Scouts and Sports

[scoutdad]

In your opinion can boys take part in scouts and sports? Is this too much on parents?

[Lisa H]

Sports are encouraged by the scouting program. Belt Loops are offered to the Cub Scouts and sporting merit badges for the Boy Scouts. It may be difficult for a family to continue their normal level of activity in scouting during some sporting seasons, but stay in contact with these families and be supportive of their sporting choice and they will often return to their usual level of scouting activity at the end of the sport's season.

-Sporting Cubs may be encouraged to earn the coinciding Belt Loop & Pin.
-Dens may plan a field trip to watch & cheer on their fellow scout at one of his games.
-The sporting scout may be encouraged to return to the Den and help instruct the other scouts in earning the coninciding Belt Loop.
-The sporting scout may be encouraged to attend the Pack Meeting in which he is going to be presented the earned Belt Loop of Pin.

[kenpack328]

I find many of our scouts missing den meetings,pack night and special events due to sport activites. My son I allow to do only one activity at a time so he can stay focused on school and scouting but still have other fun as well.
My goal this year is to present to council a way to work around competing with sports programs by starting our own teams for lets say soccer or basketball and competing with other packs who wish to do the same or even other teams which are not scouts.

[WB Bear]

In your opinion can boys take part in scouts and sports? Is this too much on parents?

Yes, they can. That is a common concern. Sports are great in teaching teamwork, sportsmanship, following rules, attaining goals, etc. and character traits in a fun venue. Typically sports are seasonal though. Scouting is a fun year round program that offers and stresses character development.

Sports are a part of Scouting because of the benefits they offer to what we are trying to provide for our youth. They can coexist together. There are times participating in both that calls for prioritizing and making decision, just like it is in life for adults.

Yes it can be an extra burden on parents. But is raising children and instilling strong character traits easy? Unfortunately, parents receive instant gratification when their son is involved in sports so many chose sports.

[Nuts4Scouts]

Kenpack328 - I am not sure how creating a BSA Council sporting league would solve the problem of sports competing with scouts. In fact I can see how it would cause a scout to miss even more scout meetings.

IMO, creating council leagues is not the answer. The answer is to be understanding & flexable with your scouts & not to force them to choose.

Scoutdad asks if it is to much on parents to have their boys in both scouts & sports. That is a question that can only be answered by the individual family. Some families have no problem having their son(s) involved in multiple activities. They all thrive on it. Other families, such as KenPack328's, want to deal with only 1 activity at a time. Both approaches work.

The problems happen when well meaning adults in a Scout Unit start making arbitrary rules about minimum required attendence at Scouting activities/events. Boys and their families are then forced to choose between scouts & sports, scouts & jobs, scouts & school, scouts & whatever. Trust me, if forced to choose in an either/or senerio, you will end up loosing Scouts.

[kenpack328]

My approach would not be one to compete with other sports but to include sports within the scout program itself. I'm looking for ways to keep all our members active and attract new members that normally only do sports programs. I heard from so many parents during our 3 membership drives this year on how they would like to have there sons in scouts, but because of the sports schedules they can't attend most of the den/Pack meetings or events.
I myself, in our den have lost one boy last year and another this year to sports programs.
Sports in our school run year round and include, Basketball, Indoor and outdoor soccer, Baseball and Football. Baseball and football run 4 to 5 nights a week and a game on the weekend and I have yet to meet one parent that was happy about that one. If the boy misses two practices in the week he will not play for the game or will play very little. I don't like these type of rules for such young children that pay to play.

What I was looking for would only be two games a month or so, just enough to keep them interested and active.

There has to be a solution somewhere

[scoutdad]

Since I posted this over a year ago, my son decided he wanted to play football last fall. He is a Life Scout and only a few merit badges and his project away from his Eagle. As my wife and I discussed it we realized we could not make him choose between Scouts or football, so we let him play football. He met with his Scoutmaster and told him he would be out for several months. His Scoutmaster was very supportive. He played football and actually met several other Boy Scouts on the team. He has since returned to scouting and resumed his path to Eagle.
I think that if we would have told him Scouts or football, Scouts would have lost. I also think taking a break from Scouts and not trying to do both kept our family sane.
One other thing that I did was to work with him on a few merit badges while he was out so he would stay connected.

[FRUSTRATED SCOUTMASTER]

Sports will alway be a conflict with Scouts. I agree withy what WB Bear has to say though. Making choices in life is what we will always have to do. The demands now that league sports put on boys and parents are now too great.
When I was Scoutmaster, I used to be too lax and my Troop became an after thought for parents or when sports were cancelled.
I know high scool sports run a couple of months each. If a boy and parent TRUELLY wants to be a Scout, they will find a way to accomadate both.
Remember that a boy has until he is 18 years old to be in Scouts. As you get to the Ranks of Star, Life, and Eagle, it states in Requirement 1 that you be
"active" in your Troop for either 4 or 6 months depending on what rank you are going for. If you are not there, how can one be considered active?
Are you going to get more life skills out of scouts or sports? And unless you are the Star athelete, is your son going to get a full ride scholarship to a major university? I think that is what most think.
Just my thoughts as a former Scoutmaster who fought this battle for 7 years.

Bob Klimas
Concord, North Carolina

[ScoutmasterJerry]

Every Monday our Troop has a meeting... every month we go camping...our annual calendar is available for all to see and use to plan their busy lives.
Most of the Scouts in my Troop balance Sports and Scouts and it seems that there is not really an issue here.
They just know that we will be there, when Basketball, Football, or Soccer is done.
Advancement is the Scouts responsibilty so that does come into the picture.
Attendance effects Advancement to some degree, but it is nothing that can not be overcome once the season is over.
The only issue comes in youth leadership. I will not allow a Scout to hold a Leadership role (SPL/ASPL) if they are in the middle of a season unless they can prove that will be available for the meetings and outings.

