♪♪ >> From NJPBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Brianna Vannozzi.

>> Hello, and thanks for joining us.

I'm Joanna Gagas.

Brianna Vannozzi is off.

Coming up, whether you're a kid age one to 92 years young, we look at the health benefits of the arts for all ages with the help of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

And later, imagine being able to take an entire snapshot of the universe while using the largest digital camera ever built.

Scientists are spending the next decade capturing the cosmos.

We'll talk with one Rutgers joining the effort.

But first, we look at the impact that youth sports are having on families.

Some are spending tens of thousands of dollars a year just so their kids can compete.

We'll dive into what's driving those costs and what it's doing to family life.

That's next.

Major funding for NJ Spotlight News is provided in part by NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

If you have a child who plays sports, you've probably experienced the shift that's been happening in youth sports recently.

What used to be a hobby that teaches kids some great life skills has now turned into a crushing rat race of private coaching, club team competitions, and a year-round commitment to any individual sport just so your kid can stay competitive.

NJ.com sports reporter Steve Politti recently took a deep dive into the issue to see what toll all of this is having on families both emotionally and financially.

Steve, great to have you with us.

This is really an important topic that I know touches so many families.

You call it the sports industrial complex.

What do you mean by that?

Yeah, I think it's just the entire culture of what's happened to the youth sports that we once played in our backyards with our kids and communities is now it's a 40 billion dollar industry that essentially, you know, thrives on getting every penny out of every person who is involved in it.

Yeah, I think that's the best way to call it.

And I think people enter it not kind of understanding that or perhaps hearing about it, but not really realizing what that means.

And once you get your kids signed up, you find out very quickly just how it just every turn there's there's another another handout looking for for more money, another check to write another team to join it is really an all-encompassing thing.

When you talk about a 40 billion dollar industry you know it kind of feels like there's this coordinated effort to to be taking you know funds from families who are perhaps vulnerable just want their kids to succeed but who's profiting here is this is this really an organized kind of system that we've all stepped into?

You know, it's it's more of a patchwork than an organized system.

I think what you're seeing now on the highest level of that is because it's such a big business and so much money is involved, that a lot of private equity companies are seizing the opportunity or jumping in or are buying up local ice rinks and buying up club soccer teams and and baseball facilities around the state around the country.

And that has changed kind of sort of changed the the on the ground dynamic for a lot of parents, you know, you're no longer writing a check to your town.

Or to the town soccer team, you're writing a check to a to a very big business that that's, you know, one goal.

One mission is to make money.

And I think that really changed the experience and increase the costs on a lot of levels for different for different sports.

Yeah, I can speak as a parent myself.

I have two kids.

We get the messaging from coaches that, hey, if your kid wants to be competitive, you know, they need to be playing in the offseason.

Or I don't even know in some cases if there even is an offseason anymore.

Kids are in these sports and these club teams year round, right?

How much are parents paying?

Yeah, it varies wildly.

But you know, the Aspen Institute is one of the big think groups that chart this, say it's $1,000 average for American families.

The New Jersey families I talked to would laugh at that number.

It's well above that for the cost of admission.

I've talked to a swimming mom who spends $10,000 a year on her daughter.

And that doesn't include the tech suits that she has to replace for $650 four times a year.

A hockey dad, 20 grand, and that doesn't include private lessons that some of his son's friends are getting.

I talked to a mom of two kids whose daughter and son are high-level basketball and gymnasts.

She's in debt for 30 grand because of paying all these bills.

You know, it's just all it depends on how deep you are in this world, but I think most parents are finding that the expenses far outweigh what they're used to when they were kids.

Steve, you know, there's going to be families who say, "Look, I'm just, I'm making an investment in my child.

I want them to go on to play in college.

Maybe they'll get a scholarship."

In your reporting, what are you finding in terms of that actually happening or that being the reality for most kids?

The reality is that those parents should take that money and put it into a college savings fund.

