The focus should be on fun and development, not the competition between the children.

Youth sports should focus on fun and development - not on winning - and it's up to parents, coaches and educators to ensure that they do, experts say.

Several steps already have been taken to try to achieve this.

MARVIN FONG/DAYTON DAILY NEWS SC Quest coach Jim Kelly huddles with his team during a game against Team Lakota at the Warriors Soccer Classic.

The U.S. Youth Soccer Association, the largest youth soccer organization in the country with about 2.5 million members, recently changed its rules so that kids 10 and under must play with eight players on a side instead of the normal 11. These so-called "short-sided" games allow kids to touch the ball more, and stress fun and learning over winning, the association said.

"The emphasis switches from results-oriented play to player development,'' USYSA program specialist Jim Cosgrove said. "If you want to win, your interests aren't the players."

Locally, some programs have taken additional steps to de-emphasize winning. A soccer league in West Carrollton no longer awards trophies. Instead it gives each player a T-shirt. Select basketball leagues in Dayton play every kid equally, whether the team's winning or losing.

The USYSA also has begun to offer age-specific training for coaches as part of an effort to teach the whole child and not just the athlete. In a six-day course that awards participants a National Youth License, coaches are taught how kids at different ages develop mentally and physically, and how to create age-appropriate activities for them. The lesson: Kids at 7 and 8 can't be expected to understand and learn the same way kids 9 and 10 can.

"A lot of coaches and parents are so concerned with teaching a child the technical and tactical components of soccer that we overlook who we are teaching,'' said Ron Quinn, a Xavier University professor and women's soccer coach who helped develop the course for the association.

Educators in Maine have some grave concerns about the direction youth sports are headed, and plan a statewide conference this fall to discuss them. Among their concerns: the selection and rejection of kids at too early an age; the elitism of youth sports; and the growing time and financial commitment required to participate. Arthur Hanson, a school superintendent and chair of the Maine Center for Coaching Education's subcommittee for Youth Sports, said education is the first step to changing attitudes.

"I think the biggest thing we're trying to point out is we don't give kids enough time to be kids,'' Hanson said. "We organize everything for them. ..

CONTACT: Susan Vinella at susan_vinella@coxohio.com