But other than Leadership.. no issues.

Jerry Schleining
Scoutmaster
Troop 664 (http://www.scoutingpages.org/us/or/troop664/)

[Gamewithapurpose]

Our troop struggles with band and show choir, as well as sports. It's truly frustrating when their coaches insist on 100% participation when none of them expect to enter semi-professional level (insert activity here) at college, or beyond.
We make sure the Scouts know what's going on, particularly when they miss meetings, so they can get to weekend events if that's all that fits into their schedule for that season. We use the patrol method to get the youth leadership the responsibility of communicating. They're also encouraged to try to partially-attend unit events, rather than pass on a weekend campout because they have a 1-hour game on Saturday morning.
This seems to work better if there are multiple Scouts involved in (insert activity here) as that gives them a peer to share rides to/from unit events, plus some support if any razzing of Scouting involvement by teammates.

Dave
past-SM, SA,
Assoc Advisor Venturing

[CommissionerTim]

Parents... before you put your boy or girl into any program... you need to make a list of all the programs you want your child to be in, excluding scouting and church youth group... then have your child pick 2-3 of the ones he/she wants to be involved in. This means that he/she picked 2-3 programs they want to be in at some point throughout the year. Next make sure you set a rule that he/she will be doing ie. church youth group and scouting... and one of the 2-3 programs he/she has chosen at some point in the year.

Rule of thumb, most parents can afford timewise 3 programs a week... I chose the church youth group and scouting being the top two character builders and any one of the programs my child wants to do. Now if the program my child picks requires 100% attendance and meets 5 days/week, then maybe that choice is not a good choice... remember, it really is about the time and pocketbook. Having to run my son to a program 5 days a week will simply kill me financially.

Yes everyone's spare time and finacial status is different, but for the most part it's not too different. So when you make the list of programs for your son/daughter to pick from, make sure the list has what you can afford; finacially and time.

We as leaders need to teach our Tiger parents how to manage their time and this is the simplist way to teach them... to them, we are the experts. For the older cub scout parents... it's different because they've been running around doing things for a few years now... but even for them this method will still work. For boy scouts... again, this method still works. Remember parents, you're paying for the programs... you're running your children to the programs and this also costs money. You are the parent and you do know what is best for your child... not your child. The child doesn't have a clue until he/she has to pay for it themself and have to find their own way... by the time they're at that age, they should know something about goals and responsibility and how to finish what they've started.

Anyway, 3 programs a week... 2 chosen by the parents and 1 chosen by the child from a list the parents draw up that is affordable financially and timewise.

If more parents follow this rule of thumb, then we will see more boys and girls in scouting.

[1st Mate]

I am with nuts4scouting on this too. Each family has there own unique goals, needs, and resources. Our responsibility is to provide a quality scouting experience not to instruct parents how to manage their families. "If you build it they will come":p

[ScoutmasterJerry]

And then there is the Varsity Program that works Sports into the Scouting program... Read more about it here (http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-923.html).

You see... in Scouting you can have your cake and eat it too... or should I call it a cobbler..

[WB Bear]

"If you build it they will come":p

1st Mate, I have used that statement for years. Not only to I believe whole heartily in it, I have seen it work.

[ARIZONA GUIDE]

I played football, Wrestled and Boxed from the time i was in junior high school up until i was out of high school. I had the chance to play ball after high school but chose to make a living working as a plumber. so my sports went only that far. I was also a boy scout in our church troops. I never made it to Eagle but did all the work for it except turning in the paper work for my eagle. I did the project and all. I chose to become a plumber.I now own one of Arizonas top bathroom renovation companies. I learned good life leasons from sports and scouts.They will both help in the raiseing of our children. No matter what choice is made it should never be alowed to overcome our whole world. Family should come first in all conditions. My parents would never push me to do anything unless i started it then they would push me to finish it out. I was never alowed to quit once i started. It will be the same for my two Boy's , And my two girls. I am 35 years old this year and just starting with all the goings on of this stuff. We are now doing Cub scouts, baseball, and two difrent Dance teams with all of them. With summer comes dive and swim team.

[WB Bear]

Scouting does have a huge impact of peoples lives. The benifits of the program is far reaching. We always must keep that in our minds and remember that even if the boy doesn't attain his Eagle, the values and character traits are still with him.

[Westergaard]

We have many of our Scouts heavily involved with sports, band and choir, other youth clubs,etc . and there is no conflict unless you choose it to be.
Our Scoutmaster believes that there is a time for everything, and in today's day and age of multi-tasking, we ask that there be some balance and scouts can learn to budget their time accordingly.
We promote that the boys participate in sports, music, scouts, and anything else that they choose. Oftentimes, we get those outside programs involved with scouting by having those people in charge (coaches, teachers, etc.) become merit badge counselors for the boys.

[1BusyMom]

My boys are very active in sports. They both have 1 required merit badge left to earn that they are working on. One of them has his Eagle project completed and the other one is getting ready to begin working on his within the next couple of months. Both boys have earned 25+ merit badges. They didn't wait for their scout leader to help them, they took the initiative and sought out councilors over the merit badge they were wanting to complete. I think you can do both sports and scouts. My boys are a traveling all star basketball teams and still are able to fit sports and scouts in.