It would be a much better investment than trying to invest in a trainer or in a high-level team.

There's just not a lot of evidence that for most parents this works out.

And of course there are some who do achieve that.

I mean, and one thing that, you know, the youth industrial complex is very good at is that they capitalize on that and they promote these athletes on social media who do reach the highest level who do get the division one scholarship.

And I think parents see that and say, okay, well maybe with a little bit more, maybe with some more training, with some more individual work, if they go to a couple more summer showcases, it'll be my kid who has an opportunity.

I think for the vast majority of parents and kids that does not materialize.

Yeah, there's burnout, right?

I mean, I've seen it in my own family.

Sometimes these kids just straight up burn out.

You touched on school districts earlier and we're seeing more and more as schools are facing funding cuts, funding challenges, they're cutting athletics.

And I guess as you've reported, that's trickling down to families also.

Yeah, it's sort of a sad trend and it's happening in the town I live in Montclair where we had to raise $176,000 to save the freshman team that my daughter is going to play on next year, hopefully, freshman soccer.

And it just, you know, it's not every town, but there's just been enough of them that it, you know, if it's certainly a possibility in a lot of places, if the funding is not right, if there's this counting error, something goes wrong, the first thing they go to to cross out is often athletics.

And I think you're seeing that this has become another way that parents aren't getting those cheaper, even free opportunities for their kids to participate that we got when we were younger.

You know, those are the teams, you know, those are the teams that are often cut first.

And I think we've also seen that with rec sports in a lot of communities.

When the Great Recession hit in 2008, those were the first programs to go, those lower cost opportunities for people to get involved.

And it's the for-profit teams that sort of stepped in and took over.

Yeah.

It's hard to consider what it would even look like to put this genie back in the bottle.

But I know U.S.

Senator Cory Booker has chimed in on this, and he's calling on Congress to take action to help.

What is he asking for?

Yeah, it's very interesting him and Chris Murphy in Connecticut.

Of course, Cory Booker himself a great athlete.

He talked about how it really shaped him growing up on the fields of Bergen County to playing high school football in New Jersey.

I think he wants to get the private equity money out of the equation.

And that's that's the key tenant of what's happened here wants to get rid of things like pay for play where you'll feel go to a tournament and the parents will have to stay at a certain hotel in order to participate in the event.

He's trying to get rid of these predatory actions that are become just have just become part of the experience for you sports for a lot of people, you know, whether or not that legislation successful it remains to be seen.

But certainly there are a lot of people who are looking at this in Washington as not only an issue that they think they can solve but one that really there's no right left red blue.

This is something that you know the vast majority of people agree on that has to change.

Yeah, no political party is impacted one over the other in this case.

It's families everywhere.

Thank you.

Great reporting.

Steve Politti, sports reporter and columnist for NJ.com.

We appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

During the summer months, many of us take the opportunity to engage in the arts in some way.

Seeing a concert, visiting a museum, maybe even taking a night out dancing.

Well, it turns out that participating in the arts is actually good for your health.

And the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark is offering many ways for you to experience the arts this summer, from their Thursday evening outdoor performances to classes during the week.

I recently spoke to NJPAC's Senior Vice President Sherri-Ann Butterfield about all they're offering to bring the arts into the community.

Sherri-Ann, it's so great to talk to you.

Can you tell us about some of the summer offerings at NJPAC?

Would love to.

And thank you, first, thank you for having me.

We're just really excited to talk about what's going on at NJPAC.

And so there's lots of things going on.

The first thing we want to talk about are the summer camps that we're having in our arts education program.

We are having camps for numerous activities for numerous students.

And one is our Milt Hinton Institute for Studio Bass.

And that's happening at Drew University starting on Sunday.

And it's a week-long intensive camp that's being taught by classical and amazing artists, bassists, professional bassists.

Our second camp is our TD Jazz for Teens camp that is being held at Rutgers University, Newark, and that is also a week-long intensive for our lovers of jazz, and that is also being taught by some really top professionals in jazz.

