Even after the Pittsburgh Steelers traded him to the Dallas Cowboys, wide receiver George Pickens was all set to host the George Pickens Youth Football Camp, which was scheduled for Saturday, June 28 in Pittsburgh. Then he pulled out.

OKMULGEE, Okla. – Sneakers squeaked and basketballs pounded the court at the Mvskoke Dome during the Youth 5-on-5 Basketball Tournament in Okmulgee on Friday, June 20 through Saturday, June 21. The tournament saw teams compete in the 5th/6th Boys Division, the 5th/6th Girls Division, the 7th/8th Boys Division, and the 7th/8th Girls Division.

Ronnie Duncan is the coach for team One Tribe. He also had two grandchildren play in the tournament, Zylin and Talin. Coaching basketball has been Duncan’s job for the past 25 years and basketball has been his passion his whole life. 

When basketball season during the school year ends, that is when Duncan begins to assemble his MCN Festival tournament team. Training typically lasts a month.

Although these tournaments appear low stakes on the surface, Duncan knows they can have personal high stakes because they are a constructive activity for his athletes.

“These tournaments, it’s a good way to keep these kids out of trouble,” Duncan said. “Some of them might go to the NBA, or college, which I hope they do. Some of them might not get that far. But when they’re little kids up to high school my plan is to keep them out of trouble.”

Marcina Harjo (Mvskoke) enjoys coming out to the Youth 5-on-5 Basketball Tournament. Although she did not have any kids in the tournament herself, she had friends whose kids competed. Her family’s basketball game days are behind them, but Harjo still enjoys watching kids play in the tournament.

“I’m cheering for everybody,” Harjo said. “Basketball was mainly our thing, my husband coached my daughter and our older boys growing up.”

Harjo’s kids also grew up playing volleyball and softball, both sports they still enjoy playing periodically. When asked about this year’s softball tournament location change, Harjo said she misses the old location.

“I wish it was here. I feel like there are not a lot of (softball) teams this year as there would usually be if it was here (at the Claude Cox Omniplex),” Harjo said. “I wish it were done so it would be here.”

Tierra Dobson came out to watch her son, Benton play in the tournament on the Hustle Tribe team. Dobson’s older sons played in the tournament in past years.

“They grew up with it, they’ve had many, many games here,” Dobson said. “They’re super competitive and they’re very athletic.”

This weekend’s tournament also happened to coincide with another major basketball game, Game 7 of the NBA finals where the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in a historic professional league title win, the first for the state.

For Duncan, basketball is more than just a game. It’s a way to pass down what he has learned and provides life lessons along the way.

“I’m trying to teach these boys how to play,” Duncan said. “I try to teach them stuff about life. Life ain’t fair. You’re going to get calls, you’re going to not get calls. I tell them keep hustling, keep playing.”

Muscogee Festival 5-on-5 Youth Basketball Tournament Results

5th/6th Boys Division

Champs – Dream Hoops

Runnerup – SouthEast Indians

MVP – Preston

5th/6th Girls Division

Champs – Lady Ironheads

Runner-Up – Lady Tvstvnke

MVP – Harper B

7th/8th Boys Division

Champs – Tribe

Runner – Up – Hustle Tribe

MVP – Preston Lewis

7th/8th Girls Division

Champs – LE JR’S

Runnerup – Native Ballers

MVP – Layla Shomo

Results provided by Muscogee (Creek) Nation Recreation Athletic Coordinator Lucas Taylor. 

Learning Academy opens doors for African NOCs at Dakar 2026

Recognising the potential impact of the Dakar 2026 Learning Academy NOC programme on the next generation of sports professionals in Africa, and in line with Olympic Solidarity’s objective to strengthen NOC capacities, Olympic Solidarity and ANOCA will jointly contribute funding for Learning Academy scholarships. These scholarships will contribute towards travel and accommodation costs, ensuring broad engagement from African NOCs and potential participants. Details on the application process will be shared with NOCs after the summer, with selected participants expected to begin the Learning Academy in early 2026 before starting their roles within the YOGOC.

The Learning Academy is designed to give promising young professionals from across Africa hands-on experience in sports management and event delivery. Each African NOC will be invited to nominate young professionals to join the Learning Academy. Selected participants will receive intensive two-week training in Dakar and then take up roles within the Organising Committee, helping to strengthen NOCs and building capacity across the continent. Over the next 16 months, a total of up to 400 young professionals, including the 53 candidates selected via the African NOCs, will be trained and integrated into the YOGOC – the first 41 participants have already taken up their roles.

Dakar 2026 Coordination Commission Chair Humphrey Kayange said: “Through the Learning Academy, we are creating a lasting legacy for the Olympic Movement, and one that could serve as a model for future host cities of the Youth Olympic Games or the Olympic Games, beginning here in Dakar.”

The YOG Dakar 2026 will take place over two weeks from 31 October, bringing together the world’s best young athletes up to the age of 17. The Games will be held across three host sites: Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly.

Youth sports have transformed from fun recreational activities into year-round, high-pressure training programs that push children beyond their physical and emotional limits. What should be building confidence, teamwork skills, and lifelong fitness habits is instead creating burned-out kids who quit sports entirely by high school, often carrying negative associations with physical activity into adulthood.

The rise of travel teams, specialized training, and college scholarship dreams has created an environment where children as young as 8 years old face adult-level pressure and expectations. Understanding the warning signs of sports burnout and implementing prevention strategies protects both athletic development and overall child wellbeing.

