Conference 7.286::sports_90

    
    The USTA had implemented some rules addressing the problem of
    players under the age of 16 competing on the tennis circuit.  They
    are only allowed to play 10 events.  Low a behold Jennifer Capriatti
    comes along and is given a special exemption so she can play in
    more than 10 tournaments.
    
    I only hope she doesn't burn out the way Andrea Jaeger and Tracy Austin
    did.
    
    On a side note about Capriatti.  She was playing in the Federation
    cup over the weekend.  Someone asked her what it was like to have
    a coach on the sidelines during a match.  Her response was she liked
    the coach on the sidelines so she wouldn't have to look into the stands
    for signals from her parents.
    
    /pjb

    A&W,
    
    I was having a conversation yesterday about the differences between
    Men's and Women's gymnastics.  Women's is basically little girls
    jumpng around.  The smaller the better.  Men's gymnastics is more
    of a strength event.  The athletes are older, etc.
    
    I'm a strong proponent of not allowing young teens to compete in
    competitve sports like tennis, etc.  Most of em end up burned out
    by the age of 20-25...
    
    I personally twinge whenever I see some young kid running long
    distances (10K and up).   I've seen 7 year olds run half-marathons
    - not good, IMO.
    
    It always seems that a strong-willed parent is behind these kids.
    
    JD

    For an example of what happens to young female gymnasts after their
    careers are over, just look at Nadia Comaneci.  Yeah, I understand she
    must have gone through some rough times trying to get out of Romania
    but it seems like she's weekly material for the supermarket scandal
    sheets.
    
    She's either sleeping with some married guy or playing lead guitar for
    Elvis or is about to become Roseanne Barr's love slave (or maybe
    singing instructor) or whatever.
    
    That is one messed-up young lady.  Shame.
    
    I agree with the sentiments about young girls in gymnastics.  Bela
    Karolyi is somewhat responsible for this.  Karolyi knows what the
    winning gymnastics formula is.  It is young girls who are incredibly
    light, incredibly fast, incredibly aerial, and incredibly cute.
    
    Take 'em away from home, whip 'em into shape, teach 'em how to fly,
    teach 'em how to smile, and then turn 'em loose.   When the judges stop
    awarding points for cuteness, speed and aerodynamics and start awarding
    points for athleticism, then you'll see women back in gymnastics.
    
    I agree.  It is sad to think of someone as "washed up" at age 15 or 16.
    
    Bob Hunt

	When I was reading thru the New York Games results this morning, I was
surprised to come across the name of Leanne Burke, Massachusetts' best H.S.
girl runner right now. She won the H.S. Girls 800 meter run in 2:10.97. My first thought
was, "Gee doesn't she get an off-season???".  It was only back in mid June that
she won the State Mile (and I beleive the New England) title. She propable spent
a lot of time time on the track preparing for this meet. She now has about
month before her senior year of High School and the start of the Cross Country
season. She competes in all three 'running' seasons at Randolph High, so once
school starts she won't have much slack time.

	I hope she has a coach that will tell her to take it easy over the next
month, cut back her mileage, knock off all the speed work (Which she must have
been doing a lot of!), and head to the beach to have some fun!


	JimH

    Jim,
    
    What you note is also something that many high school runners
    experience now due to proliferation of road races.  In the old days,
    you ran cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.  X-C practice
    started early August, the champeenship outdoor track meets were
    early June.  You had a  good 6-8 weeks to simply take it easy, or
    do some Long Slow Distance.  That's all changed.  Kids compete year
    round now - go to road races and see the under-20 crowd.  
    
    I know a guy from my home town who graduated 2 years ago from HS
    and went on to a scholarship in college.  He counted his junior
    and senior years of H.S. and realized he ran about 100 races each
    year.  That's about 2 a week.   He wondered why he was feeling beat
    before his frosh year and couldn't get going.  He red shirted. 
    He now beleives all the racing did him in.  
    
    Since track and field is really the sport I love, I've always felt
    the number of races should be restricted.  (I also feel that high
    schoolers and younger shouldn't be allowed to compete in the longer
    road races, but that's another story...)
    