And then thirdly, we have two camps that are split up for ages nine through 18, for our youth who just want to be creative and explore different kinds of artistry, whether it's musical theater or acting or singing and all kinds of vocals.

And so we're just really excited about those camps.

The other summer programs that we're doing... Let me jump in there because what we're seeing is images of the Ailey Camp in Newark and I know that this year is actually the 15th year of that program.

I've had the chance to go and watch some of these students myself and it's just fantastic.

Tell us a bit about Ailey and why this 15-year program has been so successful.

It has been successful because as you saw in the clip, the young people just light up with Ailey.

The instructors are amazing.

The partnership with Alvin Ailey Dance Company has been just phenomenal over the years.

They come every year and do performances that, particularly on Mother's Day weekend, it sells out and the kids and the community just wrap their arms around this program.

On Ailey, we have Ailey Day where communities come in for all day, people of all abilities and just enthusiasm and passion for the work come in and dance with Alvin Ailey instructors and it's so important for us to provide access to dance and movement and music to our young people and our community at large and so we will continue to do that.

That is the beauty of the work that we do at NJPAC is really providing access to the arts for a positive impact on community.

Sherrianne, I think you were about to tell us about one more program when I jumped in there.

I don't want to cut you off.

No worries.

I would say the other summer program that we're doing, which is really huge, is our North to Shore Festival Welcomes the World.

And so it is the way in which we have summer programming and summer concert series in Newark, Asbury Park in Atlantic City.

And so we have large, we've had large main stage acts like Sublime and Janelle Monae and James Taylor, along with community events that feature local artists and local arts organizations and really wrapping our arms around the ways in which artistry of all forms and types and sizes needs to be celebrated.

And so while you can go to a huge concert, you can also go to a block party that is having soccer activations and kids running around and just being, celebrating being outside and cheering for their favorite teams all at the same time.

Well, when we talk about cheering for your favorite teams, I know Sounds of the City has been going on with NJPAC outside in the summer on Thursday nights for a long time.

When you say welcomes the world, what is this tied to?

Why are you referencing soccer?

Because we are in the midst of World Cup.

And so the reference to soccer, we know soccer brings people together, just like music and art does.

And so putting those together is just a beautiful thing.

And so as we've had people outside dancing for Sounds of the City, we also have soccer activations.

We have young people who are playing, there's a, there's, we have a green on campus now on NJPAC campus.

And just last night, there were kids playing soccer on that green.

And so the ways in which you can really combine sports and the arts is one of the things that we have really been doing this summer and just excited to continue to do it.

It brings people of different cultures, families, and it's always just a wonderful thing to see when you can bring people of different ages and abilities and thoughts and, you know, it doesn't matter what your belief systems are, you'll come together for sports and for the arts.

And we just love that.

It is a great equalizer.

There's some interesting data about the arts and its impact on longevity, on wellness.

Can you talk to us about that and what we know about folks who participate in various forms of art?

Absolutely.

One of the things that we have been doing, particularly in social impact at NJPAC, is really letting folks know things that we've instinctively known our entire lives, that we feel better when we engage in the arts, but there's actually scientific data behind that.

For example, that there has been evidence that, and data that shows that engaging in the arts one to two times a month has the same protective health value as working out one to two hours a week.

Now, it is not an either or situation, but that just tells you what the arts does for our physiology, for our mental health, for our emotional health, and why we should continue to engage in the arts.

And it's a lifelong process.

We know that it reduces time to coming out of anesthesia, if you listen to music before you, as you're going into surgery.

We know that folks who engage in the tango have younger brains than those who don't.

And so once you know that information, we should really be engaging in the arts intentionally and really thinking about how we not just talk about it, fund it, and think about how we need to merge it more intentionally with health systems.

When you say engage in the arts, is that drawing?

Is that playing music?

Is it dancing?

