Another Very Young Sports Phenom

On January 12, 2008, The Washington Post ran an article entitled Youth is Serving:Table Tennis Prodigy Paddles Toward U.S. Olympic Team about 12 year-old Ariel Hsing.  Ariel is a serious candidate for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team who spends three hours a day practicing during the school year with a training partner her parents imported from China and her summer vacations training in China.  According to the article, she won her first national title at age 8 and accepted a sponsorship from a major table tennis manufacturer at age 9.

After reading the article, I wonder if she will be a long-time U.S. Olympic champion in a sport in which the U.S. has never excelled.  After all, at her age, she could be around for 2, 3, or more Olympics.  If so, will she become a new national heroine?  And, will serious Table Tennis become a new fitness craze? As the article points out, competitive table tennis is very physically demanding.

On the other hand, I wonder if the pressures of such high-level competition and media attention as well as high parental expectations will not cause her to burn out before achieving her true potential as has happened to other sports-talented youngsters, especially girls.

I also think her story may be just another example of the excessive professionalization of youth sports.  Is Ariel being robbed of her childhood?  How will this affect her in later life?  Will her example cause other far less talented youngsters to pursue unrealistic dreams when they ought to be learning about themselves and getting ready for adult life?

Alvin Rosenfeld and Nicole Wise addressed this issue in their book The Over-Scheduled Child: Avoiding the Hyper-Parenting Trap (New York, St. Martins Griffin, 2000).  In it, they say, "For every one of them there are a thousand kids who made the sacrifices, practiced six hours a day, gave up friends and other interests, neglected other aspects of their lives--and never made it to the top. ..We adults have a responsibility to protect our children, and ourselves, from ridiculous expectations.  We need to recognize that children simply do not have the tools to perform to adult standards, let alone Olympic level ones.  Childhood is the preparation, not the full-dress performance. As the saying goes, we need to let our kids be kids."