports into perspective,

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Speaker 1: the importance of being self aware when raising children, and

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Speaker 1: why parents should feel empowered to reclaim their agency back

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Speaker 1: in the saddle once again. Fired up, I got another

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Speaker 1: awesome Gus really pumped. I've discovered her book. I haven't

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Speaker 1: gotten through the whole thing yet, however, I am very

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Speaker 1: much entrenched in it. We are like minded. I am

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Speaker 1: very much excited about this conversation. She's obviously an author,

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Speaker 1: she's a sports parent, she's a coach, freelance journalist. Linda

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Speaker 1: flannag And Linda, thank you so much for hopping on.

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Speaker 1: Oh thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to

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Speaker 1: be here. Well, I appreciate you, and I just want

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Speaker 1: to start right here, being a sports parent, being a

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Speaker 1: retired coach, but someone who has clearly been interested. What

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Speaker 1: moved you to want to author this book and what

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Speaker 1: did you see to kind of inspire it? Well, you know,

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Speaker 1: I've been, as my bio suggests, really immersed in this

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Speaker 1: world for a long time, and but especially when I

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Speaker 1: was a coach, what I saw was really bothersome to me,

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Speaker 1: just how warped things had become, how the value the

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Speaker 1: benefits of playing and competing had been corrupt, corrupted as

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Speaker 1: a strong word, but at times it felt like corrupted

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Speaker 1: by some of the incentives too. I felt some of

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Speaker 1: the incentives were wrong, so that the real value of

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Speaker 1: sports was being lost, and that felt very sad to me.

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Speaker 1: I would happen to agree with you on That's one

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Speaker 1: of the main reasons I started Reform Sports Project was because,

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Speaker 1: and you use the word corrupted, I felt like, you know,

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Speaker 1: people were being sold this you know, magic pill or

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Speaker 1: this formula quite frankly snake oil type deal, where I

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Speaker 1: thought it was a lot of it was complete crap.

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Speaker 1: And I thought that because you're you're a little bit

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Speaker 1: more eloquent the way that you say it than I am.

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Speaker 1: But but at the same time, I'm the same type

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Speaker 1: of thing. And what I noticed for me was I

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Speaker 1: felt like, because I played college and a little bit

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Speaker 1: of professional baseball, you know, like I can see through it.

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Speaker 1: And I think I read this a little bit in

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Speaker 1: your book, was it almost seems like the parents vulnerability

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Speaker 1: was being I think it was borderline being preyed upon.

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Speaker 1: And that's what kind of moved to me. Is that

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Speaker 1: kind of what you're talking about. Yes, I mean it's

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Speaker 1: exploited because you know, parents feel a lot of anxiety

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Speaker 1: about their kids and about their kids futures, and this

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Speaker 1: goes back a long time. You know, it's related to

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Speaker 1: the recession in the seventies that kind of launched this

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Speaker 1: like parental panic about how their kids are going to

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Speaker 1: turn out, and all that anxiety and on top of

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Speaker 1: worries about stranger danger, has just made parents so vulnerable

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Speaker 1: to exploitation by individuals and organizations that kind of recognize

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Speaker 1: that and are you know, able to prey on it

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Speaker 1: to some extent. And it's not as if I always

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Speaker 1: want to point out, it's not like these clubs and

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Speaker 1: leagues are all like malevolent characters. I don't think they're

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Speaker 1: trying to ruin kids sports, but they see a market

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Speaker 1: and parents are vulnerable, and you know, they're easily exploited

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Speaker 1: for this reason. I totally agree with you, But I'm

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Speaker 1: also sitting here going, you know, how do I listen?

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Speaker 1: I'm I have six kids. I don't know how many

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Speaker 1: you have, all three. I need to have my head checked.

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Speaker 1: Every time I say that, I go, how the heck

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Speaker 1: did that happen? Well, I know how it happened. But

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Speaker 1: either way, I say to myself, well, well, they're all

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Speaker 1: a blessing, obviously, but nonetheless, each child has their own

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Speaker 1: unique experience. Were very much entrenched in the sports culture.

