In a current youth sports world of traveling teams, private coaches and 12-month schedules, Lea B. Olsen’s high school basketball experiences in the late ’80s seem improbable, if not downright impossible. 6’1” at the age of 12, Lea was active in gym class at school and played basketball with her brothers at home. However, the high school she went to didn’t have any organized sports teams.

Encouraged by her family, Lea transferred to Minneapolis South High School for her junior year and tried out for the basketball team. Both her and her coach were excited when she tried out. But when asked about her formal playing experience, she saw the coach’s face slowly drop. And while it’s true she didn’t have experience, Lea also didn’t have any bad habits – just raw talent.

As Lea remembers, “He was willing to take the extra time to teach me the game, and that was the start. And as soon as I started playing, I knew that I wanted to stay in sports for as long as I could, and then ended up having a career in sports.” Now, Lea is entering her 15th year as television color analyst for the Minnesota Lynx, as well as the analyst for the Minnesota State Girls High School Basketball Tournament and the host for the Minnesota State Boys High School Basketball Tournament.

But, Lea also adds about her fast rise to competitive basketball as a teen, “it’s crazy to think because now, that really couldn’t happen. You can’t do it that way anymore.” Youth sports has become an integral part of growing up for many, starting with a focus on performance and competition at an early age. But the expense and pressure of traveling teams can leave many on the outside who are just looking to play. In today’s Off the Charts, Lea talks with Dr. Jackson and Dr. Haley about inequities in youth sports, the pressure put on athletes and how the valuable lessons she learned playing basketball have helped her in her life off the court. Listen to the episode or read the transcript.

Inequities in youth sports – how we got here and what to do next

Starting at earlier ages with higher costs to join and participate, competitive youth sports have, in Lea’s words, “really come down to the haves and have-nots.” That wasn’t the case 30 years ago, “because money wasn’t the thing that was pushing it, and also everyone was starting at the same level, around the same age. It wasn’t about traveling, and it was about kids playing three sports.”

“So all of that has morphed, and my belief is it’s not just the schools or the parents. I think we’ve had a societal shift to be more competitive, to drive to get people into colleges that they can’t afford so everyone’s desperate for scholarships.” As a result, more parents are having their kids focus on a single sport, which produces excellent professional teams – consisting of a dozen or so athletes each, depending on the sport.

“So everybody else who plays sports is not going to have that experience, but they are going to have an experience that maybe isn’t positive, that’s probably more stressful than necessary and it’s going to cost their parents a lot of money. Or they’re going to be left out of that opportunity because their parents don’t have money … what you really see out of that is who suffers the most are kids in the inner cities or really far outstate that don’t have money and can’t do that traveling around the country and can’t pay for those fees.”

For parents that want to support their kids’ desire and excitement to play sports, without the expense and stress, Lea encourages families to look within their own communities. “Community centers provide sports for kids, so supporting that and making sure that exists (is important). Because what happens with traveling is, for obvious reasons, it becomes too expensive. But if you … have an in-house space for kids … (and) create an environment that’s positive with good coaching and programs, like I’ve seen in various areas, that really becomes even more powerful.”

And her advice for kids with the interest and drive to play, but without the access? “… track (information) down. You’re going to have to do some due diligence in trying to find programs. There are programs out there that serve kids that can’t afford to play. And every traveling team, they don’t usually publicize it, but most of them are supposed to have access for kids who can’t afford to play. So just make sure you ask.”

Pressure, packed schedules and burnout

The drive for success in youth sports today can be draining, both financially and emotionally. The pressure on both parents and kids can boil over, leading to friction and fights with umpires, school officials and other parents. “I think, sometimes, parents don’t even know the pressure,” as Lea remembers being the mother of a son that played baseball at an elite level. “What happens is you’re just following everybody else and you’re kind of keeping up with the Joneses and you don’t realize, ‘Oh, they got a trainer, let’s get a trainer. They’re doing extras on Sunday, they’re doing an extra tournament.’ It’s not like you’re always thinking ‘I’m driving my kid to be this.’

“And then, one day, we realized our son was exhausted. When I took him to the doctor, it was simply just that he had played 115 games of baseball that year and was simply exhausted.” This slow ratchet of pressure ends up creating a generation of young athletes playing under pressure and obligation, rather than for the love of the game followed by an intrinsic drive to be better.

“I will say that these young athletes coming through are the most anxiety-ridden group of athletes that we’ve ever seen … they have more stress and anxiety and depression than any group of athletes. So it does impact them … I always like to tell people to check in with your athletes, ask them how they’re doing. ‘Why are you playing? Why are you performing?’ So you’re making sure that they’re okay in it still and that maybe there is some joy to be found in there and it’s not just about getting to some point that they might not actually get to. But there has to be some joy and fun and excitement on the route there.”

Lessons learned both on and off the court

Aside from the pressure and expense that youth sports can bring today, it’s important to remember the overwhelming and diverse positives that team athletics give kids. “Sports gave me my first confidence,” says Lea during the podcast. “I was always the tallest in the room – lanky, skinny and all those things. But when I got on a basketball court, all of a sudden this body had a great purpose and was doing great things and everyone was cheering. So, it really gave me a sense of purpose and confidence that I needed in high school – that was huge.

“I also loved working on a team with others … I loved coming to school on Saturdays. We were the only people in the building. We get on the team bus (and have) all this fun, doing all this stuff. But it was this sense that we were doing something bigger than ourselves. The first time I felt that as a young person was when I started playing sports. So sports allowed me to feel that way.”

Playing basketball also helped her to understand leadership roles. Leadership can come from the best player on the team, but it can also come from a player who’s vocal and charismatic, either as a starter or a bench player. Additionally, it can come from the person who works harder than everyone else. “So there’s all these real natural leadership roles that you can find for yourself. And those are the same things in the workforce. You’re sitting around with a group of people at work, there’s just certain people who lead a certain way. So it’s all those same things that translate into the work world, but in the sports world, they just happen very naturally.”

To hear more from Lea, including her thoughts about the encouraging state of women’s sports today, the importance of losing and why parents need to remember that just because their kid is sitting on the bench, it doesn’t mean he or she isn’t going to grow as a person or athlete, listen to this episode of Off the Charts.