    JD

    Re .0
    
    I agree with you A&W. I find the name of the topic is an argument in
    itself, actually.
    
    Don
    *8-)

   It isn't just High School, and it isn't just track, tennis and
   gymnastics... it's the whole sports picture..

   My kid is eleven.

   Saturday was the last baseball game of the season 
   Today (Monday) starts Football practice.
   As long as grades are good, he can choose his sports, no pressure from
   me, pro or con. However, I was really happy when he elected NOT to play
   basketball and SPRING baseball this year (as he had the year before).
   I don't know whether the kids get burned out or not, but I'd bet the
   parents do!

   Mike JN

    Well, I've said it before, but I'll repeat it here.  My son's main
    sport is soccer.  Has been since he was six.  In the last 17 months, he
    has played every month.  Prior to that, from 7th grade on, he only got
    December and January off, 'cause they didn't play the first two indoor
    sessions.  That's a lot of soccer, and why he isn't burned out, I don't
    know.
    
    He also runs track, but only in the spring.  His coach is of the
    opinion that track requires a mental discipline that high schoolers
    only barely get by junior/senior years, and doesn't really flourish
    until one is out of college.  Looking at the ages of the competitors in
    the Goodwill Games, I can't dispute it.  But I can see how a
    competitive runner at the high school level could overdo it really
    easily.
    
    In order to achieve excellence on the level we demand of pro atheletes,
    incredible dedication at a relatively early age is required.  (And I'll
    include any Olympic-type sport in the pro category - it certainly
    requires that level of dedication to excel.)  I've seen it in the kid
    on my son's soccer team who gets selected to National Team tryouts for
    the age-group.  He doesn't quite eat, drink, breathe and dream soccer,
    but it's close.  My high-school pal who was an Olympic swimming
    alternate in '68 was pretty water-logged most of the time.
    
    But shouldn't there be at least *some* balance?  A recognition that the
    vast majority of kids with this dream *won't make it*?  That even for
    those who do, most of their life will be spent *outside* the confines
    of their sport?  Chris Evert has admitted that part of the reason that
    she played for so long was that she didn't know how to do anything
    else.  It took her marriage to Andy Mill to show her how to go on after
    the competitive days were over.  Isn't part of the growing up process
    supposed to teach us (and our kids) how to cope with the real world
    once we reach adulthood?
    
    A&W

    My daughter is 7 months old...
    
    After Wimbledon, my wife bought her a tennis racket...
    
    I've already hidden it...
    
    PJ
    
    
    Seriously though, I think that (as someone has already said) there
    is nothing wrong in letting children pursue a sport as long as they
    are not being driven by their parents.
    
    There are valuable lessons to be learned about life, etc from playing
    a sport (e.g. the rewards that come from hard work, the value of
    teamwork, etc) and I think that as long as you don't lose sight
    of these, there is no harm in letting a child pursue a sport.
    
    The biggest damage is done by sponsors who make athletes such as
    Capriatti millionaires before their 15th birthday!!  (I suppose
    I'm just jealous)
    
    PJ (who's still working on his first million!!)
                                                   

	Kid's spend too much time in organized sports and not enough time 
just playing sports.  Now kids have organised soccor, baseball, basketball,
tennis, swimming, all at 7-12 years old.  When I was that age it was
little league for organised sports and after that just playing.  Even with
little league I probably played more baseball outside of LL then in.  Every day
it was either baseball (or what ever variant you could play with the number
of kids that showed up that day), street hockey, half court baseketball, 
whiffle ball, frisbee, sometimes even soccor.  Then off to the lake for
a swim and maybe do a little fishing.  I think organised sports can be
benificial but I think unorganised sports are probably more important.  Kids
not only learn about team work but also how to settle arguments amongst 
themselves, working together as a group to get everyone together and
playing, and most important how to get along and have fun without the help 
of adults.  Put 12-20 kids on a field or court with whatever equipment is 
needed and leave.  When you come back in an hour they will probably all be
happily playing.   Put 20 kids in little league and most will be happy, 
3 to 4 will be upset becuase their on the bench, 1 or 2 will be upset
becuase they missed a pop-up or struck out and now ma or dad is going to
be upset or worse the other teams parents laughed or made fun of them.  
A couple of others are probably taking the game to serious and not
enjoying it like they should.  Of course they also have to listen to
the parents in the stands, yelling at the ump, coaches and kids.

