This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Vox’s newsletter about kids, for everyone. Sign up here for future editions.

When Aly was a little kid, “sports” consisted of playing on a playground or maybe standing in a hockey goal in the driveway while her big brother shot pucks at her face.

The latter might have served as “organic training,” she told me. Aly became a multi-sport athlete — running, swimming, and, ultimately, playing Division I college lacrosse in the early 2000s. But her early sports experience “was all play-based,” she said. Maybe it wasn’t always fun (I, for one, would prefer hockey pucks stay out of my face), but it definitely wasn’t serious.

Today, Aly, who asked that I use only her first name to protect her family’s privacy, has three kids who are starting to play

See Full Page