Early specialization creates physical and mental overload

Many young athletes are pushed into single-sport focus before their bodies and minds are ready for intense specialization, missing the benefits of diverse movement patterns and varied skill development that come from playing multiple sports. This early specialization increases injury risk while limiting overall athletic development.

Year-round training in one sport creates repetitive stress on developing bodies that haven’t finished growing, leading to overuse injuries that can affect children for life. Growth plates, tendons, and joints need variety and rest periods that specialized training often doesn’t provide.

Mental burnout accelerates when children spend all their athletic energy on one activity, losing the excitement and curiosity that comes from learning new sports and skills. The narrow focus can turn natural playfulness into grinding repetition that feels more like work than fun.

Social development suffers when children only interact with teammates from one sport, missing opportunities to build friendships and social skills through diverse activities and peer groups that broader athletic participation provides.

Adult pressure overwhelms intrinsic motivation

Parents and coaches often project their own athletic dreams and frustrations onto young athletes, creating pressure that transforms play into performance anxiety. Children become more focused on pleasing adults than enjoying movement and competition for their own satisfaction.

College scholarship pressure starts unrealistically early, with parents investing thousands of dollars in specialized training for elementary-age children based on statistically impossible odds of earning athletic scholarships. This financial and emotional investment creates pressure that few children can handle healthily.

Win-at-all-costs coaching philosophies teach children that their worth depends on results rather than effort, growth, and enjoyment. This external validation focus can destroy the internal motivation that sustains long-term athletic participation and personal development.

Social media amplifies pressure by creating platforms where young athletes’ performances are constantly documented, compared, and judged by audiences that extend far beyond their immediate community, adding layers of stress that previous generations never experienced.

Physical symptoms signal developing problems

Chronic fatigue that doesn’t improve with rest often indicates that young athletes are training beyond their recovery capacity, leading to decreased performance and increased injury risk. Children should feel energized by sports participation, not constantly exhausted.

Frequent injuries, illnesses, or complaints of persistent aches and pains suggest that training loads exceed what developing bodies can handle safely. Young athletes’ immune systems can become compromised by excessive training stress.

Sleep problems, appetite changes, or mood swings around sports activities indicate that athletic participation is creating stress rather than positive outlet for energy and emotions. Sports should improve rather than disrupt healthy childhood development patterns.

Loss of interest in activities outside of sports or declining academic performance can signal that athletic commitments are consuming too much time and mental energy, preventing normal childhood development and exploration.

Emotional warning signs require immediate attention

Anxiety about practices, games, or athletic performance that interferes with daily life indicates unhealthy pressure levels that can damage both athletic development and mental health. Sports should build rather than undermine confidence and emotional regulation skills.

Perfectionist behaviors, fear of making mistakes, or excessive self-criticism suggest that children are internalizing unrealistic expectations that prevent them from enjoying learning and improvement processes that make sports rewarding.

Social withdrawal from non-athletic friends and activities often occurs when sports become all-consuming, limiting children’s identity development and social skills beyond their athletic roles.

Expressing desire to quit sports entirely, especially activities they previously enjoyed, signals serious burnout that requires immediate intervention and potentially extended breaks from competitive athletics.

Prevention strategies protect long-term development

Encourage multi-sport participation through middle school to develop diverse skills, prevent overuse injuries, and maintain athletic enjoyment through variety. Specialization can happen gradually in high school when bodies and minds are better prepared for intense focus.

Prioritize fun, skill development, and personal improvement over winning, rankings, and comparisons to other athletes. Celebrate effort, growth, and sportsmanship rather than just results and achievements.

Ensure adequate rest and recovery time including off-seasons where children can pursue other interests and allow their bodies to recover from training stress. Growing bodies need more recovery time than adult athletes.

Model healthy attitudes about sports by focusing discussions on enjoyment, learning, and character development rather than scholarships, rankings, or comparisons to other families’ athletic investments and achievements.

Monitor training loads and be willing to reduce activities if children show signs of physical or emotional stress, even if it means missing some opportunities or disappointing coaches who prioritize team success over individual athlete wellbeing.

A well-respected umpire known as “Uncle Mitch” died over the weekend after he collapsed in the heat during a South Carolina youth softball tournament, according to officials.

Father of one, Mitchell Huggins, 61, was rushed to the hospital when he passed out while officiating games at a Sumter park around 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Huggins’ sister, Pamela Rufus, told WIS that she received a call from her son when he initially lost consciousness.

She FaceTimed with him when he momentarily became alert before passing out again.

“He was just lifeless,” she told the station. “He didn’t even look like himself.”

Huggins was taken to the hospital, but didn’t survive.

Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker told WACH the heat, as well as an underlying heart condition, contributed to the sudden death.

“People don’t realize what heat does to a body, especially if you’re properly hydrated the day before,” said Baker.

Temperatures were in the low 90s last Saturday.

Rufus reportedly said even though her brother noted it was hot out, he was looking forward to umping another tournament.

Spending time at the ball field was Huggins’ “whole passion” with some players calling him “Uncle Mitch” or “Mr. Mitch,” she said, according to WIS.

“That was his second home,” she said. “He loved those kids.”

The local softball community also delivered a heartfelt tribute to Huggins, noting he was engaged to be married and loved talking about his 14-year-old son.

“Mitch was not just an umpire; he was a prominent figure in our community, recognized for his contagious smile and unwavering commitment. His passion for the game of softball and the people involved was always evident,” grieving loved ones said in a fundraising page.

“His generosity, kindness, and encouragement have left a huge impact on countless individuals. He played a pivotal role in shaping the lives of numerous players, coaches, and officials. The number of lives Mitch positively influenced is immeasurable.”