Episode 40- The Businessification of Athletics and the Need for Certainty

What’s the point of sport? In this episode, Jon and I make the case that it’s about education and learning. The culture of coaches used to be educators. They came from a background of using athletics as a means to help student athletes grow and develop. As the top side of the sport professionalized, there’s been a trickle-down effect where College and High School athletics has shifted more and more towards a business model. What’s a business model? It’s a search for certainty. We think that if we apply business school like ideas, use statistics, create fancy models, and apply ‘moneyball’ concepts that we’ll reach a level where we can control and be certain about performance. It’s a fools quest. There are detrimental effects for high school students with the ever growing search for the next great prodigy which is a result of the misuse of the linear growth model. […]