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Speaker 1: But at times I feel like my wife and I

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Speaker 1: we have to kind of go rogue against the system,

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Speaker 1: using our judgment what makes sense for our family, and

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Speaker 1: we don't buy into the whole fear of missing out.

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Speaker 1: When you talk about the seventies and recession, what did

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Speaker 1: you see I guess throughout the decades because I can

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Speaker 1: only speak I'm forty three years old. I can speak

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Speaker 1: from my experience coming up, you know, playing youth sports

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Speaker 1: in the eighties and nineties, and what I've experienced as

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Speaker 1: a parent, you know, through the two thousand's. What did

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Speaker 1: you see in those earlier years that it is kind

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Speaker 1: of evolved in particular, you know, from the seventies and

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Speaker 1: nineties into where we are today. Well, you know I was.

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Speaker 1: I grew up during the seventies and eighties, and as

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Speaker 1: a woman, there were far fewer like sports opportunities for me.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think my first chance to play was

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Speaker 1: in sixth grade on like an organized team, and um,

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Speaker 1: it just was entirely different. You know, as we all know,

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Speaker 1: it was all local, it was cheap, it was low key.

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Speaker 1: Um and you know, my parents were as probably many

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Speaker 1: of your parents and many others were. You know, they

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Speaker 1: wanted me to play, and they were interested in my

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Speaker 1: siblings and my involvement in sports because it's good for you.

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Speaker 1: But it just wasn't this giant undertaking you know that

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Speaker 1: involved travel and expense and just I mean, my parents

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Speaker 1: would never have bought into that. Um And now, as

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Speaker 1: we've seen in the seventh you know, since then really

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Speaker 1: picked up in the nineties when Title nine really became

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Speaker 1: enforced more thoroughly, so that you know, there was just

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Speaker 1: a greater opportunity for sports profiteers to come in and

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Speaker 1: start offering you know, teams and clubs. There were all

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Speaker 1: these girls who were eager to play, and there are

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Speaker 1: opportunities in college. It's just the whole universe changed. What

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Speaker 1: sports in particular did you coach? I coached, Well, I

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Speaker 1: coached my son in baseball, which was fun and unusual

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Speaker 1: and um, I thought was when he was a child.

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Speaker 1: And then I coached cross country and track at the

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Speaker 1: high school level for seventeen years. So did you see

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Speaker 1: Because I know in your book you talk a lot

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Speaker 1: about how, you know, being kids being compelled to specialize

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Speaker 1: year round in one sport. That's a subject I cover

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Speaker 1: a lot. And of course the risks of both physical

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Speaker 1: and mental health problems from overuse in the specialization piece

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Speaker 1: of it. You know, did you see or have you

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Speaker 1: seen from your experience that firsthand where you know that's

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Speaker 1: that's been an issue for you, Well, you know, I

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Speaker 1: saw it a little bit with my son. In fact,

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Speaker 1: I had to do with baseball because he joined this

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Speaker 1: soccer club and even at a very young age, they

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Speaker 1: insisted that they played two seasons. They play in the

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Speaker 1: fall and in the spring. And you know, my husband

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Speaker 1: and I thought, well, wait, spring is baseball season, and

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Speaker 1: this is when he's an elementary school. So we didn't

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Speaker 1: you just said, forget it, We're not doing that in

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Speaker 1: the spring, you know, thanks so much. We'll see you

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Speaker 1: in the fall. And as a result, he was demoted

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Speaker 1: to a lower team, which you know, it's like, okay,

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Speaker 1: well that's fine, you know, you that's the price you pay,

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Speaker 1: I guess for going against their rules. But um, that

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Speaker 1: was I think it's only gotten more extreme, and you know,

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Speaker 1: you're just kicked off the team entirely now if you

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Speaker 1: don't buy into all the bells and whistles. Um. But

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Speaker 1: at the high school level, you know, I saw this

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Speaker 1: all the time with particularly I coached girls that in

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Speaker 1: winter tracks, say, um, some of them would run for me, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, do the four hundred or eight hundred whatever,

