Rates of youth participation in organized sports dropping...Why?

[Judge Smails]

One of the theories of my wife and I is that the different generations react to the way they were brought up. Kids that were raised in the 60s and 70s by baby boomer parents who (generally) didn't put as much effort and attention into their kids' activities produced a generation who really focused on getting their kids into organized sports and trying to see they reach their full potential. Is the recent drop in youth sports participation a reaction to that by young parents who resented the constant drive to practices all the time? Or is it a function of shrinking middle class disposable income?

 

[10 Years After]

Video Games

 

[Judge Smails]

Video Games

That's depressing.

 

[dwiz]

I think it's because you have to start when you're 5 years old and play year round to be in the "in" club with the parents and coaches. Parents sometimes don't have time to drive to practice and tournaments hours away every night. I know someone who is driving around the country all summer with her daughter doing track and field competitions. The daughter isn't any good, but qualifies for these things because nobody else is driving to a completion in Virginia that qualifies you for an event in Illinois. She ended up getting 30th in the nation out of 40 competitors. Another drives her son to hockey in Hershey every day, from state college for practice, and then back. Huge SUV. If he got a schollie for college they'd would still have lost money on this venture. Just insane the amou t of time and money being out into this with such a low expectation of success after high school.

 

[kgilbert78]

That's depressing.

But probably accurate.

I was a bookwork as a kid. But my mom, thankfully, made me go outside and play every day. I still had plenty of time to read--but I got out too.

 

[PSU_Nut]

One of the theories of my wife and I is that the different generations react to the way they were brought up. Kids that were raised in the 60s and 70s by baby boomer parents who (generally) didn't put as much effort and attention into their kids' activities produced a generation who really focused on getting their kids into organized sports and trying to see they reach their full potential. Is the recent drop in youth sports participation a reaction to that by young parents who resented the constant drive to practices all the time? Or is it a function of shrinking middle class disposable income?

Specialization. When I was in school you played football or soccer in the fall, Basketball or Wrestling in the winter and Track and Field or Baseball in the Spring/Summer. Now most of these sports have become all year round.

 

[Nitwit]

Fear of concussions could be a factor.

 

[sluggo72]

I would love to see the rate from 6-8 go to zero, way too young. 9-12? baseball, basketball, lacrosse, none of that travel stuff. After age 12 I like to see it pick up in the schools. While I respect what they are trying to do, IMHO too many untrained parents trying to coach. Starting a sport in 7-8th grade is not too late.

 

[LionJim]

I haven't got a clue. Pay-to-play is a reality and it adds up, but I wouldn't have expected to see the kind of drop we see here.

This isn't good. Nowadays, playing sports is a culture in itself and you want your kid playing sports because you want them hanging out with focused kids. My younger daughter played sports and she hung out with really nice kids; I'm not going to say it's cause and effect, but there's a general rule of thumb here. Me, when I was a kid I'd play outside until it got dark, you keep out of trouble better that way. It's not necessarily peer pressure that leads one astray, it's putting yourself in a bad environment that does the job for you. It's kind of like saying marijuana is a gateway drug; when you smoke pot, especially when you're in high school, I guess, you're more likely to be hanging out with the kind of kids who take harder stuff. It's really important that you try to screen the people your kids hang out with and it's a whole lot easier if they play sports, you get to meet their parents too (I miss that part of my life now).

 

[KnightWhoSaysNit]

But probably accurate.

I was a bookwork as a kid. But my mom, thankfully, made me go outside and play every day. I still had plenty of time to read--but I got out too.

VERY accurate. They're addicted to video games and, of course, their phones. They'll grow up with an an annual rear-end accident as a result of "driving under the influence." This is the generation that will pay down a 20 trillion dollar debt while generating enough corporate wealth to support the entire baby boom generation in retirement. Yea, the future is bright.

 

[LaJolla Lion]

Possibly more houses where both parents are working as well?

