This is from the October 7, 2002 Sports Illustrated article on Hank McGraw, by Gary Smith. It's a quote of Hank McGraw's observations on youth baseball, but pretty much applies to any sport, and I think it applies to Soccer even more than baseball. "My brother [Tug McGraw] and I developed *behind the backs* of adults...Imagination and creativity have to be there if you want a Derek Jeter. The element of *play* has to come in, not just mechanics. We stick kids in the outfield in T-ball leagues, where notbody hits them a ball for an hour, and wonder why they end up on skateboards... "The spiritual side of the game is what I'd like to teach. People say great athletes block out the fans and noise and destractions---the hell they do. They take it in. There's a humility in a pure athlete like Jeter that allows him to disappear into the energy of the game. There are possibilities in baseball that most players never tune in to, space for art and dance and rhythm... "Nuance is what we're losing. Players need to learn what's *not* obvious, what's not on the surface... "I'll tell you what makes me angriest about sports today, and what i'd like to teach kids: How we treat opponents. An opponent should get more respect on a ball field than Jesus or your parents. Because without an opponent it's just practice, and you'll never find out what matters. You'll never find out about yourself." CB