I completely understand parents’ desires to have their children seen and evaluated by scouts. Professional athletes often make millions of dollars each year. Parents hope that success in sports can lead to college scholarships, and maybe pro contracts, for their young athletes. Scouts and showcase events play a huge role in that process.

Unfortunately, showcase events, where kids participate in exhibition games and skills competitions in front of these talent evaluators, can often do more harm than good.

Most of the events are held on the weekends. These kids have usually practiced and played in games throughout the week, so their bodies are often tired. Young athletes competing through pain and fatigue increase their risk of suffering injuries, often significantly.

Also read:
Keep young athletes healthy, and keep them in the game
4 risk factors for youth pitching injuries

Kids understand the importance of impressing the scouts even without pressure from parents and coaches. They might try to throw harder than normal or try riskier slide tackles than normal. Trying to push the body harder when it is already weakened from a week’s or season’s worth of stress could be set up for failure – and injury.