ESPN award-winning journalist Tom Farrey argues that youth sport is the most important institution in sports--because it’s where everything begins. It’s where we first fall in love with a game, picking up fitness habits and rooting interests that can last a lifetime. It’s where many children learn early lessons about teamwork, integrity and competition. It’s a space that for more than 100 years has shaped future American leaders, from Arthur Ashe to Jack Welch to Barack Obama.

But youth sport isn't just orange slices and all-star trophies anymore. It's 14-year-olds who enter high school with a decade of football experience, 9-year-olds chasing baseball scholarships, 5-year-olds competing for world golf championships, and 3-year-olds in soccer leagues. It's a year-round "travel team" in every community … and parents who fear that not making the cut in grade school will cost their kid the chance to play in high school. No wonder sidelines are exploding, and kids are quitting sports prematurely.

Where did this mania come from? And what does it all mean to children and teens, families, communities--and a nation beset with an obesity crisis?

A regular correspondent on Outside the Lines and E:60, Tom Farrey explores the causes and consequences of our collective obsession with early success in sports. His talk is based on his findings in Game On, the 2008 Sports Education Book of the Year, hailed by sociologists, coaches, pediatricians, and sport scientists as a breakthrough work of investigative journalism.

Drawing on five years’ of research and hundreds of interviews—from Hall of Famers to sperm bank clients to Olympic administrators—Farrey dives into a realm populated by more than 30 million boys and girls. Along the way, he uncovers surprising truths on a range of key questions, among them: When do the very best athletes enter organized play? What’s the best approach to coaching them? And what are the influences of genetics and wealth on athletic success?

In his informative, entertaining talk, Farrey identifies 10 myths that dominate the world of youth sports. And he offers practical advice to parents and coaches—as well as community, academic and corporate leaders—whose aspire to get kids off the couch without running them into the ground.

A seasoned speaker who has given keynotes and served as master of ceremonies at national events, Farrey is a veteran journalist whose work has been recognized among the nation’s best on television, in print and online. A winner of two Emmy awards, he has been called a “brilliant investigative reporter” by the Boston Globe, and in 2007 was one of seven journalists selected among the “100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America” by a panel of experts at the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island.

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