mc

       I grew up in Milford, MA.  That town was truly ridiculous.  Parents so
    bluntly pushed their kids to excell it was sickening.  I remember
    parents would get all bent out of shape over little things at my farm
    and little league games.  It was almost like the parents were obsessed
    to make their kids into the star athlete that they 'could have been'.
    Even the biddy basketball leagues were controlled by certain parents
    who had the same stars on the same teams year after year(no doubt to
    shape the future 8th grade + HS teams).  I developed as an athlete
    mostly in neighborhood pick up games because of the way these leagues
    were set up.  I think that kids need a good mix of organized and
    unorganized sports participation, as long as the organized sports
    aren't covered with the influence of overambitious parents.  My father
    told me that one day I'd find a sport that I could become pasionate in
    participating.  I really loved baseball, but as soon as I started
    rowing, I knew that that was the sport in which I desired to excell. 
    Too many kids today have their parents pushing them to excell into
    sports of the parents' choice.  I've seen a lot of kids throw out their
    arms by the time they reach high school, and it's pretty sad.
    Let kids experiment on their own and if they really wish to vigorously
    pursue an interest in soccer, swimming, baseball(etc.,), then I'm all
    for it as long as they're safe and that's what they really want to do.
    Let the kids just have fun in their sports and be kids while they can.
    
    TomR
    
    Tom

    
    When I was growing up I played little league baseball.  I asked
    my parents to come to my first game.  After they witnessed other
    kids parents screaming at umpires and other kids they never came
    to another game.
    
    I live near a little league field and I have to admit the parents
    have calmed down.  The objective of the league is to let every
    player play and have fun.
    
    \pjb

 >> I live near a little league field and I have to admit the parents
 >> have calmed down.  The objective of the league is to let every
 >> player play and have fun.
    
 I also live near a little league park. My wife took the kids ot the playground 
 and on her way home she crossed the outfeild about 330ft from the plate. The 
coach stopped play and the parents began screaming at her and the kids to get 
off the field. She didn't think this was a very "sporting" thing to do. I will
have a very hard time convincing her that this was the exception rather than 
the rule. What I can't believe is: 
1. A 9 yr old hitting a 330ft shot to center. 
2. The parents and coach believing that a 9 yr old could hit a 330ft dinger. 
3. If the kids could hit a 330ft dinger he should get a free stroll around the 
   bases. 

Jeff

[WARNING:  I mean no disrespect to those who fall in the SPECIAL INTEREST
           GROUP Parents, and intend no offense with these remarks]

First off, one of the biggest problems with parents is very often
they see their kids as a way of having their own second childhood.
Anyway, if little Johnny, or little Sally doesn't seem to be the best,
some parents push mercilessly.

On a related note, I used to drive a friend's son to his soccer
games.  He was about 13 or so, and because I was always there, I 
began working with the three goalies on the team.  Not that I was
a Tony Meola or anything, but I had some knowledge, and thought I could
help the kids out with things I'd learned the hard way.

Well, the parents were tr�s cool about it.  And the coach never 
said anything pro or con, until he overheard me explaining how to
go up to deflect crosses with one knee out to protect yourself.
One of the kids asked about the inevitable elbows a goalie tends to
get in the ribs, and about how best to retaliate.  I told them the
best way to retaliate was to play better and outplay them.
The coach cut me off and said "Give it right back to them".

Afterwards he told me he appreciated my help, but that he didn't want
me working with his team anymore.  I told him that I hoped my kid never
wound up with a bonehead like him for a coach, told him to look up
Sportsmanship in the dictionary, and to him to get a life.