What is it?

What does it have to be?

It's all of the above.

It can be any form of art.

It can be poetry, it can be dancing, it can be singing, it can be playing your favorite instrument.

It can be creating a play, it can just be any form, it can be drumming, it can be any form of movement, or not, right?

You know, folks, writing is a form of artistry.

And so the ways in which we continue and need to continue to encourage people to continue to practice that.

It brings them joy and what joy does to our bodies, right?

It lowers instances of depression and loneliness which we know are huge in our in our communities globally not just nationally and so the way we need to continue to remind people to engage in the arts particularly as folks get older it's not just about living longer but it's how you're living.

What's your quality of life?

What's your quality of health?

And we see that folks who are still dancing and singing and writing and or just going to a show, right?

It just makes them feel better.

It makes them feel connected.

It makes them think about, you know, wanting to continue to live life in very positive ways because I get to do, I get to engage in the arts.

And of course all of these programs through the summer engage our young people so that you get them in hooked and get them involved in the arts young and maybe they'll be lifelong participants.

Sherry Ann Butterfield, Senior VP of Social Impact at NJPAC, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Do you ever wonder if we're alone in the universe or if there's more out there?

Well, a new study is capturing images of the southern sky through a massive new camera, giving us never-before-seen images into the beyond.

Rutgers University is participating in the study, collecting the data and analyzing it.

Saurabh Jha is a distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at Rutgers who's helping to make sense of the results and he recently joined us to share his excitement over the new project.

Saurabh Jha, so great to see you on the show.

Can you tell us a little bit more about this legacy survey of space and time and what it will accomplish?

Yeah, this is going to be a huge revolutionary leap forward in our ability to observe the dynamic universe.

So with the Rubin Observatory in Chile, which is a large six and a half meter diameter telescope, and attached to that telescope is the world's largest digital camera.

And it's going to take pictures of the sky unlike we've ever seen before.

With such a wide field of view, it can go and look at basically the whole sky in just a period of a few days, taking point after point after point.

And then after those few days, it's going to go back and do it over and over and over.

And so far, our views of the sky have really been images.

You've seen pictures from the James Webb Space Telescope or the Hubble Space Telescope.

Those are static images.

What the Rubin Observatory and its legacy survey of space and time are going to do is make a movie of the universe.

We're going to see the changing dynamic universe over 10 years, getting images over and over of the sky, seeing all the different things that change in the universe.

So I'm very excited about that.

That's really near and dear to my own research.

I'm curious, is there anything you're looking for in particular when it comes to changes, when it comes to this dynamic universe?

Yeah, for me, my research is to study exploding stars, what we call supernovae.

So these are stars at the end of their lives and some of them, not all, some of them explode.

And we can see those stellar explosions halfway across the universe.

And so far over the, over the past, you know, decades, we've observed thousands of these exploding stars.

And with the Rubin Observatory over its 10 year survey, we're going to observe millions of exploding stars.

So for me, that's the research that I'm most excited with, study those stars and how they explode.

And the other thing about those is those exploding stars can tell us about things we don't see.

So one of the big discoveries that we've made over the last decades in astronomy is the idea that most of the universe is dark.

Most of the universe is stuff we can't see.

And so you might ask, well, you know, why are we building a telescope for things we can't see?

And the reason is that what we see is the effects of those dark components of the universe on the things we can see.

So for example, dark matter and dark energy, those are two parts of the universe that we have inferred that must exist out there because of their effects on the things that we can see.

And in particular, what I studied... What is that?

Can I jump in here?

What is dark matter?

What is dark energy?

Just put that into layman's terms.

>> That's a great question.

Those are the questions that the Rubin Observatory is going to try and figure out.

What are those things?

Those are basically names that we have for things that we know must be out there because of the effects that we see.

So, for example, we see that galaxies spin faster than they should, or clusters of galaxies, the galaxies move around faster than they should.

