For example, you cannot become a ballerina unless you start from a very early age, work very hard and experience a lot of pain while doing it. You cannot become a concert pianist or violinist unless you start at a very early age and practice for hours every day. This is life – to be excellent in some fields requires you to start early. You just cannot, for example, start in your teens and become a concert pianist. Doesn’t work this way.

This boy is doing what he likes, and he is going to make millions. He probably enjoys playing too. What is so bad about it?

Still, I have no plans to push my kids into sports if they don’t like them. Part of them probably stems from the fact that my interest in sports is most definitely NOT hereditary, as the rest of my family doesn’t care about sports – so I would see it as perfectly normal if my kids had different interests than me. My parents let me find my own way in life, and I’m deeply appreciative.

A 3 year old rushing the goal? My daughter will be 2 at the end of August. She’s at the point where she’ll kick a ball about 5 feet. I can’t imagine her turning into a goal-scoring machine in another year.

I do agree it is so sad how many kids are pushed into this though. My husband and I coached YMCA soccer last fall – two teams – a 3 year old co-ed team and a 2nd grade boys team. This is a free league – all you pay for is your uniform… The 2nd graders were fine on our team, all just out to have some fun and enjoy the sport.

But we had a 3 year old little boy on our team, man, was he GOOD! But after the 2nd or 3rd week, we realized he had no choice. His parents would scream at him from the sidelines to get his act together, be aggressive, go faster, play harder, yadda yadda yadda. At the last game of the season, I heard his mom actually tell him, when she pulled him aside during a water break, “Aiden, if you don’t start playing the game better RIGHT NOW, we are leaving. You are better than this!”

The reason for her tirade? He was giggling and passing the ball back and forth to his teammates, having fun instead of rushing the goal. The poor kid went back out on the field with his shoulders drooped… and then she wouldn’t even let him stay to get his token medal (that every participant receives) when the game was over, because (her exact words) – “…his big brother has a football game in 15 minutes, and that is much more important than Aiden’s game.” (The big brother played in a highly competitive paid league… at the age of 7.)

It’s a sad day when a 3 year old boy gets yelled for having fun playing soccer. I can imagine he just might get drafted at 16 if his parents keep pushing him – but at what cost? The look in his eyes at that last game isn’t worth all the money in the world through the eyes of THIS parent.

Of course, even if he flames out, he could probably live pretty well on the signing bonus for the rest of his life, if he’s not dumb with the money.

For what it’s worth, foreign players (outside of Canada and PR) are not drafted, they are signed as free agents (must be at least 16). Harper’s enrollment in community college should gain him eligibility via the draft eligibility rules.