Youth Definitely Not Served by Recruiting of All-Star Teams

As a local youth basketball coach and coordinator of a recreation league in the East Los Angeles-San Gabriel Valley area, I commend you for your fine articles on the shoe wars and corporate corruption in youth sports [March 16-17]. Our organization, unlike the powerhouse all-star teams, allows any kid who wants to participate a chance to learn fundamental skills and play on teams at the level at which he or she is most competitive.

Over the years, I’ve seen many youth programs such as ours devastated by the recruiting from the Nike all-star teams. In 1990, my local parks and recreation team finished seventh in the nation. Upon returning from our trip, our two best players, Donny Wilcher and Kenny Maxey, were swooped up by Pat Barrett and his 12-and-under national championship team.

Of course, our trip was paid for by car washes, candy sales and a luau fund-raiser and we didn’t have any money left to offer shoes, bags and sweats to our now-departed teammates. Needless to say, the remaining members of the team could no longer compete at the national level.

It’s funny that a huge corporation like Nike supports these all-star teams when, in fact, the teams they’ve destroyed by recruiting the best players are the teams whose kids actually buy their products. Those great players never spend a dime.

CHARLES B. MOON

Montebello