10 misconceptions about kids sports: How parents can push against them

NEWPORT, R. I. – We sat two miles away from the International Tennis Hall of Fame, where artifacts from Andre Agassi are on display.

You can push a button and watch him beat Roger Federer, his fist pumping and his smile soaking up the raucous crowd after match point. But when I spoke with a collection of parents at St. Michael’s Country Day, a toddler-eighth grade independent school, I shared how Agassi really felt.

He hated tennis. It’s a theme he repeats throughout his autobiography, “Open,” as his father made him hit ball after ball as a young boy in the Las Vegas desert sun. Tennis was force-fed to him.

He became a professional tennis player because the sport is really all he felt he could do. We want our kids to love what they play, but often we also want them to win, and to get to the highest notch on the “sports ladder. ” We dig in if they’re especially good.