I've never officially coached anything, but I truly hope that the
majority of youth league coaches out there aren't like that jerk!

'Saw

    Jeff I don't think anyone was thinking that there would be a tape
    measure shot to CF.  They may have been worried about the distraction
    factor.  Imagine something cutting across a kids vision as the pitch is
    coming in.

Thanks A&W for starting this note. My kids are 5 and 3 and in a short time
will be ready to play sports competitively. Thanks to you and the others in
here I've learnt a lot of do's and don't's for when the time comes. Hopefully
I'll remember all the great advice....

notes like these are the reasons why sports is the best note on the tube...

mike

    This also concerns me since my daughter, almost 10 (years, ha ha), can
    be affected.....
    
    Anyway, is it true that a girl's puberty can be delayed and/or altered
    with constant vigorous exercise/workouts such as in swimming or
    gymnastics?  I've heard that this is possible, but don't remember the
    source.  Is it more than possible, like probable?
    
    Hawk

   1) Re: Franks p_name: `Prepare to heave the broad' 
                          (or somethin' like that)
          You can't say that in here!!!!

   2) Meanwhile........

   	Last night I saw WOMENS PRO BEACH VOLLEYBALL FINALS

   Awesome stuff! Winners were Jackie Silva and Karolyn Kirby
                  2nd place    Linda Carillo and Linda Hanley

   Some excellent pulchritudinous avoirdupois visible in these matches.

   As a side note: The top money winner on that tour made $22,900

   To put things in perspective: The top money winners on the skate board
   circuit make in excess of $200,000 per year.

   3) Kids Play: All the kids in my neighborhood play organized sports,
   yet all of them still find time for `disorganized sports' : Pickup
   games, madeup games, bikes and skateboards and running in the woods,
   and a lot of other activities. Sometimes they'll drive Big Suze nuts,
   because they'll be pooped, and come in and watch T.V. on a nice day,
   then they'll be outside building dams in a driving rainstorm. She can't
   figure them out. I can. They're kids.

   Mike JN

�   1) Re: Franks p_name: `Prepare to heave the broad' 
�                          (or somethin' like that)
�          You can't say that in here!!!!

Been reading a history of naval warfare called "The Price of Admiralty",
and in particular an intriguing chapter on Adm. Nelson at the Battle
of Trafalgar...guess I must have the lure of the Square-Rigger on the
brain this morning.


Re Hawk:

I don't know much about puberty vis-a-vis youth in Sport, but I have
read that some female runners can train so much they stop having
their period.  Perhaps some of the lady noters could comment on this....


'Saw

    Saw,
    
    My friends and I coached a little league team for a couple of years.
    We had fun, and the kids really seemed to.  The only problems we
    had were with parents, opposing coaches who resented us because
    we were young (19-20), and with some of the kids who were so spoiled
    that they became impossible.
    
    We taught the fundamentals to the kids.  Tried to instill
    sportsmanship, and made sure everyone got equal playing time.
    We refused to fall into the "put the lousy player in right field"
    syndrome.  In one game, I remember we substituted the *star* player
    and put in one of the less talented kids.  The father and mother
    of the *star* confronted me - the father said "That kid sucks, how
    can you replace my Billy with HIM!!!!"
    
    I simply told the parents to remove themselves from the field, to
    talk to the coaching staff after the game if they have a gripe,
    and if they kept it up, they could go to the league official.  
    
    Their kid was disappointed at coming out, but was really embarrassed
    at his parents.  
    
    We lost the game, but these kids  were 9 years old.  It wasn't the
    end of the world.
    
    Even then, little league was becoming more demanding.  
    
    My father is president of our town's little league.  The stories
    he tells are amazing.  First, it costs a bundle for kids to play
    due to insurance costs.  The league has been sued by parents when
    little Johnny or Jilly gets hit with a ball, twists thier ankle
    on the field, etc.   My father has been threatened with lawsuits
    a couple of times (once when a father refused to believe his kid
    wasn't drafted for the major leagues - claimed he was being
    discriminated against because of his religion....the suit never
    came to be, thankfully.)
    
