Former NBA Player Bob Bigelow Urges Parents to Make Fun a Priority in Youth Sports

Former NBA basketball player Bob Bigelow told an audience at last night that parents should concentrate on making sure their kids are having fun playing a variety of youth sports rather than getting too serious, too soon.

In a talk sponsored by the Wellesley Youth Basketball Association, Bigelow also talked about the importance of designing youth sports programs that prioritize children's needs. 

"I would like to meet the needs of all of our kids, rather than the adults need to compete through our chidren," he said.

The evening was a community wide discussion where parents were encouraged to contribute and participate as Bigelow asked questions and brought to the table information from his acclaimed 2001 book, "Just Let the Kids Play". In other words, let's put fun back in youth sports.

"Just Let Kids Play" was co-authored by journalists Tom Maroney and Linda Hall of Hopkington.

Bigelow is no stranger to sports and has become one of the foremost youth speakers in the country. A former NBA first round draft choice who played four seasons with the Kansas City Kings, the San Diego Clippers and our favorite team, the Boston Celtics. His career as a ball player started at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania where he played under the Hall of Fame coach, Chuck Daley.

The hours of research about youth sports and it's effect on children as well as the 2,500 talks and clinics worldwide has earned Bigelow the honor being named one of the "100 Most Influential Sports Educators" by the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island.

Bigelow has appeared on major television shows including CNN, local radio broadcasts and has been quoted in major publications including Sports Illustrated and the New York Times.

Bigelow spoke about designing programs to meet children's needs to make sure every child gets meaningful playtime. Biegelow also said he likes to see every child doing multiple sports at a young age so that they don't get burned out specializing in one discipline.

"We need to seriously reconsider elite travel teams, especially for the younger kids. They can create burn out and injuries and also discriminate against the late blooming young adults," he said.