Why do kids play sports

As I see little kids playing sports today I ask myself the question.."Did that kid want to play t-ball or did his father put a bat and glove in his hand and tell him that playing baseball was what every kid does." Maybe the reason i thought of this is because in a way, my father told me somethinig along that line when i was a kid. My father always told me to go out and play sports as a kid and I thank him for that today. My father from day one went to all my games and never stopped until i graduated from high school. Sometimes he seemed to be a thorn in my side when he was screaming to me from the sidelines when i was on the football or lacrosse field, then it hit me. In a way it seemed he was playing the sport through me. My father played sports all his life, and maybe when it came time for him to stop playing, he wanted me to play so he could still be in the sport atmosphere. As i look back now I wonder if this is a good or bad thing to influence your kids to play sports, or let them decide if they want to play sports on their own. Maybe some of these kids want nothing to do with football or lacrosse but they feel that by not playing they will disappoint their parents. I know that I hated going to practices as a kid and dad was always telling me to go, but after a while the forcing stopped and I actually wanted to play. Getting back to my point, I feel that a parent should let their kids decide to play sports on their own, but looking back on my own life I may have missed some of the best times of my life if i wasnt encouraged to play sports, simply because going to practice in the rain and snow isn't all that appealing to a young kid. It makes me wonder if those kids playing the little league world series on ESPN were told to go out for baseball as kids....