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Speaker 1: and then their parents would swoop in and pick them

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Speaker 1: up and drive them to their club volleyball or club

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Speaker 1: field hockey. You know, the season had nothing to do

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Speaker 1: with it. It was whatever their club thing was, so

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Speaker 1: they'd be dashing around from sport to support. Like it

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Speaker 1: was often the best athletes too who did this because

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Speaker 1: they were the ones who felt the need to capitalize

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Speaker 1: on it. And that's kind of that and Andrew pound

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Speaker 1: Gorilla is that you know, to a certain degree, it

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Speaker 1: is advantageous at a young age. For the young age

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Speaker 1: is like you almost see immediate impact on results and

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Speaker 1: performance when you do go year round, right, but the

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Speaker 1: delay for the long term is what is the most beneficial, right,

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Speaker 1: the overall like development, you know, being well rounded. Balance.

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Speaker 1: We're talking about playing one sport versus sampling or at

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Speaker 1: least just having other time to do other activities. So

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Speaker 1: you know, buying into that. You know, you get that,

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Speaker 1: like you mentioned, because I've heard all the time and

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Speaker 1: I've actually lived it where you know, oh sorry, you know,

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Speaker 1: in baseball in particular, Oh, you don't want to play

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Speaker 1: in the fall where you're gonna go on a lesser

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Speaker 1: team in the spring. And they don't say it is

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Speaker 1: a way where it's like a demotion, but that that

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Speaker 1: that is kind of it. So as a parent, you're

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Speaker 1: sitting there going, well, my hands are tied, Mike loves baseball.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to let them down. What do I do?

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Speaker 1: And there comes a circumstance so we're borderline you kind

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Speaker 1: of have to go rogue. I feel confident in my

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Speaker 1: parenting and my experience that that I'm not gonna let

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Speaker 1: you know, uh, an organization where I'll find another one dictated.

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Speaker 1: But not every parent feels that way. So I really

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Speaker 1: like the organization. It's like this this kind of subtle um,

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Speaker 1: not really pressure, but it is, so how do you

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Speaker 1: navigate that? Well, that is so hard. And I don't

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Speaker 1: think it's even the demotions so much as a punishment.

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Speaker 1: It's like, Okay, you didn't show up with the two

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Speaker 1: seasons we required, so we're gonna punish you, and we're

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Speaker 1: gonna punish you or your child by putting them on

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Speaker 1: our horse team. And you know, at the time, I

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Speaker 1: think this is so important. At the time, it felt,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of rotten and sort of unfair. But

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Speaker 1: also we can understand that from their point of view,

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Speaker 1: you know, we didn't go along with their rules. But

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Speaker 1: I think what's critical for our parents to remember is

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Speaker 1: that it only seems terribly important at the time. In

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Speaker 1: a few years you'll look back and say, boy, that

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Speaker 1: was dumb. Who cared? I mean it was, it was

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Speaker 1: irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: as long as the child keeps playing, it doesn't have

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Speaker 1: to be at this super high it was, you know,

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Speaker 1: super high. I mean we're talking about elementary school kids,

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Speaker 1: not that high, so they don't have to be on

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Speaker 1: the very best team at all times. They can learn

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Speaker 1: a time by being on a team that isn't like

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Speaker 1: the a so called a team. Um. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: a very tricky thing to navigate for parents, but I

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Speaker 1: think keeping perspective is so hard, but it is probably

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Speaker 1: the most important thing is a sports parent to say,

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Speaker 1: this just isn't that important? Critical point you just made

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Speaker 1: I argue all the time because you talked about the traveling,

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Speaker 1: going back and forth. I believe that the ecosystem of

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Speaker 1: youth sport is completely built around exposure. It's like that's

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Speaker 1: the and whether it's said or not, but look at it, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean travel, what's the point of traveling? Well to

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Speaker 1: get exposure? Why to get exposed to the best competition? Well,

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Speaker 1: what's it the best competition? Well, ultimately you're gonna get

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Speaker 1: the college scouts. So you're gonna get the pro scouts,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna get this, or you're gonna get that. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna get national ranking. So in order for my kid

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Speaker 1: to get ranked and be seen, we got to travel

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Speaker 1: all of these things. So exhausting. Oh my god, it's exhausting.

