Sports Commentary: When it comes to our kids and sports, let’s focus on learning Published June 26, 2008 By Petty Officer 1st Class James Littlefield Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Three TINKER AIR FORCE BASE -- A season of promise for many young baseball players can be scarred by the idea that a win in the books is better than a friendly game between children trying to learn. From the start of any youth sports season, the focus should be on teaching children the game and allowing them to have fun. Some believe scores should exist only in the books and should not overshadow the reason our children are playing. Competitiveness is a trait we as parents would like to see in our children and it is the basis for long-term success as our children progress academically, athletically, and in their adult work life. But in the early stages there is a time and place for everything. Children playing pitching machine, coach pitch or t-ball should be more involved in batting stances and fielding techniques and less worried about scoring runs. As the baseball season progresses it may become evident that parents and coaches are out for more than just teaching children the fundamentals of baseball. Precious instruction time is lost as games may be cancelled due to objections based on competition -- children deemed ineligible for play on a certain level. Many times, promotion or demotion is necessary to fill a roster or none of the children would have an opportunity to play. The overall reason for putting children in a league so they can learn the fundamentals and enjoy the game is lost because the children are being treated as competitive athletes before their time. If games are canceled, the children for both teams lose out on valuable "game-type" instruction. As we look toward putting our children in sports and activities, we as parents and coaches should step back and take into account the importance of teaching our children the fundamentals of a sport first and let the competition begin later, at the appropriate time. We owe it to the children to provide them the best learning environment -- free from conflict and just let them play and have fun.