There’s little that people enjoy more than play. Unfortunately, when it comes to our youth, we often fail in nurturing that love, former President of the U.S. Tennis Association and Chief Medical Officer of the NCAA Brian Hainline said.
On Wednesday, April 15, Hainline spoke at the University of New Mexico Physics and Astronomy Interdisciplinary Science Building and said sports should be a public good to an audience including local sport leaders and athletes. He highlighted what he called an inadequate systemic support for sports in the U.S.
Hainline’s lecture was hosted jointly by the UNM School of Medicine and Alumni Association.
The trend we are currently seeing in sports revolves around early specialization and pressure placed on children to pick one sport and specialize in it as soon as possible, Hainline said. This is often done in the hopes of the child becoming proficient enough to secure athletic scholarships in college or play professionally.
Early specialization, however, may prove more detrimental than beneficial to a young athlete’s health, according to Hainline. He said in the early years, a greater emphasis needs to be placed on physical literacy.
Physical literacy is the desire and confidence to be physically active for life, according to the Aspen Institute. Confidence comes from being skillfully able to execute a complex set of actions in sports, Hainline said.
It’s recommended that children under 12 play and learn multiple sports, according to the American Development Model by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
UNM alum and Volcano Vista High School Wrestling Head Coach Ahren Griego called the lecture “validating and informative,” saying that it was very “relevant to our community.”
“There is definitely a crisis in youth sports here in Albuquerque, and getting information from a national entity and a national advocate is very impactful,” Griego said.
Additionally, the role of sports in public education is declining, and there is little support from the federal government to promote sport as a public health initiative, Hainline said. This is partly because readiness for testing constrains schools in the time they can devote to sports, he said.
“There is no one in our government with a megaphone about this issue,” Hainline said.
Solutions may lie in changing coaching models as well, with the USA Football model as a positive example, Hainline said. The 2024 model places an emphasis on holistic development of the athlete, including their physical literacy and basic skills early on, according to USA Football.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Norway was highlighted as a positive example of a country investing in its sport system. The Ministry of Culture, through its Department of Sports Policy in Norway, administers 64% of the money from its national lottery and sports betting mechanism — amounting to $400 million USD annually — into training coaches, buying equipment and acquiring sports facilities for communities, according to the Aspen Institute.
During the community session, a question was raised regarding where money in the U.S. was going in regards to sports. There are parents who are willing to pay for early specialization training programs, and there is a lot of money to be made in that industry, Hainline said, but that an unequal distribution of money in the U.S. has become a factor that leads to unequal access to sport.
“You have God knows how many training centers here in this metro area,” West Mesa High School Golf Coach Tyler Hartom said. “I have students from lower socio-economic classes who have never even touched a club because they don’t have access to that.”
Pickleball was referenced as an example of a sport recently surging in popularity that may provide insights on how to make sports an avenue for building widespread community.
“Nobody who ever plays pickleball ever gets lonely,” Hainline said.
Shin Thant Hlaing is a beat reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
