FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“3 TEAMS:
A YOUTH SPORTS STORY” TO HAVE PREMIERE ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 2ND AT CLEARVIEW
THEATER IN PORT WASHINGTON AT 7PM.
Checkout our website at www.3teamsmovie.com, Follow us on Twitter @3_teams and/or like us on Facebook at 3 Teams: A Youth Sports Story
Long Island based documentary film shows a Dad, Coach
and former Hofstra Player’s journey through the crazy world of Youth Sports
while coaching each of his three kids’ basketball teams.
Port Washington, NY. November 13, 2013- Introducing the
upcoming documentary film "3 Teams: A Youth Sports Story." Over 40 million kids play Youth
Sports in America and One Man--Rob, a Dad, a Son of a coach, a former NCAA
Division 1 player and Youth Basketball coach thinks the way we approach Youth
Sports today has gone terribly wrong. This year he's coaching his three
kids' (8, 11 & 13 years old) basketball teams. He's trying to do
Youth Sports the right way and make some positive changes in the way we teach
our kids how to play,
Like millions of parents Rob
Weingard coaches Youth Sports in his hometown. His father was a college coach and athletic director and he
played division 1 college basketball at Hofstra University, leading the nation
is assists in 1985. Now he coaches
his three children: Crew in the
seventh grade, daughter Stevie in sixth grade and third grader Jensen. The basketball season’s schedule is
hectic, but for many families the sports seasons never end… Over the past
twenty years there has been a transformation in Youth Sports. What was once a community oriented
activity, stressing fundamentals and teamwork has now become an industry based on
individual competition and advancement.
Parents pit children against each other scrambling for an unrealistic
dream of college scholarships. How
did this become the new normal?
And how will it affect our children as they grow into adults? To find answers Rob went on a journey
seeking out other programs and experts in the Youth Sports field like former
NBA player and author of the book Just Let The Kids Play, Bob Bigelow,
psychologist Dr. Rhonda Yoss-Kaplan, camp director and former director of
admissions of C.W. Post University Steve Nisenson and author and host of “The
Sports Edge” on WFAN, Rick Wolff.
On his journey Rob goes into
the highly controversial world of AAU Basketball and travel teams which
according to many has become a for profit way for kids to play sports and be
noticed by college coaches with hopes of landing that scholarship. Fueled by the notion that the more that
one plays, the better player that they’ll become, kids spend hundreds of hours
and thousands of dollars playing on travel teams and teams governed by the AAU
in the same season. The core
concept is simple pay to play and travel with “top” athletes from other
communities in hopes of getting college exposure. But is all of that extra activity worth it and at what
cost? How much commitment is left
for a young athlete to invest to any one team?
The myriad of issues of
Youth Sports are addressed in this documentary from the overloading of kids’
schedules, the actual odds of an athlete receiving a scholarship and the lack
of free play for today’s kids in the super structured world of today. Rob also visits two programs that “do
it the right way,” West Islip Lacrosse a perennial state and national level
contender and the legendary Bridgehampton Killer Bees basketball program that has
more NY state basketball championships that any other school and yet has less
than 20 boys in their whole high school.
Rob meanwhile is coaching
his three children’s basketball teams and we follow these very unique squads as
they progress through their seasons.
Crew’s seventh grade team consists of youngsters on the verge of playing
for their high school teams.
Stevie’s sixth grade girl’s team is a fun group of girls who make every
practice seem like a sleepover party and yet they learn to play the game and
become teammates. Jensen travels
from his hometown to nearby Hempstead to play in a much different community
than his own and in his first basketball league season run by an unforgettable
lady coach/police detective.
“3 Teams: A Youth Sports Story”
hopes to shed some light on the issues that face parents and coaches of Youth
Sports and hopefully provide some answers and ways for the kids to have fun and
take home some lessons for life.
