Too Much Organization in Sports Can Backfire

I used to follow the West Indies in international cricket. They were amazing, especially during their Decade of Dominance when they were all but invincible. The most astonishing thing about the West Indies cricket dynasty was that the West Indies had the smallest pool of players to draw from and the fewest resources of any country or region that fields a Test side. They had a merciless pace bowling attack, and their batsman were incredible. They weren’t too shabby on defense either. An analogous situation that my fellow Americans might grasp is how the Dominican Republic produces incredible baseball players despite extreme poverty and poor playing conditions.

In talking with other fans and cricket aficionados, including some old heroes of the game, a leading explanation offered for West Indian success was the early development of cricketing skills in West Indian youth. Almost every boy in the West Indies played cricket year round in any open field, on the beaches, in the streets, anywhere and anytime that they could. There were few other sports to compete with cricket, and boys were encouraged to pursue cricket if they showed any aptitude at all. They had the chance to play in school and, even if they never became first class players, they could expect to play for a club in a cricket league until they were in their forties or fifties.

Moreover, West Indian boys had very little equipment and crappy playing fields. They learned to bat without helmets or pads and on surfaces that made for some wild movements of the ball. They used anything they could get their hands on for bats and balls. When they were finally well equipped and introduced to good playing fields, the game seemed so much easier than it was out in the pastures and on the streets.

Now and for the last ten or fifteen years, the West Indies are not as great as they once were, although they have some outstanding players. Almost all of the players came up through organized youth cricket leagues and advanced according to a system of selection that has developed as cricket has become increasingly organized.

When I was in Barbados doing fieldwork, I was struck by how few kids I saw playing unorganized pick up cricket matches. Instead, kids were playing informal soccer games. The boys I spoke to indicated that cricket was more of an organized affair and that playing cricket outside of organized teams didn’t really “count”. And playing on the organized teams was not much fun; it was too serious, and there was a lot of “pressure”. Sandlot cricket had been driven out by the proliferation of organized youth programs in which boys were progressively weeded out of the game as they grew older. Less promising players are cast aside, sometimes at an early age, and they may never return to the game as players later on.

The youth cricket system is designed to identify and cultivate talent that might add to the West Indies Test side, but it seems to me that it prematurely reduces the size of the pool of talent and decreases interest in cricket among boys. Too much control is killing the game by taking all the pleasure out of it and eliminating alternate paths for players to follow. Also, an early emphasis on individual achievement and statistics in organized leagues produces players with an individualistic rather than team focus.