    The league has had to institute mandatory 'volunteering' of all
    parents, because no one was volunteering to help out at the field.
    Parents have looked upon the league as a day care center/baby sitter,
    and have requested things like:  pickup and delivery of junior for
    all practices and games, so that they don't have to; special practice
    times; the right to refuse to report to a team (!!!).
    
    Amazing.  My father loves the sport, and has been instrumental in
    the growth of the league, but he, and many of the others, are on
    the verge of leaving, and they find fewer and fewer willing folks
    to take over.
    
    JD

    Saw,
    
    
    While I'm not a lady noter, I play one on TV.  ;-)
    
    Yes, it is true that many of the top female runners do lose their
    periods when it top condition.  It usually occurs when their fat
    content dips below a certain percentage.   They regain a regular
    cycle once they ease up on training and the fat percentage goes
    up again.
    
    At first, this was thought dangerous, but as far as I know, there
    have been no complications.   I think I read that the only time
    it could become a problem is if the competitor tries to maintain
    that level for a long period of time.
    
    For many distance runners, you hit a weight were you seem to be
    nothing more than skin and bone - for me, that weight was 124 pounds
    (I weight about 153 now) - you peak there, run great, ease off and
    gain the weight back.   You usually have a normal weight that can
    be 5-15 pounds more than that peak weight.   If you try to stay
    at the peak for an extended time, you usually suffer illness, injury
    and burnout.
    
    I belive Mary Decker, in her younger days, suffered from this problem.
    
    JD

    JD,
    
    It's a shame that these things turn out the way they do.  In your case,
    you have people who really want to help the kids have fun while
    learning to be good competitors in baseball. Those parents sound like a
    lot of the people that were around when I played ball.  These people
    just can't appreciate the fundamentals that underly these programs. 
    Many parents are just like their kids-- they want , want, want  & they
    expect their junior to be in the limelight 100% of the time.  There a
    lot of good people out there, but then it only takes a few bad ones to
    ruin it for others.  
    
       I'm in a big brother program in West Philadelphia.  My little
    brother will soon turn 10.  He loves to play baseball, and something
    like Little League would be a perfect escape for he & his friends from 
    their neighborhood(pretty rough).  There isn't, however, a league that
    is accessible for him or his grandparents(very nice people).  I wish
    the people who bitch and moan (to the people who take the time to work
    with their kids) would shut up and just appreciate the oppurtunities
    that their kids are getting by being able to participate in these
    programs.
    
       TomR 
       

    
    re. .21
    
    Digital had one of its discovery series on athletes.  They studied
    an aerobic exercise instructor who had been missing her period for
    over a year.  They analyzed her bone structure and determined that
    she had the bone structure of a 60 year old woman.  They attributed
    her condition to her missing her period for so long.
    
    Did anyone else see this broadcast?
    
    \pjb

    JD was right about the fat content, this they tell girls when their
    young, sometimes they say heat can do it to ya too.  Sometimes really
    thin women (i.e., not neccesarily just athletes) don't get it either.
    
    Wheel_who_can't_believe_I'm_actually_writing_this!

	JD,

		From what I've read the condition you've described has indeed
been found to be dangerous to women Athletes. Women who training is so intense
that they stop menstruating, also show alarming loss of bone density. Runners
usually start developing reoccurring stress fractures as a result. They still
don't know if these women can regain there lost calcium over time when their
athletic careers are over, or if they've guarenteed that they'll develop 
osteo-perosis (sp?) as they grow older?

		At any rate, it is something for any woman athlete to
consider.

JimH

    Thanks for the info Jim.  The article I read said if they lost the
    period for a short period, then regained normalcy, it wouldn't be
    bad.  However, extended loss is dangerous.
    
    jd
    

   1) re:  . ( <---- that's a period )

   	Same thing happens to women body builders.

   2) re: little league

   	Bummer JD... Your dad must have run into some real dingdongs.
   Either that or I'm just lucky. The parents for the kids I coach are the
   most supportive group you could ask for. No griping, no second
   guessing, and lot's of volunteer help.

