Quotes About Youth sports

I grew up playing soccer with the boys - quite far from reading magazines.

I played one year of competitive basketball, actually. I don't remember what grade I was in, maybe middle school or something. I was the point guard - I was the smallest one always. I did my best; I thought I did pretty good. I was always a little bit better at soccer, so I had to make the decision.

Starting in middle school, I would play on two or three baseball teams at the same time, because that's just how things worked in south Florida. I would practice six or seven days each week. I honestly don't know how my parents did it, but my dad always found a way to make it to each and every game.

I grew up in the Midwest, so we really didn't have much hockey going on.

My parents were great at making sure I got out of bed when I needed to play football on a Sunday morning and that I was ready after school to go to training on a Tuesday and Thursday. But it was never forced upon me or rammed down my throat. If it had been, I could have ended up hating sport.

My priority is to turn people - especially kids - on to sports and being active so they don't even have to think about it being good for their health. If people participate for the fun of it, and believe me - it is fun, then fitness programs will be much more successful.

This is ludicrous. Seven- and eight-year-olds valiantly trying to cover the same acreage as those grown-up chaps in the Premier League is absurd. To add to the lunacy, a little goalkeeper, barely out of nappies, has to stand between posts that are eight strides apart - adult strides - and under a crossbar more than twice his height.

I do not have a son; if I had a son, I wouldn't necessarily discourage him from playing football, but I don't know that I would encourage him to play, either.

I have a 16 year-old son, so I'm now a soccer mom. I stand on the sidelines and I hear the things parents are saying, so I want them to understand what it is their kids are feeling in any sports environment.

I grew up as a baseball player, and given my modest size, it was always clear that I would end up playing in the infield.

Growing up in Minnesota, I had a lot of freedom to run around, and we had go-carts and four-wheelers and all that stuff. I like that adrenalin-rush stuff. I did a little bit of dance, but mostly sports.

When I was a teenager, I was an umpire for a competitive league for 8- to 9-year-olds. I was really bad at it because I didn't know all the rules, and all these kids were better athletes than me. I made a bad call, and this dad snapped on me. Then he dumped his trash from his cooler, and I had to kick him out of the stands.

We're going to have more kids playing, and we're going to have a better chance of finding those players Minor sports in a community is for fun and recreation. For everyone.

I hate the cliche of 'just have fun,' but what I've seen in today's sports, especially with parents, is they put so much pressure on the kids.

There were three football fields next door to my house. I used to walk down to the boys' team, but eventually, I was told I was going to have to stop playing because I was a girl.

There are parents out there screaming as if their kid is going to be in the big leagues someday. C'mon. I chew them out if I see that. Maybe they've got their own idea how to do things, but it's wrong. Just be with the kids. Let 'em make errors. Give them all a chance. It's not about winning. It's spirit, togetherness.

bleachers at a Little League

I was a gymnast when I was younger. My parents put me in gymnastics, and I was actually only good at the floor. I was terrible at everything else, especially beam. Unfortunately, you can't be a gymnast unless you're good at all of the apparatuses, so I became a competitive cheerleader. I was just the main tumbler for my squad.

We're taking sports too far and starting kids too early.

I wanted to see what sports were like... I went out for the track team. And then I got a D on my report card and my mom pulled me off the track team; I was very upset.

It's so important for kids to get involved with sports in general at a young age.

More kids are finding real sports too demanding.

The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud.

I used to play baseball. I was playing even in high school.