12 December 2018

Kids comps should be focus on challenges instead of competitiveness

Kids sports are becoming less competitive in Sweden. You are not supposed to say who won a tournament in football or say who won the league before they are around 11 years. Instead it is all about including and let everyone "compete" in as many matches etc as possible. Further more, parents and even coaches are not supposed to interfere shouting out tactical instructions. It is believed that a focus on playing rather than being competitive is better for the kids even in team sports. Climbing being an individual sports, clearly the winning and failure focus could create even more negative pressure. Further more, coaches and parents instructing the kids in a too detailed way replace the fun playing challenge focus, with only aiming for winning. Possibly we should set up competition formats without finals or with finals for everyone. As it stands, often the gyms just copy the IFSC format and just let the Top-6, or so, 10 year old's challenge themselves in the final with great exposure. Sure many young kids like and can deal with the pressure in a competition but what is not fair is that if you are not among the best, you are not allowed to challenge yourself on all climbs.
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