Mind Over Sports

Those of you who read my column know the value I place on transforming sports teams into support groups, allowing team members to share their problem and issues with each other. And when this process take place, participants experience an enhanced feeling of self-worth (self-esteem) and begin to perform close to their skill levels on a consistent basis.

But I also advocate support groups for our school systems across the country, where children who show definite signs of being disturbed due to a dysfunctional home life are allowed to talk about their issues with their peers, diffusing any volatile behavior they may be bottling up inside themselves.

When Richard Matt and David Sweat were young, both emerged from splintered families and painful childhoods. David Sweat spent time in a foster home and was considered “a disturbed child.” Richard Matt would terrorize kids on the school bus. Even in elementary and junior high he had issues.

Why didn’t their teachers intervene in their lives and provide a school-based support group to help them. The answer? Our school systems believe personal problems and issues should be dealt with at home, not at school, even though there’s no one at home to help these disturbed children.

It’s time our school systems changed and begin conducting on-site support groups for children who appear in their classes, obviously disturbed, instead of waiting for them to explode upon our society later in life, as killers.