Tom DeBlass raised a pointed concern about youth Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition in a recent Instagram post…
Arguing that the pressure surrounding youth world championships creates conditions ripe for abuse:
There’s one major problem I see with youth world championships that I don’t think we talk about enough.
I truly believe there are parents out there crazy enough to put their own children on steroids just so they can say their kid is a world champion.
100% I believe this happens, and that’s actually scary.
He was direct about the stakes involved given the age of the athletes in question:
We’re talking about CHILDREN. Kids whose bodies and hormones are still developing.
No medal, trophy, ranking, or title is worth potentially compromising your child’s long term health.
DeBlass also pointed to a separate but related issue he sees across youth sports more broadly:
Then there’s another side of youth sports that’s just weird to me. Parents running their kids’ social media pages and posting captions and comments pretending they’re actually the kid writing them, when it’s painfully obvious it’s an adult behind the account.
Stop making believe you are your child!
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