Participating in organized sports can be one of the best activities in a young person's life. Whether it's team sports or individual sports, young people have the opportunity to learn about teamwork, work ethic and the skills needed to play their game. However, when the coaches who lead the young people have a win-at-all-cost mentality, they teach a poor lesson to their young players. Cheating in youth sports can have long-term consequences that will impact young people negatively.
Types
There are many ways to cheat in youth sports and all of them are wrong. Some are more heinous than others. A football coach who teaches a youngster to finish a block by driving his shoulder into an opponent's knee is cheating. This coach is teaching players to break the rules intentionally and injure an opponent. A coach who falsifies a copy of a player's birth certificate so a 12-year-old can dominate 10-year-olds is cheating. A coach who gives a knowingly false scouting report to another coach on a player is cheating. All of these incidents take away from the enjoyment of youth sports.
Significance
If a player sees her coach cheating so his team can get an edge, it teaches a lesson to the young person playing the game. That lesson is that it's good to win and that you do what you have to in order to make that happen. That's in opposition to why many parents want their children to play sports. They want them to compete, try hard and learn to win. However, attempting to circumvent the rules teaches young people that it's all right if they break societal rules. That can have devastating implications for years to come.
Considerations
Some time there is a fine line between cheating and making a mistake. A youth baseball league may have a rule concerning bat size or barrel size. If a young person brings in a new bat that is a half-inch too long or a quarter-inch wider in barrel length than the rules allow, that can be cheating if the coach "advised" his player to bring in a different bat. It is not cheating if the player brought the bat on his own and did not know the rules pertaining to bats. If the player brings the bat to the plate and the opposing coach notices that it looks larger, that may be a mistake but it is not intentional cheating.
History
Cheating goes on at all levels of society and that includes youth sports. One of the most famous cases involved New York City youth league pitcher Danny Almonte Rojas, who led his Bronx, New York, team to a third place finish in the Little League World Series in 2001. Almonte and his coaches said he was a 12-year-old pitcher, but Almonte was actually 14. False birth certificates indicated the youngster was the proper age, but an investigation revealed that cheating had occurred place. Little League declared all of Almonte's team's wins to be vacated.
Potential
When individuals involved in teaching and coaching sports are in it for their own glory instead of teaching youngsters the fundamentals of the sport they play and the important life lessons that come with it, cheating will always be a possibility. However, if the adults in charge are more interested in the young person's development as an individual and an athlete, the chances of cheating are diminished.
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