The End of Real Balls?

Ok, so I'm reading an article* about how a Long Island middle school is banning baseballs, footballs, basketballs and even soccer balls from their recess activities. The reason? They're afraid that the kiddies might get injured. Other schools outside of the Long Island school district are also considering banning the balls.

Instead of the traditional "dangerous" balls, the kids will now be restricted to Nerf balls and other kinder, gentler alternatives. "Rough" games of tag and even cartwheels are also unless they are supervised by a coach. The kids now need a coach in order to do a cartwheel? Are you kidding me? What are the credentials for being a cartwheel coach?

I can see being reasonably protective of our youngsters. But don't you think that treating a football like it's an assault weapon is a bit extreme? Learning to throw a spiral is a rite of passage for most boys. And snagging the ball out of mid-air allows youngsters to vicariously become Jerry Rice for a brief moment.  And now the schools are saying that that it's too dangerous?  Hey, I could understand it if we were in France. But this is the United States of America where boys play with real footballs. They'll never make it to Ball-So-Hard University if they're restricted to playing with foam balls.

And regarding the other sports, is it even possible to dribble a foam basketball or kick a foam soccer ball? I figure that it would be like playing with a giant marshmallow.

Can you imagine this kind of nonsense when we were in school? I can remember playing dodgeball during recess as a kid. The object was to hit your opponent with the ball. But more precisely, your goal was to drill him with everything your ten-year-old arm could muster. I can even remember the teachers encouraging it! Hell, if a teacher did that today, he would probably be looking at felony child-abuse charges.

And when it came to baseball, I will admit that it could sometimes be a little scary. I can remember facing Joe Mundell, who even at 12 years old, threw like a freight train. With each subsequent trip to the plate, I would gain a little more confidence. Before long, I actually looked forward to batting against Big Joe. I figured if I could get a hit off of him, any other pitcher would be a piece of cake. Of course, there were some bumps and bruises along the way, but it was well worth it. Not only did it build up my fastball hitting skills, it also built courage and character. Somehow, I don't think I would have felt the same sense of accomplishment if I had been facing a 80 mph piece of foam.

Now, aside from the safety issue, there's also another reason that the schools might be banning "hard" balls. In today's "sue happy society", schools are concerned that they may face lawsuits for any potential schoolyard injury. Of course, back in the day, if you scraped your knee during recess, the school nurse cleaned it up, slapped a Band-Aid on it and sent you back out to the playground. Nowadays, school nurses practically face distribution charges if they give a kid a cough drop.

I'll sum it up by saying this......If you take away real balls from our kids now, they won't have any real balls when they grow up.

kw

* http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/10/07/long-island-middle-school-bans-footballs-other-recreational-items/