   Mike JN

    OK, I'll put on my social historian and woman-noter hats, and give all
    the information that *I* have.
    
    Onset of menarche (getting your period) is determined by the percentage
    of body fat which a young girl/woman has.  As diets have improved and
    changed, this age has been decreasing by about 1 year every ten years
    in the US.  Current average age of first menarche is about 12!  (Think
    about this when deciding how old your daughter should be when hearing
    her first sex-ed type stuff.)  Prolonged training, such that it reduces
    the body-fat percentage below whatever the magic number is, will either
    delay or stop menarche.  This is to protect the woman in the event she
    gets pregnant, since if she isn't able to eat the foetus will pull it's
    nutritional needs from her body *anyway*.
    
    The other side effects may or may not occur in girls who reach first
    menarche late because of training.  If periods stop after having
    started, the body is interpreting the training as starvation, and
    trying to protect itself accordingly.
    
    A&W

    My younger brother is 12. He plays little league and he just
    finished the district all-star tournament. For a little background
    remember he's only 12, but he's 5'9" and weighs about 150 lbs. In 
    this tourney he went 16 for 20, had 7 HR, 5 doubles and 26 RBI.
    He was chosen for the NY state all-star tourney. He plays SS and
    the 3rd baseman was a good ball player but his dad was a major d*ck.
    In the champeenship game the 3rd baseman had a grounder go through his 
    legs. This poor kids' dad jumped up and proceeded to rag his son out.
    I was an asst. coach and I came out of the dugout and told this
    idiot to shut up and leave the kid alone. I told him that this is
    a learning experience and that we as coaches could handle any
    physical errors that these kids made. If they make mental errors
    then its time to talk to the kid. My younger brother's baseball coach
    approached my dad and asked him, get this, if there was any way
    he could have my bro NOT ski this year!! Get real!! I agree
    with whoever said its the parents who want their kids to excell,
    and too many parents live their lives vicariously through their
    kids. Be compassionate, and let the games begin....
    
    			Rich
    

    
    Yeah I know, I know, another sidetrack.  But Steven, that P-name
    got me laughin just thinking of that old Cajun Codger who does that
    cooking show on the off-channels.  He's the one who says to add
    maybe a tablespoon of bourbon to the stew, then proceeds to dump
    in about a quart.  Too funny.
    
    Dickster
    

Justin Wilson.  Watch his show for a few weeks running, and 
you'll be laughin' yer a__ off regularly, I gar-ron-tee....

'Saw

    Hooooo-boy, dats good. "People say 'Justin, what kind of wine should
    I cook wif?' and I say what kinda wine you like??" He's great.
    
    			Back to the topic.......
    
    				Rich
    

    Re: 19 and Hawk;
    You're right, young female athletes need to be very concerened with
    the amount of endurance activity they preform. By lowering their
    percentage of bodyfat too low they can stop having their period.
    There's a name for it but I can't remember it off the top of my head.
    I have an artical about this topic from Womans Fitness magazine, I'll 
    have to look it over to explain it correctly so I'll let you know 
    tommorrow.
    
    laters.
    Tina
    
    

    Tina -
    
    The term is amenorrhea.  (I might have the spelling slightly screwed
    up.)  
    
    Personally, I'm even more concerned about the child's psychological 
    development when they are a young, world-class athelete than I am 
    about her physical development.  That's one of the good things that 
    has come out in (brain fade) the latest early teen tennis player.  
    One or the other of her parents is with her on the tour.  Her Mom, 
    at least, seems to be working hard to make sure that she doesn't 
    get into habits that are more 'grown-up' than her age.  (Witness the
    shopping trip taped for NBC in Paris, where Mom said no to *all* the
    clothes as making her look too adult.  Or the interview in London where
    she had spent the previous evening at a rock concert, like lots of
    other kids her age.)
    
    I compare that with some of the stories that came out of Karolly's gym,
    where the girls are mostly away from home and without their family. 
    Looking at the training/school schedule they have, I don't see any way
    that those girls aren't losing out on some very important growing-up
    experiences.  I find myself wondering what needs to change so that
    those who have the drive to excel can also have a child-hood.
    
