Who are the real role models?

    While many of you slave away at summer school or work at internships that simultaneously bolster your resumes and bore you to tears, I’m taking a class of a different sort. I like to think of it as some kind of upper-division sociology class without credit. It’s an in-depth look into the next generation of athletes and their values.

    Sad to say, I don’t think things are improving.

    Welcome to sports camp. Around 120 kids in three different camps – with age groups ranging from five to 13 years old – roam the Youth Activity Center of the City of Santa Clara. I am one of the lucky 13 tasked with taming and entertaining this wild bunch. I laugh with them, play with them, teach them new skills and occasionally wonder with them why they aren’t on medication.

    I learn from these kids, too. Though the examples aren’t as developed as the dramas that unfold on ESPN and Court TV, what I learn from these young athletes is that their values continue to reflect what we despise about today’s superstars. Here are some examples:

    The next generation still believes it’s all about the money. Two weeks ago, I responded to shrieks of “”That’s gross!”” which inspired a great amount of fear. Eleven-year-olds are pretty tolerant of things I find repulsive. If it’s gross in their book, it’s got to be pretty bad.

    It turns out that a couple of girls had offered one of the boys $1 to lick another kid on the neck. Apparently, the almighty dollar still ranks above health and common sense – not to mention fear of germs – because, of course, he did it. The age of greed is here to stay.

    Infidelity doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon either. A couple of days ago, I got one of the younger kids some fruit snacks out of my lunch.

    “”Brain,”” he said (“”Brain”” being the camp name I was stuck with after a couple of the other leaders found out my S.A.T. scores). “”You’re my favorite leader!””

    After five minutes and a different snack out of someone else’s lunch, he had a new favorite leader. We’re going to work on teaching loyalty next week.

    Another problem these kids have is that they lack respect for the history of sports. Actually, pretty often they lack respect and understanding for the rules. A recent game of sports trivia with the 11 to13-year-olds showed that all too clearly.

    “”What recently retired basketball player’s nickname is “”Air””?

    “”Ummm, I don’t know. Kobe Bryant?””

    Another example: “”How many points is a free throw worth?””

    “”Three?””

    “”No.””

    “”Two?””

    “”No.””

    “”Umm, is it three?””

    They’ve got other problems, too. They’re horrible at playing through pain, their sense of fair play is often skewed and they can be really cranky just before lunch. They’ve got their issues, but all and all, you’d have to say they’re good kids.

    I guess it’d be best to hold off on lumping them together with the examples of the bad behavior that plagues our sports pages. Maybe they aren’t ready for the pressure that society’s role models currently hold.

    Heck, their role model is still SpongeBob SquarePants. I’ll give them a couple years.

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