Jack Wright said goodbye to competitive high school athletics for recreational sports, joining a growing number of young student-athletes

By Charlie Browning
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Junior John “Jack” Wright received a Little Tikes basketball hoop from his mom at age 3. For the next 12 years, his life was dedicated to playing basketball.

“I’ve loved basketball ever since,” Jack said. “During elementary school and middle school, basketball was fun, and I always thought that I wanted to keep playing through high school and hopefully college, too.”

However, all of this changed for Jack during his sophomore year. Basketball was no longer something Jack enjoyed; instead, he said he saw it more as a chore.

“It was like a job for me,” Jack said. “Basketball felt like something I had to do instead of something that I wanted to do. (Basketball) was so serious all the time and just wasn’t fun anymore.”

Jack’s experience isn’t unusual. According to the National Alliance for Youth Sports, over 70 percent of kids who begin playing sports competitively at a young age quit by the time they are 16 years old, despite their years of preparation of hard work.

Scott Heady, this year’s new head basketball coach, said he empathizes with kids, like Jack, who decide to quit playing competitively after being involved with that sport for the majority of their life.

“The demands on kids as they move up to higher levels of competition are much greater from the standpoint of general expectations and time commitment,” Heady said. “But at some point, kids still have to be kids.”

Jack remained on the team for the rest of his sophomore year because of his parents’ encouragement to stick it out one more year.

This year, though, will be different. For the first time in seven years, Jack will not put on a Carmel basketball uniform.

“(Jack) had told us during the season that he was not having any fun at all and didn’t think he wanted to go out his Junior year,” Susan Wright, Jack’s mother said. “Our first reaction was sadness because we saw that he wasn’t happy.”

“My parents were really supportive of me, and they understood that I just wasn’t having fun playing basketball anymore,” Jack said.

Mrs. Wright, the woman responsible for getting her son interested in basketball, said she has always encouraged her son to play, but only as long as he was happy doing it.

“(My husband and I) would have loved for Jack to continue playing basketball on the high school team, but not at the expense of his happiness,” she said.

After his sophomore season ended, Jack entered former Head Coach Mark Galloway’s office for one of the many times during his career. This time, though, was his last.

“The day I quit was one of the better days of my life,” Jack said. “I walked out of the basketball office with both of my hands in the air. It was like a huge weight that had just been lifted off of my shoulders.”

Heady said he believes coaches play a major role in how much kids enjoy their sport, and they can do a lot to help keep the kids from burning out.

“I try to be conscious about keeping guys fresh,” he said. “We start preseason conditioning nine weeks before our first practice, so you have to be conscious of making sure guys get a break. The goal for any coach is to have their team fresh when their postseason arrives.”

Mrs. Wright said she agrees with Heady that the coach plays a crucial role in the athlete’s enjoyment of the game.

“Coaches spend a lot of time with the kids on a team,” she said. “Coaches’ comments are heard day after day by the players. If you have a coach who is very encouraging, very positive, up-beat, treats you with respect, then that kid will have a positive experience. On the other hand, if you have a coach who is not encouraging and negative, then that kid will not have a positive experience. Every child on a team, whether a starter or on second string, deserves encouragement and respect.”

This fall, Jack has not attended any basketball workouts or prepared for tryouts. Instead, he said he spent most of his time playing Carmel Dads’ Club soccer.

“(CDC) is a lot more fun for me,” he said. “It’s less competitive, there are less practices and you get to pick your teams, so the entire experience is less stressful than
playing for a school team.”

Seth Dobberstein, CDC recreational athletic director, said he thinks CDC is a good alternative to competitive high school sports.

“We try to make our high school leagues as enjoyable as possible,” Dobberstein said. “We try to meet most requests at this age group.

Requests are mostly to play with friends and that is why I think someone would want to quit a CHS team and play for CDC. They want it to be enjoyable.”

Just because he is not playing basketball for the school anymore does not mean Jack has quit altogether.

“I’m looking forward to playing CDC basketball and intramurals during the winter,” Jack said. “I know I’ll probably get a little worse because I won’t be practicing as much, but that doesn’t really matter to me as long as I’m having fun.”

In a few weeks, the basketball team will conduct tryouts. This year, though, there will be one less returning player. Instead of preparing for tryouts, Jack said he is getting ready for what he hopes to be a fun and relaxed basketball season.

“It’s going to be really different,” Jack said. “But I’m looking forward to playing with my friends and just having fun.”