    A&W  
    
    ps Good to see another woman in here.  I think we've doubled our active
    women noters count in the last month - it's up to 4 now!

    A&W,
    
    Jennifer Capriati is the young American tennis player you referred to. 
    She's 14, I think.  She did seem to be enjoying herself and trying to
    be 14 instead of 24.  That was nice to see.   It will be interesting to
    see what she does *after* she wins her first Grand Slam title and then
    suffers a setback or two.   That'll grow her up in a hurry.
    
    And I brought up Bela Karolyi and his techniques concering female
    gymnastics a few weeks ago in an earlier reply.  I like Karolyi. I
    think he's a good coach.  But he's no dummy.  He knows the *winning*
    formula in women's gymnastics.  The formula is light, small, quick, and
    high.  The judges are awarding high scores based on speed and
    aerodynamics.  He knows that only pre-pubescent girls can fly that high
    and that fast.   When the judges return to awarding points on athletic
    skills rather than just raw performance, then we'll see a return to a
    "sport" as opposed to the "flight tests" we see today.
    
    Bob Hunt
    

    >ps Good to see another woman in here.  I think we've doubled our active
    >women noters count in the last month - it's up to 4 now!
    
    Are you counting Mark Lefay?
    
    Dan

    No Dan ... I think she counted Gronowski .... :-)

    Gentlemen, gentlemen, really now :-)
    
    I'm counting me, Tina, Wheels and Karen of course!  (There was another
    member of the fairer gender who checked in for about a week, but has
    since departed, I think.)  There've been some others off and on, and I
    may be somewhat precipitate [look it up] in counting Tina, but hey....
    
    A&W

    
    Hey all.
      I'll stick around as long as the topics are interesting. I also 
    read the Flex file but it isn't as interesting these days.
      
      As for amenoria (or however its spelled), it can cause problems
    with the calcium levels in a female and since calcium is directly
    needed for the muscles to contract as well as bone density it can 
    cause problems with degenrative bone disease ( ostioprosis  sp? ).
    Normally a female athlete should not go lower than 10-12% of bodyfat-
    any lower an they are increasing chances of developing amenoria.
      
     In response to the adulthood of our young athletes, I don't think
    they could ever be like the normal child who can go outside and play
    with out a care in the world.
     Our young athletes have to deal with grown up situations just as we
    adults do. They are more disiplined, these athletes can't just go and
    jump off a mound of dirt for fear of injury. 
    
      I have always admired the young girls in gymnastics, I used to dream
    of being an olympic gymnastis. The atitudes of athletes are so self
    demanding that they won't stop until they can't go on any longer.
    There was a study done on athletes- it was a question which asked 
    some athletes - if they could be garunteed they would be the best of
    their sport just by taking a drug and knowing that by taking this drug
    they would definitly die within a year- would they take it? The
    majority of the athletes poled stated that- yes- they would take the
    drug. That is the type of atitude athletes have. I consider myself an
    athlete and I don't beleive in taking drugs but I do push myself. I am 
    very aggressive when I play softball- I take it very serious. I think 
    its the same for the kids who are in training for the most part of
    their life. I don't think it should be forced on a child and usually if
    it is the child won't stay with  the sport, but I think there are a lot
    of kids out there who push themsevles which is a whole other subject.
    The main issue is that there be a balance between training for a
    compititive sport and just goofing off,a balance that the child can
    deal with. 
     On the other hand, other kids look at the young athlete and don't like
    to play with them because they are more advanced and are better at the
    game. You know the ole staying - no one likes a smarty pants. The
    athlete isn't being a smarty pants the other kids are jeallous and so
    the  athlete is cast out of the group. It is very tuff for the kids
    when they have this kind of talent. They aren't normal kids but they
    aren't adults either. Best think I could think of would be to let the
    child be around other athletes outside compitition.
    Well, I'm going to quite rattling on- these are just my opions.
    Laters
    Tina