Youth Sports Are Hurting Kids

Guest: Mark Hyman, Author, Assistant Teaching Professor of Management and Tourism Studies, George Washington University The way kids play sports across the country these days looks a lot more like professional sports than it does the recreational Little League or soccer you or your parents might have played. Today kids pay high fees to play on club teams that travel extensively, play and practice year round and vie for the most talented players. Often the most skilled youngsters end up in development academies affiliated with the pro sports teams their youth leagues now emulate. And all this professionalization has made stars out of young prodigies. But it’s also leading to high schoolers with the kinds of injuries we used to see only in pro athletes.