Appalled by young people’s fitness

Trump lost. You suck. Get over it.

I’ve got three kids and also teach, so I’m around Gen Z/Gen A constantly, and I can tell you that you don’t have any reason to be disturbed. People have a real doom-and-gloom view of young people and phones/social media, but it’s not a big deal.

It's good they are there then.

I’m also of the generation that spent all day outside playing in the woods or sports like wiffleball, street hockey, etc. But lets not romanticize the era either. Often the reason I was outside was because my mom made me turn off the Gilligan’s Island reruns and kicked my ass out of the house. Maybe not enough parents do the equivalent with video games but I think the reason we see less kids playing is that modern parents have their kid’s lives uber scheduled. In my day and area I lived in elementary kids basically had Pop Warner football and little league. There was no flag football, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, dance, tumbling, cheer and myriad other activities as today. Though I do fear that the modern youth sports “industry” is creating a system of haves and have nots.

I'm appalled at everyone's fitness nowadays.

This summer I had to pick my daughter up from an art camp at a local university everyday at 4pm. I'd usually get there around 3:40pm. Every single parent that was already there would play on their phones while waiting, often 30+ minutes in their car. The university was absolutely beautiful, weather was great, and there were a ton of walking paths. Not to mention the empty college track 2 blocks way. Would it really kill some of these lardfats to walk for 20-30 minutes while waiting for their kids?

I see these types of behaviors all over the place nowadays. Before WFH our office elevator would be flooded with people getting off on the second and third floor, or going down one floor to the basement. People spend 10 minutes looking for a closer parking spot to save 1 minute of walking. My fat neighbor works 3 blocks away from her house, I have never seen her walk to work once in the years I've been here, and it's a direct sidewalk route with no street crossings.

It's disgusting - how do you expect the kids of these people to be fit with that kind of example?

the video game generation is finally starting to have kids now so this generation of kids may not only be less athletic due to this, but also due to the covid isolation.

on a different note, there are more track clubs than ever in the bay area these days. a little over 10 years ago, you could top 3 a local marathon with a 2:40-2:50 time, but these days, you need to go sub 2:25. maybe the supershoes had some part of this, but the "sub elite" class is still faster than a decade ago. these guys are also starting to have kids, so i think the youth's fitness level over the next decade or so may have some more variance between the unathletic and the athletic.

Yes, lardfats know that walking in the sun for 20-30 mins can be fatal, literally melting you.

It's called fall ball. Not unusual at all.

Our local little league sometimes has a "Fall Ball" season.

About 20 years ago I was working at a tourist destination where package tour types get on and off the buses. Every...single...time, full and less than full buses of Americans took FOREVER to get on or off the bus. One or two couples would be capable of moving faster but were blocked by obese, waddling 60 somethings with oversized handbags, then there were the East Asians,

They routinely embarked and disembarked twice as fast as the US of A$$e$, at equal or greater age and still had time for them all to take pictures of each other.

Same thing at my son's football practice. Pathetically overweight and out of shape 8th graders. Then I met the pathetically overweight and out of shape parents and understood why. Fitness standards have definitely changed in a generation. Look through a mid-1980s high school yearbook for proof.

Correct. 2 quick things... 1) HRE is one of the smartest LR posters, so while he would be open to hearing you and learning new things, odds are not likely that he would be learnign much from you. It is what it is. 2) HRE already said he was familiar (obviously) with fall ball. Calling it "Little League", however, is akin to saying 5K = 3 miles.

People are less grounded in core things that develop motivation, hard work ethic, and intellectual curiosity. What frankly scares me the most is the lack of desire to experience life in the physical world. This is the main way we develop and grow, and our youth is plain and simple lacking that. Simple tech has so easily hacked our basic biological mechanism that I don't think we can as a species survive this path we are on.

I know. But the OP didn't call it that. He called it Little League and if it was LL it would be very unusual.

It's really fkn criminal. Parents happily and ignorantly put their kids on the obesity path from day 1. My children are exceptional in their athleticism, fitness and eating habits. This will make them stand out even more than me, but it's really fkn sad to think they are part of a tiny % like this in the developed world.

But is this league affiliated with Little League? We have towns around here that are part of Little League that have a fall league. But the fall league is not part of the official Little League now because as "fake news" said, Little League's season ends with the championship game in Williamsport. Also, there are many, many, towns with baseball leagues for kids who are 12 and younger who have no affiliation with Little League. But it's very common for people to call those leagues little leagues. That's the case in my town. If the fall league you guys have is officially part of Little League NOW, not just in spring and summer, I'd be very interested in how that works. As far as you know, does this league have to comply with LL's rules about eligibility, minimum playing times, length of games, etc.? But even if the league needs to do those sorts of things because it is officially affiliated with Little League I stand by what I said in my original post. It's unusual.

Their parents are so obese and unathletic that to them the kids look fine. It’s the American way.

I've seen a stark dichotomy among our youth. I've got 3 kids in elementary school, so I spend a ton of time in these circles.

In one group you've got the parents training their kids like professional athletes at a young age. One family has their 4th and 2nd grader spending 20 hours a week training for gymnastics. Another family has their 3rd grader leave school at noon to train for dance. She dances on multiple squads 20 to 30 hours a week. My 4th grader can't ever hang out with a few friends from school because they spend countless hours playing(and traveling for) club baseball and soccer.

The other group of kids sit at home and literally have no physical activity. TV and video games for countless hours. They never leave the house. When my kids go over to play, all they do is sit.

It's getting hard to find a middle ground. It feels like all-in or nothing at all.

my 7 year old son is active as they come. Spent most his life at the park, outside in the yard, and does swim team, soccer, and bball. He is physically fitter than your avg. 7 year old however so uncoordinated, like a baby deer. Doesn't mean anything at this age. Y'all got to chill on the young kids and sports. They literally are growing and the shorter your kid is goin to be the better their coordination will most likely be at young age. My kids are tall with long limbs so they're all over the place.