Political Correctness in Youth Sports and the Special Olympic Legacy of Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Guest Blogger: Inner-Sports

by Garret Kramer

At Inner-sports we often talk with teams, players and coaches about the clear states of mind necessary to truly become more competitive, persistent, focused, and confident. And while our mission is to help players find productivity and enjoyment through sport, we firmly believe that winning is important and it is clearly appropriate to possess the burning desire to beat your opponent. The problem, from my perspective, is in the world of youth athletics today, this message is often blurred and confused. Today’s “everyone gets a trophy” mentality is distorting the true lessons and opportunities for growth that competition actually provides. That is, there is a big difference between “it being okay” to lose and “you being okay” if you happen to lose.

Said another way, when a young athlete understands the principle that external circumstances, a lost game for example, cannot regulate their life, it becomes quite clear that while you may be upset about the outcome, the lost game has no ability to define you as an individual (neither does a win by the way). In stressing concepts like equal playing time, “just do your best- the scoreboards not important,” or “we’re all winners,” youth sports leagues and parents are attempting to control the innocent participant’s thought process. If your son thinks and thus believes that winning means something, who are we to tell him that it doesn’t! Effort and the desire to play are natural to us all, so my suggestion is that we stay out of our young player’s ways. Instead, let’s provide the freedom for our kids to get on the field, stage or any type of creative outlet, use their imagination, hustle and go for it. Trust me, lessons and attributes to be remembered such as sportsmanship, respect, and compassion for opponents, will emerge in the right place and time for each individual.

So where does Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the insightful founder of the Special Olympics who passed away recently, fit into all of this? Today’s youth sports leaders might be surprised to discover that, as Jack McCallum recently described in Sports Illustrated, Mrs. Shriver insisted that every Special Olympic athlete take his or her participation in the games very seriously. The inclusive nature of the events was not for one second, to forsake the joy, diligence, and tears of true competition. In direct contrast to some current youth leaders and parents, Mrs. Shriver recognized that the freedom to win or lose was exactly what these misunderstood and challenged athletes needed for their behavioral development. According to her son, Bobby Shriver, “everyone told my mother that mentally challenged kids would start to cry if they lost. To which my mother responded, ‘So what? That’s what everyone does.’ Her thought was: you compete, you exult if you win, you get sad if you lose, and you go back and try harder.”

Mrs. Shriver’s message is simple wisdom for the true competitor in everyone!



Garret Kramer is the founder and Managing Partner of Inner-Sports, LLC. Inner-Sports evaluates and then coaches athletes of all ages on the behavioral characteristics that lead to peak performance on and off the field of play. Inner-Sport’s evaluative partner has created the behavioral assessment used at both the National Hockey League and the Major League Lacrosse scouting combines. Inner-Sports and Garret work with Baseball Factory players at select player development events.