The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Generation X sets its own sports trends
Jana Miller
PUBLISHED: August 28, 2008
Fear not, parents. With summer dwindling and school on the way, the kids soon will be back to their books, homework and after-school groups. This brings about an important pastime -- shopping for trends.
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But this is a sports column, right? Let me be clear. I'm not talking about shopping for the newest, hippest school clothes, which you can bet is going to be on the agenda. I'm talking about the newest, hippest sports.
For the past few decades, organized sports have been dominated by the Big Four of football, basketball, baseball and hockey. This is, no doubt, influenced by the four major professional sports leagues.
However, the new millennium brought with it a decrease in adolescents' viewing interest in those pro sports. Sure, a vast majority of student athletes participate in two out of those four. But what's exciting is the substantial growth seen in other, revived athletic options.
Leading the movement is an entire generation -- Generation X, to be exact -- of fearless teens dying to try new things and start new trends.
It all began with action sports. Activities such as skateboarding, biking, motocross and snowboarding became popular fast, and led to the inception of the multi-million dollar X-Games. But that was just the beginning.
The latest preference of the Generation X trendsetters has been toward the classics. The Big Four are no longer a prerequisite for athletic participation, and more old-school options are a part of the program.
The most significant new option is lacrosse. The East Coast high schools harbor the most participants, but the wind blew interest west. Now local schools such as Saline, Ann Arbor Pioneer, Ann Arbor Huron and Tecumseh all offer the sport as either club or varsity.
Also on the rise overall is women's sports, which generates as many participants these days as the men's.
Due in part to the passing of Title X, young women and teens gained opportunities they never had before. Sports such as basketball, soccer, volleyball and swimming/dive are now incredibly popular.
Female sports teams have been growing ever since, making it more like the norm than a new trend. Now new trends and pressures are beginning to take place within female athletics.
True to form, the Generation X women are not settling for familiar sports. Their interests have found another classic -- field hockey.This is another East Coast favorite that has found its way westward. A large array of local districts now offer the sport, including Pioneer, Huron, Novi, Dearborn and Ladywood, to name a few.
Even crew is gaining momentum. It doesn't get much more retro than that. Crew is the oldest sport tradition in America's history. The first intercollegiate match ever was a boat race between Harvard and Yale. But the sport has not received high school interest in years and years, until now.
Who really knows why our current teens are engrossing themselves in the classics. Perhaps it's the appeal of sports unspoiled by big-business professional controversies. Also possible is that teens want to make a name for themselves in an untouched sport. Or perhaps it's that, now more than ever, different is cool. Different makes things interesting.
Whatever the reason may be, local communities can expect to see changes in the types of sports being played as their newest generation makes its mark on the world of athletics.
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