Twist's Story Puts Reality Into Picture

By: Keith Mills

Thank you, Kelsey Twist.

That has been the overwhelming reaction to an editorial Twist wrote in the Baltimore Sun two weeks ago, warning parents of young high school athletes of the dangers of pushing their kids too hard, too soon.

"I coach a girl now who broke down in tears because of the pressure she's under to play well and do all of the things she has to do," Twist said. "It was scary."

Twist is one of Baltimore's most decorated high school athletes ever. As a senior at the Roland Park Country School, she was named the Sun's High School Female Athlete of the Year in 2001 after earning first team All-Metro honors in lacrosse and field hockey and first team All-Baltimore City honors in basketball.

She went to Stanford, where she ended her four-year career last spring as an academic lacrosse All-American and the school's all-time leader in assists. Now, she's back at Roland Park, teaching English and art history and coaching the junior varsity lacrosse team and a local club lacrosse team.

Twist came home with a unique perspective that she's sharing with her players. She knows what it's really like to go through the system as a gifted and accomplished athlete. She also tells how stacked schedules, personalized training and the pressure to win and earn college scholarships are driving too many young players out of the game.

"Things are too specialized too early, and a lot of kids aren't ready for it,” Twist said. “When I was little and just starting out, you didn't have personal trainers and all of this specialized training. When I came back from Stanford, I was shocked at what I saw."

Twist's shock turned into concern, and she turned that into action. She wrote a letter to the editor of the Sun, which ended up running in the editorial section of the paper and was entitled, "Prep Sports Should Be A Joy, Not A Job."

It was printed Jan. 29, and it triggered a response that stunned Twist and her father Joe Twist, a longtime advocate of youth and amateur sports in the Baltimore area.

"We thought she'd get maybe 10 or 15 responses to the article," Joe Twist said. "She got around 300."

"And all but one was really positive," Kelsey Twist said. "The parents that e-mailed me were very supportive. Very concerned that they could be hurting their kids. I received a lot of e-mails from girls who are playing now. A couple of girls from Bryn Mawr wrote and said, 'Ms. Twist, we feel your pain.' They have the article up in their senior room."

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Joe and Claudia Twist moved their young family to Baltimore from New Jersey 20 years ago, when Kelsey was 4 years old. Kelsey’s sister Mallory was an outstanding athlete at Roland Park and is now a sophomore lacrosse player at Georgetown. Her older brother Trevor graduated from Boys’ Latin.

After the family moved to Baltimore, Kelsey Twist immediately began playing sports at the Lutherville-Timonium Recreation Council. She played soccer, basketball and lacrosse and played them so well, it wasn’t long before she was playing on the LTRC youth travel teams.

"I was a pudgy little kid when I was 4 and 5, but I loved to play," Kelsey Twist said. "But I was never pushed to play. And I did it all. Ice skating, horseback riding, soccer, basketball. I think that's what a lot of people forget today. If you don't have the passion to play, if your heart's not in it, it doesn't matter how much you're pushed."

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"I coach several good athletes," Twist wrote in her editorial. "But I know they are not physically or mentally prepared to play at the elite college level. Too many of these athletes and their parents refuse to see Division III, club or intramural programs as an acceptable next stop."

"I have kids on my JV team who are just not cut out for D-I sports," she said. "But they love to play. They're just not cut out for it, and really don't want to pursue it. If parents force them to push on and try to be something they're not, they'll quit. And they have."

Twist was one of the rare athletes who actually did receive a full scholarship to one of the most respected institutions in the country, a credit to her athletic and academic ability. At Roland Park she played for Tara Kramer in lacrosse, Scott Buckley in basketball and Debbie Bloodsworth in field hockey. She credits all three coaches for putting the games in perspective and providing a foundation that set the table for her success at Stanford, though she warns the players she coaches today and their parents to be careful what they wish for when it comes to athletic scholarships.

"I didn't realize the whole college scholarship thing until I got to Stanford," Twist said. "If you do receive money to play, they want something back. And that's total commitment. Playing at Stanford was more responsibility than I could ever imagine. It's a privilege, and they feel you sort of owe them.

"When you get to college you're only supposed to play and practice 20 hours a week; that's the NCAA rule. No team in America follows those rules. There's film, scouting, study halls, practices, games, traveling. It's unbelievable. And if you go to Stanford, good luck. They don't care if you're an athlete or not. You have to get the work done."

Twist is now teaching and coaching at Roland Park, thanks to an assist from legendary UCLA coach John Wooden and his now-famous Pyramid for Success.

"There are parts of that pyramid, industriousness and enthusiasm,” Twist said. “I think they're the cornerstones for success. You have to push yourself and enjoy what you're doing. I think kids and their parents underestimate how much heart and passion to play the game counts in how well you do. … If you have a little bit of athleticism and you know what you're doing, you should be all right. High school is supposed to be fun."

Issue 3.8: February 21, 2008