Getting fat off kids’ play time shouldn’t be permitted

STEVE SMITH

Here’s what you don’t know about Rick Campo, the guy who was cited

for having his Little League team practice at a Costa Mesa field

without a permit and whose letter about the incident was published

recently in the Daily Pilot.

To recap, Campo and his baseball team of 11- and 12-year-olds got kicked off a baseball field at Adams Elementary School on a Sunday by

a park ranger who called police to come over and cite him.

“We practiced there all week, but it wasn’t until Sunday that they

gave me a ticket,” Campo told me.

Campo has been heavily involved with the Costa Mesa National

Little League for about 10 years. He has been the primary force

behind the league’s chief fundraiser -- a plastic card that entitles

the bearer to discounts all over town. (Attention, guys: the card

gets you 50% off cut flowers at Conroy’s.)

Campo does all of the work for the card campaign, which has

generated tens of thousands of dollars over the years. Campo rounds

up the sponsors offering the deals, coordinates the printing of the

cards and their distribution to the league’s managers, and finally,

he tallies up the sales efforts by the league’s players to determine

who wins the various prizes.

And he does it all gratis.

Campo should not be allowed a “get out of jail free” card because

he’s a chief fundraiser -- rules should apply equally to everyone.

His history with the league and with youth sports is only an

exclamation point to this sorry turn of events.

A few days ago, I compared notes about childhood play with another

Rick, Rick Amodeo. Amodeo lived in Chicago in the ‘50s and ‘60s until

he was 22; then he moved to California. I lived in Chicago from birth

in 1955 until my family moved to California in 1963.

Our memories are the same. Although we had televisions, we rarely

watched them save for a couple of hours of cartoons on Saturday

morning. Then, as soon as it was late enough in the day to go knock

on a friend’s door, we were out of the house. No parental

supervision, no play dates, no nothing.

We ran and jumped and played. We played anything we could, with

whatever we had at our disposal. Being of limited means, we did not

have a lot of sports equipment, so our playing usually meant that we

were limited to kick the can, hide-and-seek and tag. Running around

the neighborhood, we kept our heads down, lest we miss a soda bottle

that we could return to a local store for a few cents, which meant

candy.

We played all day, coming home only when it was too dark to see

each other or when dad, not mom, came calling for us, whichever came

first. We got really dirty during the day, but we were exhausted, and

we slept really well. Overweight kids were hard to find.

Growing up in Los Angeles in the ‘70s, my friends and I could play

basketball inside the gym at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles for

free. We also had free access to the football field, baseball

diamonds and tennis courts.

Today, kid’s activities have to be organized and supervised.

Improvised, unchaperoned play means trouble.

So, what’s a kid to do? On one hand, we’ve got a drawer full of

reports about the sharp rise in childhood obesity and its related

consequences such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

Included in the chief causes of the obesity are our kids’

sedentary lifestyle, meaning they’re spending too much time inside

watching TV, playing computer games and eating junk while doing so.

Staying indoors is more hazardous to kids’ health than anything

they’re likely to encounter outside, including the near-myth of

“stranger danger.”

But on the other hand, we kick our kids off the local soccer

fields and baseball diamonds where healthy activity happens.

Along comes a guy like Rick Campo, or any of the other coaches

around town who are trying to motivate kids in sports and get them

out of the house. “I get as much enjoyment out of coaching as they

do,” Campo said.

He’s trying to do the right thing but keeps running into the same

bureaucratic roadblock -- a permit to play. That’s really what it is,

folks: in this town and in far too many others, kids need a permit to

play.

In Campo’s case, a permit was required when 10 or more people

showed up on the baseball diamond. When Campo protested that he only

had six kids there, the park ranger threw in Campo and his three

coaches to make 10.

Why 10? Why not nine? Why not 11? I’ve got a better number still.

How about zero? How about allowing kids free access to the soccer

fields, baseball diamonds and basketball courts without charging them

the $25 per hour required by the city?

We will never get our kids physically fit and end the epidemic of

childhood obesity as long as we send the mixed message that the

dangerous, unhealthy pattern of sitting around indoors is free, but

the healthy option of getting your friends together for a basketball,

soccer or baseball game costs $25 an hour.

That’s far too many soda bottles, folks. Let’s end the “pay to

play” program.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(949) 642-6086.