Maybe he was calling to offer me free medical treatment. Not likely, but nevertheless I was anxious to see what he wanted.

When I found out he wanted to talk about youth sports, I was pleased. I’ve been writing columns on that subject the past two years: mostly pointing out how overzealous parents can ruin youth sports.

The Edina urgent-care, emergency-room doctor has been thinking about youth sports even more than I’ve been writing about them, as it turns out.

“Most kids won’t be professionals,” he said, breaking the ice for our conversation over breakfast at Paul Pearson’s Edina Restaurant. “I’ve seen a big shift in youth athletics over the years,” he continued. “Now it seems the emphasis has changed from having a good time to winning and singling out elite players at an early age.”

Bearmon has already had his share of frustrations in Edina, although Edina is just the same as most other communities when it comes to being overzealous about youth sports.

In sports such as soccer and baseball, many communities have 8- and 9-year-old all-star teams.

The thought has crossed my mind more than once that kids who don’t make one of these elite teams might give up and drop out of a sport.

Too much, too soon

I covered a district 9-year-old Little League All-Star Tournament in St. Louis Park last summer and asked myself, “Is this too much, too soon?” and “Whose ego is being gratified here?”

Bearmon cited some specific examples why this is a problem. In one case, he attended a youth basketball tryout in Edina. Out of 65 to 70 kids, 30 would make one of three traveling teams. The others would play on in-house teams.

While the traveling teams would play a 35-game schedule, the in-house teams would play only 12 games, plus the in-house players would have only half the number of practices the travelers had.

Bearmon wondered how the kids on the in-house teams could possibly catch up. Sure, it happens sometimes, but not often.

A common statistic cited in youth athletics is that 70 percent of the players who start out in any given sport quit – or are weeded out – by the time they are 13 years old.

That is a sad commentary on how competitive our society has become, but more than that, it’s an indictment of youth sports coaches and directors whose only concern seems to be the development of elite players.

Traumatic experience

“When kids get cut from a team, they usually do one of two things,” said Bearmon. “They either say, ‘I’ll do another sport,’ or they blow sports off altogether.

“It’s a traumatic experience when kids are cut. Sometimes when a kid doesn’t make a team, he’ll stay in the house for two or three days.”

What is Bearmon’s overall perspective on cutting players and forming elite traveling teams for kids under 12?

“It’s a big mistake to do this to kids,” he said.

Even the kids who are picked for elite teams are at risk, he added. “The kids who make the cut think they are something other than what they are.”

The pressure to make a team drives kids, and parents, crazy, Bearmon added.

“I know one father who took his seventh-grade son to Minnesota Developmental Basketball (MDB) for 65 sessions prior to the tryouts,” he said. “All of them with the dad sitting there watching.”

It’s a status thing

Bearmon said that young athletes generally fall into three groups: 1. Way ahead, 2. Everybody is the same or 3. The group at the bottom.

“We’ve turned this into a status thing,” said Bearmon. “My kid made whatever team. It shouldn’t be that way.”

While many hard chargers are concerned with only the elite players, not all youth sports officials are blind to the issues Bearmon has raised.

Bearmon applauds the Edina Baseball Association for bringing Little League Baseball back to the community last summer.

“Before we had Little League, there were two traveling teams in each age group, consisting of 12 players each,” said Bearmon. “In Little League, the number of elite players selected [for the top tier] jumped from 24 to 96. I respect [president] Dale Nelson for this decision.”

When players get to the high school ages, Bearmon sees the wisdom for trimming down and going with the elite players.

However, when that happens at the 9- and 10-year-old levels, many players who eventually could develop don’t have the chance.

Bearmon has been working to provide alternatives for “average kids” in Edina. When he saw that the Edina Baseball Association season was ending in mid-July for many kids, he decided to organize a late-summer program. More than 140 families signed their sons up for extra practice.

Then Bearmon organized Edina boys to compete in AAU Fall League. The key for him was that no boy would be turned away, regardless of ability. As a result, 85 players got to play fall ball on five Sunday afternoons.

“It was just for fun,” said Bearmon.

Book smart

Bearmon told me about a book authored by former NBA player Bob Bigelow, who can best be described as a youth sports advocate.

The book, entitled Just Let the Kids Play, closely mirrors Bearmon’s philosophy, so much so that Bearmon has invited Bigelow to give a local presentation It is set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 4, in the Naegle Auditorium at the Park Nicollet Medical Center in St. Louis Park.

Bigelow will cover a variety of topics. Here are just a few of the subheadings from his book:

• Put your mission in writing

• Living through your children

• Let them all play

• Forget the playoffs

• Aren’t we good enough?

• Close games are more fun

• Memo to parents

My memo to parents in the south and west suburbs is that maybe it’s time we listen to people like Paul Bearmon and Bob Bigelow. Maybe we don’t need to teach 8- and 9-year-olds about “striving for excellence” and “taking no prisoners” to use two popular sports cliches. Maybe it’s time we tried to make youth sports fun again.

Bearmon has formed a non-profit organization to deal with his concerns. His website: www.eaa.homestead.com.

“If nothing else, I want to give more kids the opportunity to play in tournaments,” said Bearmon.

Certainly, our breakfast meeting was thought-provoking. I am interested to see if youth sports parents agree with Bearmon’s perspective. I will print reader opinions in future columns.

Please contact me at 952-392-7669 or e-mail jsherman@mnsun.com.