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Speaker 1: And I've interviewed Linda hundreds of college coaches, four or

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Speaker 1: five college coaches who at every level, I mean the

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Speaker 1: Dabo Sweeney down to you know three, a little D

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Speaker 1: three juco coach and I'm a D three players. I

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Speaker 1: had to say little. But I'm just trying to put

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Speaker 1: it in perspective. Um, no one has ever said to me. Now,

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Speaker 1: one college coach has ever said, I'll tell you what.

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Speaker 1: One of the reasons I loved signing this kid was

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Speaker 1: how he or she performed at their twelve year tournament.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they were lights out and ever since that tournament.

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Speaker 1: That was the separator. I mean, they were ranked in

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Speaker 1: the top five at eleven, and we just knew we

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Speaker 1: had to have them. We're laughing in all this. But

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Speaker 1: then some people said, there's like this one kid somewhere

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Speaker 1: who who was offered a scholarship at seventh grade or

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Speaker 1: eighth grade. I'm sure that does happen sometimes, and we

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Speaker 1: see the stories on social media. It's certainly not the norm,

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Speaker 1: but you get my point. It's like parents pay attention

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Speaker 1: to the fact that coaches, to your point, don't care

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Speaker 1: when you're doing that the young age, so that can

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Speaker 1: help with the perspective. Yes, well, you know your description

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Speaker 1: of this like the rat race of like exposure now

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Speaker 1: at age six, so they get them to the better

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Speaker 1: team and they have more exposure, and then that college

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Speaker 1: goes so that they can rise, rise, rise. It was

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Speaker 1: just I'm so reminded of this New Yorker cartoon for

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Speaker 1: many years ago, someone arriving at St. Peter's Gates and

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Speaker 1: you know, at Heaven, and it's a runner and he's

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Speaker 1: like running through the the tape at the finish line

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Speaker 1: and he sent his arms up and he goes I

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Speaker 1: win you know, like, what what are we doing this for?

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Speaker 1: You know, I think is the whole purpose just to

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Speaker 1: kind of arrive somewhere, uh some magical place. It's you know,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't really exist. And I also think that parents

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Speaker 1: need to consider in this, you know, this rush to okay,

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Speaker 1: do this, then get more exposure and then get seen

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Speaker 1: back college College sports are not for everybody. I mean,

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Speaker 1: even if you have the ability, even if you were

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Speaker 1: one of those you know, rare high school kids, and

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Speaker 1: we both know it's something like six percent of high

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Speaker 1: school kids even playing college. Even if you are capable

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Speaker 1: of it, it may not be right for you. You

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Speaker 1: may have other interests you want to do and let

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Speaker 1: alone D one. D one may not be a good fit.

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Speaker 1: I'm like a big fan of D three because it

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Speaker 1: allows for more variety and experiences in college. I mean,

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Speaker 1: kids should be growing and experiencing all kinds of different

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Speaker 1: things and not just one narrow sport. To me, it

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Speaker 1: seems so obvious, but um, I think it's easy, so

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Speaker 1: easy for parents get swept away in this, you know,

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Speaker 1: like social contagion of like Moore is better. I think

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Speaker 1: it's as a parent, it's like it's really hard and

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Speaker 1: I can speak from my own experience because that's one

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Speaker 1: of the main drivers that may again made me start

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Speaker 1: Reformed Sports Project. I came to a revelation like five

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Speaker 1: or six years ago that that my ego was involved.

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Speaker 1: You know, my ego was involved in my kids coaching.

