What kids get from racing
by Lance Oliver
Racing is fun. Just ask the thousands of kids involved in it.
But did you know it can also be healthy for a child's development?
Yeah, healthy. And that's not just us talking—it's the opinion of experts in the field, like Patrick Cohn, a sports psychologist in Orlando, Florida, who counsels both youths and adults in all kinds of sports.
Cohn notes that participating in competition as a child can have benefits that last a lifetime.
Certainly, the exercise associated with motorcycle racing helps kids stay in better physical condition than sitting on the sofa eating junk food and playing videogames. But as Cohn notes, there are mental and emotional benefits as well.
"Sports help kids get used to the competitive environment. And life can be very competitive," Cohn says.
Through sports, he says, kids can learn to set goals, to focus and to handle pressure—abilities that will serve them their entire lives. A young racer who receives proper guidance gets valuable lessons in separating which tasks are essential for success, and which ones are distractions. They face new challenges and gain confidence when they meet those challenges.
Cohn adds that competition also helps kids learn how to handle both success and disappointment, two things they are bound to encounter in life.
"In fact," he notes, "everything I teach in sports psychology, I hope carries over in life."
Much of that applies to sports of all types. But motorsports in particular offer additional lessons. For instance, a young racer is not only responsible for preparing his or her own body for competition, but also helping maintain a piece of machinery that's far more expensive than a baseball glove or a pair of basketball shoes.
"That's a level of responsibility that just doesn't exist in other sports," says AMA Sports Manager Steve Carnegie.
Before joining the AMA staff, Carnegie ran a motocross camp in Georgia, teaching beginners how to ride and experienced youngsters how to ride better. Having worked with hundreds of kids, he says one of the benefits he's seen is the self-discipline racing builds.
"They see the other kids who do well and they decide, ‘I want to be someone who can be mentally strong, make smart decisions and have a never-give-up attitude,' " says Carnegie.
Many parents use that discipline to encourage young racers into better performance in school, too. Racing is a privilege earned by meeting family responsibilities and being conscientious about school work. Plus, the demands of the sport leave less unstructured and unsupervised free time, which is when most kids get in trouble.
"If an athlete is on the racetrack or the court or the golf course, that's time away from other places where he could be getting into trouble," Cohn says.
That's the theory, anyway. And Carnegie says that in his experience, it works.
"Of the thousands of people I've met in this sport," he says, "I can think of only a handful who have drifted into things they shouldn't be doing."