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Kid Athletes, the 1998 Version

© Sue Poremba

I grew up the daughter of a coach. My dad spent my entire childhood pacing various sidelines, and I watched carefully. I took note on how he dealt with the boys on his football team and listened to the way he talked to their parents. I learned how to suit up in a football uniform, and I understood baseball's infield fly rule better than I understood my math homework.

Other girls of my era took home ec classes to learn to cook, while I dreamed of being the first female commissioner of Major League Baseball. In a sense, we were all preparing for the biggest moment of our lives -- parenthood. I never doubted for a moment that I would be the mother of athletes, and I never doubted that I'd be well-prepared.

I've got the athletes, but what good is the infield fly rule when one of your athletes dances ballet 5 days a week and the other is participating in sports invented less than ten years ago?

I had always defined athlete as someone who played in an organized sport. The reality of 1998 is that if you move, you can be classified as an athlete. No, let me modify that a bit -- if you buy the equipment, you can be classified as an athlete. For example, if I take a dog for a walk wearing an ordinary pair of sneakers, I'm just taking the dog for a walk. But, if I buy a pair of walking sneakers, then I'm a fitness walker out exercising the family pet.

Activities from our youth, like bike riding and roller skating, are now, with some twists, are Extreme Sports. But bike riding is now mountain biking. Our roller skates have become Roller Blades, on which you can play Roller Hockey. Buying a bike and a bike helmet (something that my friends and I never even thought about wearing as kids) is something I can manage. However, I've avoided the Roller Blade craze, in part because I am clueless about the proper equipment. After finding the website on extreme sports gear (http://www.sweetstuff.com/digver02/ent/x... I can't claim complete ignorance anymore.

Even backyard games have taken a more serious edge. My yard seems to have become the neighborhood field. These kids show up wearing batting gloves and spitting sunflower seeds. We have real bases, replacing the old Frisbees that we once used. When they play football, they pull out the yard markers, which are also handy for soccer. Did I mention that we have a soccer net -- which can also be used for Roller Hockey. Basketball hoops aren't attached to a wooden backboard above the garage door; instead they are portable and adjustable -- adjustable is in that they should always be low enough to allow for dunking.

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