We see the whole universe expanding faster and faster with time.

That's not what we expected if there wasn't anything else out there, any, any of this dark matter or dark energy.

So we see the effects of those things on the stars and galaxies that we can observe, and we don't know what they are.

We want to know what they are.

And so by, with the Rubin Observatory and its survey, what we're going to do is we're going to study these galaxies and exploding stars in more detail and in more numbers than we've ever had before.

And that's going to help us hopefully understand what is dark matter and what is dark energy beyond the effects that we already know about.

So we know that this is a 10 year study.

Let me ask you this.

How do you believe that the images, the data that comes out of this will help to shape perhaps an entire generation of study of the universe?

For sure.

This is a long-term endeavor.

And so we're really excited that it has just started.

And in fact, just with a few weeks or even a year of data, we're gonna learn, we're gonna go beyond what we had done before.

So that's gonna be very exciting.

So throughout the 10-year survey, it's not like you have to wait till all 10 years are done and then we'll learn something.

Throughout that survey, we're gonna learn more and more about the universe.

So I'm very excited for students, especially like graduate students or undergraduate students or even elementary school students or high school students.

As this LSST starts now, the things that we're going to learn from the data over the next decade should revolutionize our understanding of astronomy and cosmology and our place in the universe.

So it's a really exciting time for that long survey to begin.

The Rubin Observatory is in Chile.

I have to ask, how did Rutgers get involved in this?

That's right.

So the amazing thing, so the Rubin Observatory is, there are people from all over the world involved, but the prime sort of sponsors of the Rubin Observatory are the National Science Foundation in the United States, which really built the observatory, the telescope that you're looking at right there, and the United States Department of Energy, which is the organization that built the digital camera, the world's largest digital camera.

So you need both, you need the telescope and the camera to take the pictures.

And once that, you know, that enterprise, basically anyone in the United States or in Chile or other partners around the world can get the data.

So at Rutgers, we're very interested in ideas about galaxies and the universe, how the universe has formed, how it's evolved with time, what is dark matter, what is dark energy.

So Rutgers astronomers have been involved in planning for RUBIN and working on how RUBIN is going to observe the universe for a long time.

So we're really excited about getting this data, getting as things get started and seeing what we can see.

And I know you touched on the camera, but just help us better understand the magnitude of this camera that we're talking about.

This is not something you pick up in your hands.

That's right.

So you know in your phone you have a little tiny camera that takes beautiful pictures.

This camera is the size of an automobile.

So it is a huge large digital camera and it's the thing that allows us to take a picture of a wide part of the sky.

So many full moons in diameter.

If you can imagine looking up at the full moon and you say oh that's a pretty small piece of the sky, this camera can do many full moons across at one time.

And because it's attached to such a big telescope that can collect a lot of light, we don't have to take a long exposure.

So this camera takes an exposure about 30 seconds and then it moves on to the next piece of the sky and takes another picture.

And so every 30 seconds or so, new data is coming from the telescope, gets sent off to processing centers in the United States and other places in the world.

So and then that data become available.

So over and over big pictures of the sky, you know, just one image from the Rubin Observatory and its camera would fill 400 high definition TVs.

So if you think about 400 flat screen TVs, you'd have to put them side by side just to observe at the pixel level, one image from the Rubin camera.

And then we're going to get an image like that every 30 seconds or so.

And so every night that the weather is good, the telescope is going to be observing for 10 years.

So we're going to collect tons and tons of data, petabytes of data, filling up hard drives all around the world.

And then, you know, we're going to see that movie of the universe.

So that's really the most exciting thing.

Absolutely incredible.

And really just makes you realize how tiny we are in this massive universe that we exist in.

Sir Rob Jha, Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers University.

Thank you.

Thanks very much.

That's going to do it for us.

I'm Joanna Gaggis.

For the entire team here at NJ Spotlight News, thanks for being with us.

We'll see you next time.

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Learn more at rwjbh.org.

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