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Speaker 1: Like I know, for me, when my perform better, I

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Speaker 1: felt like, wow, it was like a reflection or if

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Speaker 1: my kid didn't perform, it was it was a negative

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Speaker 1: reflection big bummer. Yes, yep, And that's a wacky way

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Speaker 1: of thinking. Now, my oldest their seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, my

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Speaker 1: younger sir eight, uh five and a half and four,

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Speaker 1: and I feel like I'm like how I was with

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Speaker 1: the first batch. I'm grateful that I get a second

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Speaker 1: chance because I was borderlined on the spectrum of being

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Speaker 1: one of those kind of knucklehead like you know, twisted.

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Speaker 1: The reason I call it Reformed Sports Project because reformed

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Speaker 1: I like to think that I am right, but I

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Speaker 1: have to but no one's perfect. So like it is

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Speaker 1: easy in hindsight, but when you're in that moment, it's

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Speaker 1: a powerful feeling. It's powerful to want to keep up,

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Speaker 1: it's powerful to want to go you know, the other way,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's important to look at it through lenses.

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Speaker 1: Like you said, you know, how can we step back

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Speaker 1: because mental health is a big thing. It's a big thing,

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Speaker 1: but you don't see the impacts on those things that

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Speaker 1: trauma and such right away. Those are things that developed later. Yeah. Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think one of the hardest things, as

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Speaker 1: I said, is like keeping perspective as a parent. And

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Speaker 1: I think if you're conscious of the fact that your

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Speaker 1: egos involved, like you were, and like I think most

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Speaker 1: sports parents and I include myself in that, there is

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Speaker 1: an element of like, you know, you feel well puffed

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Speaker 1: up when your child does well and it's like it

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Speaker 1: feels great, and also it's a big you big down

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Speaker 1: or when they don't. I think if you can at

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Speaker 1: least have the self awareness to say, yeah, that is little,

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Speaker 1: that's me a little bit, you know, then you can

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Speaker 1: strive to kind of keep perspective. I think that is

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Speaker 1: so vital. And there are things that I go through

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Speaker 1: them in my books. Some steps you can take, you know,

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Speaker 1: I pull from various experts about how to keep perspective

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Speaker 1: because it is so very, very difficult. And you know,

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Speaker 1: one this one little tip is to um, imagine yourself

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Speaker 1: in the future looking back at this dilemma, say how

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Speaker 1: to handle your kid being bumped from A to B

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Speaker 1: your C team. Imagine yourself in ten years, looking back

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Speaker 1: at this in twenty years, how are you gonna How

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Speaker 1: are you going to see it? Then another approach is

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Speaker 1: to imagine counseling a friend who had this problem, and

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Speaker 1: there are you know, there are. I think it takes

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Speaker 1: a conscious effort to um work on your perspective, because,

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Speaker 1: as you're saying, it becomes like this, you know, frenzy

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Speaker 1: of you know, social pressure and also you know, your

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Speaker 1: own ego kind of eating away, undermining what's the right

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Speaker 1: thing to do. When we come back, Linda and I

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Speaker 1: discussed why sports should be used to teach children values

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Speaker 1: and life lessons, and how parents can make informed decisions

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Speaker 1: when it comes to youth sports. Welcome back where Linda

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Speaker 1: and I left off. We were about to talk about

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Speaker 1: why parents should understand that the youth sports industry is

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Speaker 1: a growing, nineteen billion dollar business. I'm a big believer

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Speaker 1: and advocate of the things that you extract from sports,

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Speaker 1: right from the lessons to failure of the adversity. And

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Speaker 1: I'll give you a per example, my son, my eight

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Speaker 1: year old son, Rocco, UM, wanted to try across this fall.

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Speaker 1: So there's a league here, which I love because it's

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Speaker 1: one day a week. It's simple, it's on Sundays. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's it's the off season for lacrosse, which is in

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Speaker 1: the spring right now, it's the fall, and you know,

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Speaker 1: he he wanted to play initially, he loves baseball, and

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Speaker 1: he's like, you know, I think I want to do fallball.

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Speaker 1: And we're like, well, listen, you've talked about wanting to

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Speaker 1: try lacrosse. You're not do them both at the same season.

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Speaker 1: So try lacrosse. You're only eight, and then worst kid,

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Speaker 1: you know, you're gonna do baseball in the spring. And

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Speaker 1: his first practice it was hot. I'm in North Carolina.

