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Is this attitude catching on in the US?

Asked by davidk (1432points) December 18th, 2009

I came upon a blog/article that I couldn’t believe was seriously intended. When I asked the author about it, she vehemently denied that her blog was a joke. Then I got a lecture on how “moms like her” were “bringing equality to sports” and “saving a generation from the disease of competitive sports.”

I was unaware of this movement. Are the claims of this woman real?

I obtained her permission to re-post her blog on Fluther. She challenged me to verify that “many people agreed with her.”

Here is what she wrote:

“Triumphant, I watched with a heart brimming with pride, as my son flung his bat aside and flittered from base to base, blissfully unaware of the prior stigma attached to the cruel ‘three strikes and you’re out’ mentality. Indeed, every child swung his heart out in that revolutionary t-ball game. Not a single soul cared if every child swung and missed the over-sized, pink balloon-ball. They all hit a home run that game. They all ran the bases in their own way too. The blissful looks of achievement on each six-year-old’s face…I will never forget their smiles.”
“That day, my child and every other child, were liberated from the sports-Nazis. They were liberated from the oppressive rules of the past that discriminated and punished children who couldn’t hit the hard, unforgiving ball…”
“As every child got to swing a bat, run the bases, and touch home base, a new atmosphere of inclusion was born. The age-old seriousness attached to this game vanished…”
I was there when ES (equality in sport) was born. To this day, I still get tingles down my spine thinking back to that first game. The children’s hearts and minds were free from concern. They were free from performance anxiety. They could just be themselves, and nobody cared. By the end of the 9th inning the thought struck me: what would keep us from taking this glorious notion to the next level? From that moment forward, I became a soldier in the ES army. I dedicated myself to bringing ES to all age groups. After all, why shouldn’t all children, up to age 18 at least, experience the strength through joy that comes with ES? It was then that I had the vision for ES in high school sports. It became my mission to bring a level playing field, and the unmitigated joy that brings, to all children, everywhere.”
“It was going to be an uphill battle though. Eradicating centuries KSP (Keeping Score Prejudices). Pushing back the old, competitive mentality that was a cancer on all sport was going to be tough.”
“For instance, after the completion of that first ES t-ball game, you wouldn’t believe how many boys asked me, ‘Coach…when do we play the real game?’ ”

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