TWENTY-FIVE MILLION children in the United States are involved in organized sports activities. Almost every community in the country has youth leagues for baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and football, as well as swimming and gymnastics programs. Many adults believe that team sports are a vital part of growing up, that they teach valuable lessons for life, and that every child deserves the experience of sports participation. Others, however, believe that organized youth sports as they are run today overemphasize competition, create too much pressure on children, are unsafe, and should be changed in fundamental ways.

Benefits and pitfalls

According to the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University, more than half of American boys and girls between the ages of six and eighteen "regularly take part in at least one...