Kids and sports. Let the angst begin.

"As millions of kids take to fields, courts and rinks this fall, as many as half to two-thirds are destined to quit sports by their teens, largely because they're not having fun, studies show. A trend toward specialization — pressure for kids to play just one competitive sport year-round — is one reason, researchers say."

That's according to an article by Sue Shellenbarger in The Wall Street Journal. She notes that even for many children as young as 8 or 9, forget local, fun leagues of, say, soccer in the fall, baseball in the spring and maybe a little swim team in the summer. More and more kids are quitting the once-typical variety of sports to specialize, intensely, in one key sport.

For starters, typically these children are on "travel teams." Which, as the name suggests, means the team "travels" to meet and play teams of its caliber. I know parents who literally have no weekend life outside of shuttling their kids to travel tournaments.

Are these kids any more proficient athletically, or more likely to be professional athletes, than the jocks I knew when I was a kid? No. But this sports culture on steroids (so to speak) was unknown when I was young.

I have a good friend, a mom of five, who has several kids who love sports but one in particular who is outstanding. She says that when the local soccer coach comes to talk to her about "travel soccer" for her young son, she runs and hides. She refuses to totally disrupt her family life for the travel-team schedule.

Her hope is that her kids will make a lifetime out of fitness and fun and all the great benefits of being good at a sport they enjoy. The evidence suggests that she's the one on the right track.

Shellenbarger writes that "a recent focus-group study of 67 school officials, coaches, parents and teens" found that the stress of specializing in a sport is "linked to higher injury risk, reduced motivation and burnout."

I'm all for sports involvement. My kids are not intense about sports, but they are active and they enjoy them. I don't have any sports prodigies in my family, and I'm not sure what I would do if I did.

Myself, I'm a decent alpine skier, and that makes it a lot of fun. It also makes me want to stay in shape. When I hit 40, I took up weightlifting, largely so I could continue to perform well in the sport I love. Of course, the weightlifting had benefits far beyond skiing.

That's what I want for my kids. A love for fitness and doing well because it brings personal satisfaction and health.

Parents will say that sports, even at young ages, keep kids out of trouble, or teach them skills they might not otherwise learn. Look, I'm sure there are some benefits. I'm just also convinced we really let down our kids when we take the "play" out of "play ball!"

— Betsy Hart hosts the "It Takes a Parent" radio show on WYLL-AM 1160 in Chicago.