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Speaker 1: That was hot. He's got the equipment on and he

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Speaker 1: wanted to get that equipment off and be done immediately, right.

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Speaker 1: And I remember I remember first time I played football.

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Speaker 1: My older kids play football. When you get that equipment on,

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Speaker 1: your running around the heat in August, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's not comfortable. It's like whoa. So you know, the

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Speaker 1: first practice didn't go so well. And I'm sitting here

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Speaker 1: going all right, dude, it would be so if I

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Speaker 1: said to him, borrow mayn we're never going back, he

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Speaker 1: would be so happy right now, you know, maybe so,

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Speaker 1: but that's not what we're gonna do. You wanted to

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Speaker 1: try it. You're eight years old. We understand that it's

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Speaker 1: third grade through fifth grade. So he's one of the

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Speaker 1: younger kids out there too. He's uncomfortable. But I'm like, listen,

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Speaker 1: if he never plays lacrosse again, he's gonna learn that

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Speaker 1: you start something, you finish it. But for me, as

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Speaker 1: a parent, I have to look at it from that lens,

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Speaker 1: like this is an unbelievable teaching moment for him as

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Speaker 1: he grows. Now, is there a time to quit and stop?

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Speaker 1: Of course, But I don't think your first practice being

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Speaker 1: a little uncomfortable, right, So yeah, what's what is it

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Speaker 1: about making sure we take back the lenses and look

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Speaker 1: at the value from a different perspective. I think it's

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Speaker 1: it's so, uh, your actions have to follow your values,

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Speaker 1: and like, in this case, your value is that he

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Speaker 1: learns something about stitutiveness and resilience, and you don't just

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Speaker 1: give up at the first sign of trouble or first

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Speaker 1: amount of discomfort. And that's kind of what you're trying.

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Speaker 1: You want your son to learn that and that's what

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Speaker 1: makes sports so great. And um, you know, I think

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Speaker 1: that's something that all parents need to keep in mind

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Speaker 1: when they are guiding their kids through sports, that you know,

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Speaker 1: what are your values and what are you teaching when you,

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Speaker 1: um yank them off a team because you think the

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Speaker 1: coach sucks, you know, in the middle of the season,

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Speaker 1: or you you know, bump into a better team, you know,

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Speaker 1: at the first sign of conflict with the coach, like

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Speaker 1: your your values or what matter and your teaching us

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Speaker 1: your kids through sports and you know, ultimately that is

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Speaker 1: what these are for. I think we it's so easy

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Speaker 1: to forget why we even have sports in the first place.

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Speaker 1: But it's not just so they can you know, throw

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Speaker 1: a ball fast or you know catch catch something or

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Speaker 1: get a ball through a basket. It's it's these larger

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Speaker 1: lessons and larger um it's applications to life that that's

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Speaker 1: what it's for. Unless you're going pro and we all

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Speaker 1: know that's like high lanunlikely. You know, I really want

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Speaker 1: you to, you know, to kind of talk more about

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Speaker 1: take back the game, your book, how money and mania

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Speaker 1: are ruining kids sports and why it matters. What are

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Speaker 1: some key points when people are reading your book or

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Speaker 1: what are the things that they should look out for.

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Speaker 1: I love for you to talk about, you know, a

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Speaker 1: couple of points in particular, what they should pay attention

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Speaker 1: to that you think that are the most valuable things

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Speaker 1: and pieces of content to extract from it. Well, I

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Speaker 1: think it's really necessary to remember that there is an industry.

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Speaker 1: There is a youth sports industry that is bigger than

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Speaker 1: the NFL. It's a nineteen billion dollar industry and it's

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Speaker 1: growing and the NFL's fifteen billion dollars by way of contrast.

