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Pick Up Games

This is where pick-up games and unstructured play can quickly make up that gap. “Pick-up games and self practice/play is the epitome of skill acquisition and broad athletic development. Pick-up games are not supervised by a coach. So each participant has much more free expression of movement and less stress of trying to ‘do it right’ according to what the coach believes. There is the opportunity to experiment and develop one’s own natural style without the fear of screwing up,” Jeremy Frisch, owner of Achieve Performance Training in Clinton, Massachusetts, wrote in a recent social media post. “As one practices and plays, the body adapts naturally and the participant will be able to play longer and longer and rest shorter and shorter…improving fitness naturally.”

The diversity present in pick-up games brings about its own slew of benefits. Kids learn how to play with and against a range of athletes of all different ages, sizes and ability levels. This helps them learn how to dynamically adapt their play and behavior to best suit their teammates and their competition. It’s a skill that has benefit far beyond the realm of sports. Then the diversity of the games themselves—different sports, different balls, different playing surfaces, different sized fields, different rules, etc.—are further bonuses. The more diverse we can make sports for our kids, the more all-around athleticism they’ll develop and the more fun they’ll have. Based off the strong connection between early sports specialization (and the training usually associated with it) and overuse injuries, participating in pick-up sports can also help kids stay healthy and pain-free.

A study from the University of Colorado found that children who spent more time in less structured activities (such as pick-up games) develop better “self-directed executive function.” This skill largely centers around being able to set your own goals and take action on them. A 2014 University of Texas study found that college students who’d spent their childhoods splitting equal amounts of time between organized and unstructured sports were more creative than peers who devoted the majority of their play time to the former. There’s also a bevy of research showing the increased amount of exercise that can come via participation in pick-up games results in better performance inside the classroom.

If their child reaping all of these benefits wasn’t enough to convince a parent of the importance of pick-up games, how about the fact that pick-up games require zero fees and zero time commitment on their end? As organized youth sports have become increasingly laborious for all involved, parents have also felt the effects. A 2013 survey by i9 Sports of 400 moms found that over 50 percent believed their child’s participation in organized sports added stress to their life and the lives of their family. Simply cutting down on specialized training sessions or having a child play in a recreational league instead of travel ball will lead to a more stress-free experience for all and give the kid more time for unstructured play.

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What can we do to address this issue? Encouraging children to play pick-up games and providing them with the equipment to do so (which is usually just a ball) is a great start. Children also need the time to participate in pick-up games, so if you’re sending your 7-year-old to specialized baseball training lessons three times a week, perhaps you want to reconsider your priorities. Youth sports coaches can also begin blocking off large chunks of practice time for “pick-up” style games, or encourage parents to drop their kids off early or allow them to stay late to give the kids extra time to play pick-up. The key is keeping interruption from parents and coaches to an absolute minimum during these games. A 2006 document Best Practices for Coaching in the United States released by the U.S. Soccer Federation encouraged youth coaches to be more hands-off in their approach. “Coaches can often be more helpful to a young player’s development by organizing less, saying less, and allowing the players to do more,” the authors write. “Be comfortable organizing a session that looks like pick-up soccer.” Let’s not hinder the overall physical and mental development of our children by placing unrealistic expectations on them and trying to turn them into the “next big thing” before they’ve even had the chance to be a kid. Pick-up games teach skills that make better athletes and better people, and to ignore their benefit is to the detriment of our youth. Black Friday & Cyber Monday?Buy One Get One Free