Yes, I understand that we are in the midst of a global pandemic and in no way am I trying to minimize the magnitude of the situation…
I have had several friends deal with COVID and just like the reports, I’ve known people who have been completely asymptomatic and also had a very good buddy have a near-death experience…
This definitely isn’t something to be taken lightly but this also seems to be something that isn’t going away in the near future, which is forcing all of us to adapt to a new normal.
As we continue to deal with new regulations enforced by state and local governments, the debates as far as what should and should not be allowed will continue to rage on…
For the most part, youth sports, specifically youth baseball around the country, has been restricted in a lot of areas… For the sake of this Daily Hustle and my experience, I am going to refer to California and Nevada specifically.
Our 10U LTP baseball team had every tournament this summer canceled… Camps were allowed so we decided to bring the squad up to Tahoe and run a camp.
We also had another camp day where we scrimmaged a team in Half Moon Bay.
Of course, we have taken precautions but outside of putting bubbles around the kids, there will always be some sort of inherent risk just as there is in all walks of life…
All that said, as we continue to explore exactly what our new normal is, youth sports, and especially outside ones that allow for a good amount of social distancing, need to be a part of the structured organized activities going forward.
When we take sports and the opportunity to play outside away from kids, they will assuredly find other outlets that include endless hours of sedentary activity that involve a shit ton of screen activity & video games. 🤦♂️
Yes I have a horse in the race, 3 as a matter of fact, but this goes well beyond my selfish wants for my kids…
The physical and psychological benefits that kids receive from organized sports is literally life giving… Children, adolescents and even teenagers are over emotional creatures with an incredible amount of energy to burn and they are constantly trying to find their self worth through the activities that they participate in. When we take these activities away from our kids, in a lot of ways we are taking away the exact thing these kids need in order to find their confidence and self worth in life…
Child mental health numbers have dramatically risen since the start of Covid and it isn’t by accident that it has coincided with youth sports in most of the country completely shutting down…
If we can stack beaches, malls, grocery stores and restaurants with people, we sure as hell can let kids go outside and play a game.
The disgusting thing is the people that have gone to great lengths to ensure the kids DON’T get a chance to play… If you or your kid doesn’t want to take the risk, you guys have the freedom to make that choice but don’t feel like it’s your responsibility or right to make the same choice for others.
Outside of complete isolation, there is no one proven way to stay completely immune from this virus… Even when we all were told that masks are a major preventer to some extent, I just listened to a highly respectable doctor on Rich Roll’s podcast say the cloth masks didn’t work during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic and they aren’t working now. He went so far to say that masks give people a false sense of security and could actually enhance the spread because of this unrealistic perception that a mask will keep you safe thus reducing social distancing and increasing the amount of time you would spend in close proximity to other people.
Bottom line, regardless of what people try to tell us, we still have no idea how long this pandemic will last and what the overall devastation will be…
We do know that the collateral damage of the shutdown is starting to add up and a question we all need to answer is at what point does the negative effects of the restrictions of local and state governments begin to outweigh the actual virus itself???
For this, we would need more research and more data but to help ensure we don’t get to that point, we need to be proactive by making sure we continue to protect the basic liberties and fundamentals that this great nation was founded on, and that starts with letting kids go outside and play!!!!!!!!!!!
-EB
P.S. Have you hopped on a Team GoHard Foot Reflexology Board yet?