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Speaker 1: And that you know that you have to be skeptical

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Speaker 1: of the claims of the various groups, you know, trying

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Speaker 1: to get you to buy something or sign up for something,

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Speaker 1: or you know, to allow your children to be used

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Speaker 1: for their purposes. You have to be skeptical because so

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Speaker 1: much of this is not in your child's interests. Um

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Speaker 1: you know, I like to say that a lot of

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Speaker 1: people are profiting off your family, not to be cynical,

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Speaker 1: because again, I don't think these people are evil. It's

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Speaker 1: just that you just have to be skeptical as a parent.

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Speaker 1: And particularly you know, with the clubs and things that

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Speaker 1: are promising they're going to get your child recruited or

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Speaker 1: you know, advance them in some way. I think you

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Speaker 1: have to like really interrogate those clubs and like, how

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Speaker 1: many kids actually are being recruited? Are they all from

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Speaker 1: the you know, they have various levels of teams. Is

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Speaker 1: the lowest kid on the on the lowest team and

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Speaker 1: to get recruited it No, it's it's a very slim

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Speaker 1: small number of kids in those clubs that get recruited anyway.

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Speaker 1: So you just have to be skeptical and I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, reclaiming your agency and putting your family first.

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Speaker 1: These teams and leagues and the mania surrounding youth sports

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Speaker 1: has a way of eroding the whole family because these

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Speaker 1: are incredibly time consuming. If your child plays two sports

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Speaker 1: and you have multiple kids, I mean, you have six kids, Like,

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Speaker 1: how can you possibly do all these things? You can't.

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Speaker 1: So you just have to kind of put down some

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Speaker 1: boundaries and remember what's important to you and reclaim your

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Speaker 1: agency as a parent to say no, thank you, we're

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Speaker 1: not doing it. We're just not going to do that,

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00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,359
Speaker 1: and also object every now and then you know, just

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00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:49,480
Speaker 1: because the coach is offering, you know, an extra session

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00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:53,800
Speaker 1: one day, or a special meeting with this extra coach,

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00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:57,760
Speaker 1: whatever the little you know so called perk is, you

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00:21:57,760 --> 00:21:59,840
Speaker 1: don't have to do it all. Just object saying no,

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00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:01,760
Speaker 1: thank you. Now, we're not going to buy that extra

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Speaker 1: shirt or go to that tournament, you know, the tenth

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00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:09,320
Speaker 1: tournament this fall. No thanks. I think that's parents need

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Speaker 1: to remember that they're the ones in charge, and you know,

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Speaker 1: to step back from this madness. And once you step

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Speaker 1: back from it, you can kind of see it more clearly,

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Speaker 1: which really helps with perspective. Also, Linda, I love your

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Speaker 1: passion and anyone that's like minded, like you know, not

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Speaker 1: afraid to put themselves out there following their passion and

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00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: and and and creating tools and content out there for

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Speaker 1: parents and such to be able to make the best

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Speaker 1: decisions they can for their family. Um, the more the barrier.

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Speaker 1: And I applaud you for your work. Where could people

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Speaker 1: find your book? Where can they find you and follow

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00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,359
Speaker 1: up and learn more? Well? As I say, my book

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00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: can be bought wherever books are sold, certainly on Amazon

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Speaker 1: and anywhere. Um, and I'm at Linda Flannagan too. Is

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Speaker 1: my Twitter handle, and I'll have a website up shortly.

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Speaker 1: But you know I'm very out there, so feel free

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Speaker 1: to reach out. Linda. I cannot thank you enough for

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Speaker 1: for coming on, sharing your inside, sharing your experience. Check

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00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:04,800
Speaker 1: out our book take Back the Game, How money in

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Speaker 1: Mania are ruining kids sports and why it matters Linda,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on and sharing. Oh

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Speaker 1: thank you for having me. That's Linda Flannagutt, author of

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Speaker 1: Take Back the Game. Thanks for listening to the Reform

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00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,600
Speaker 1: Sports Project podcast. Dominick Bonacourt and our goal is to

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00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,679
Speaker 1: restore a healthy balance and perspective in all areas of

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Speaker 1: sports through education and advocacy. For updates, please follow us

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00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,560
Speaker 1: on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or check out our website

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00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:31,600
Speaker 1: by searching for the Reform Sports Project