Where Do We Draw The Line?

"...and lane six, Susie Smith, Porpoises."
"Woohoo! Go Susie go!"
"Swimmers step up - take your mark -"
Pop! The delayed reactions of the six-year-old little girls had the crowd laughing on that humid evening in July. Susie’s mother winced as her daughter entered the pool via belly-flop just a few seconds after the gun sounded. The pool deck erupted like a football stadium during the Super Bowl, but instead parents were screaming wildly for their six year old beginner athletes, doggy-paddling down the 25-yard lanes. It took them a good minute to get the other side, but each one of the swimmers made it.

Mr. Smith was waiting for Susie at the end of the pool with her towel, “Great job kiddo! We knew you could do it!”

“You made it Kelly! I’m so proud of you, sweetie!” said Mrs. Green to her daughter.

“Hey, your ACTN₃ report says you should have gotten first place, Betty. What happened?! No ice cream for you tonight!”

Wait – back up please. What was that again?

“Hey, your ACTN₃ report says you should have gotten first place, Betty. What happened?! No ice cream for you tonight!” Woah. Mr. Nye punished his daughter for not living up to the results of her recent genetic testing!

Is this what is in store for our children’s futures? According to this article by Juliet Macur on the New York Times website, this scene is certainly not far away, if not already occurring. “Atlas Sports Genetics is playing into the obsessions of parents by offering a $149 test that aims to predict a child’s natural athletic strengths.”¹ The article goes on to quote experts on their opinions of this genetic test for the ACTN₃ gene. Some say it is useless, therefore parents should not waste their money, while others say it will be incredibly beneficial and will enable the U.S. to continue to be at the same competitive sports level with China and Russia. But little is mentioned of the impact this will have on these children playing their one designated sport.

Sports are intended to be fun, recreational, an outlet for tension and the extra energy built up in these kids. This cannot occur if the parents are harping on the child to be the best – but they are not even doing this because they have faith in their own child, but because they place their faith in the piece of paper reading the results of a genetic sequence. It takes more than ability to excel. It takes a strong work ethic, determination, loving support, and passion. Missing only one of these can inhibit excellence. If a child is forced to play soccer when they truly love to swim, there will be no passion on the field. More importantly, have six-year-olds, eight-year-olds, eleven-year-olds even developed a work ethic yet? Do they have a passion at that age? Let kids be kids. They need to take the tumbles, the losses, the scraped knees to find their own way, live their own life, chose their own destiny.

Even throughout the high school and college years, playing a sport is not about being number one. It is about the journey, the heat of the competition. This is where the fruit is produced. There is nothing wrong with healthy competition. It helps develop confidence, humility, determination, and general character.

Yet if this genetic test was widely used, would it simply eliminate the need for competition? Yes, competition amongst the athletes would be eliminated, while competition amongst parents would become frighteningly fierce. It would become a race to the results to see if your baby has the best genes, therefore being the fastest, strongest, most agile. The prize would be handed out right then and there, no further questions. Science has proven it.

It would be a race to deliver the baby to get the test. It would be a race to conceive the baby, to deliver it, to get the test. There will be tests to see who will deliver the most athletic baby soonest…

Where do we draw the line?

¹Macur, Juliet. "Born to Run? Little Ones Get Test for Sports Gene." New York Times. 29 Nov. 2008. 30

Nov. 2008 .