 

[BobPSU92]

I think it's because you have to start when you're 5 years old and play year round to be in the "in" club with the parents and coaches. Parents sometimes don't have time to drive to practice and tournaments hours away every night. I know someone who is driving around the country all summer with her daughter doing track and field competitions. The daughter isn't any good, but qualifies for these things because nobody else is driving to a completion in Virginia that qualifies you for an event in Illinois. She ended up getting 30th in the nation out of 40 competitors. Another drives her son to hockey in Hershey every day, from state college for practice, and then back. Huge SUV. If he got a schollie for college they'd would still have lost money on this venture. Just insane the amou t of time and money being out into this with such a low expectation of success after high school.

A former colleague had a daughter on the high-school volleyball team a few years ago, and he had to schlep her all over the state for all-day tournaments nearly every weekend. The parents would essentially tailgate in the gym all day, so everyone had to bring food to share. Some parents would bake or cook something each weekend. It got to be very expensive and obviously time-consuming. What happened to a couple evening matches a week against local schools?

 

[Michael.Felli]

The same reason why young people aren't forming bands and writing music....VIDEO GAMES.

That and over stimulation....phone, computers etc....

That's my reasoning.

 

[VaNtyLion]

Good read here on what hockey in particular is doing right in the youth arena and a big factor for growing numbers in enrollment.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/08/10/In-Depth/Lead.aspx

I do think fear of concussions may be a contributing factor to youth football decline, but overall it's an overblown concern (as is evidenced by the rise in hockey and lax numbers).

Video games are a huge problem but not one that can be overcome by a little more action on the part of parents to shut it down and get them outside. Video games can actually help a kid become a better athlete if they're not also making them lazy.

Any time a sport sees a decline, you have to look at funding and volunteer support...and this is going to vary greatly from town to town.

 

[bxle]

The numbers of kids that go from house-level sports to club/AAU are not large. And many of these teams are almost year round.

The house players from my experience eventually drop out of the sport for many reasons: time commitment to practice, cost, travel requirements or just can't make the local AAU team.

For girls, lacrosse and volleyball are competing with basketball for their time and talents. And these sports are following the club/AAU model in many areas.

 

[Player2BNamedL8r]

Specialization. When I was in school you played football or soccer in the fall, Basketball or Wrestling in the winter and Track and Field or Baseball in the Spring/Summer. Now most of these sports have become all year round.

I agree with this, as well as the notion that competitive sports start too young. A LOT of parents out there have unrealistic expectations for their kids' athletic futures, even if it's just trying to get them scholarship money for college. I think somebody here posted a few weeks ago the article about how your kid is not going to be a professional athlete. You wouldn't know it by the way some parents act. The result of all of this specialization of youth sports is that kids possibly aren't having as much fun playing anymore, and batting practice becomes more like homework.

 

[CF LION]

My son plays youth lacrosse, which is the fastest growing sport in the country. Glad to see it's participation growing. Each year I see more teams and more kids coming out for teams.

This is also true for girl's volleyball, which is not listed in this survey. My daughter played from 11-18 and like lacrosse, the number of teams and kids participating keeps growing.

Also don't see any numbers for sports like cross country or track and field, two other sports that my son participates in. These sports have big participation numbers in the CYM world (Catholic Youth).

So while numbers may be decreasing for some sports, there are a lot of missing pieces to this survey.

 

[bjf1984]

One of the theories of my wife and I is that the different generations react to the way they were brought up. Kids that were raised in the 60s and 70s by baby boomer parents who (generally) didn't put as much effort and attention into their kids' activities produced a generation who really focused on getting their kids into organized sports and trying to see they reach their full potential. Is the recent drop in youth sports participation a reaction to that by young parents who resented the constant drive to practices all the time? Or is it a function of shrinking middle class disposable income?

I think if you combine "dwiz" and "10yearsafter" responses, you have the primary reasons.

 

[NedFromYork]

Specialization. When I was in school you played football or soccer in the fall, Basketball or Wrestling in the winter and Track and Field or Baseball in the Spring/Summer. Now most of these sports have become all year round.

Agree, decline of the multi-sport athlete.

 

[Judge Smails]

I would love to see the rate from 6-8 go to zero, way too young. 9-12? baseball, basketball, lacrosse, none of that travel stuff. After age 12 I like to see it pick up in the schools. While I respect what they are trying to do, IMHO too many untrained parents trying to coach. Starting a sport in 7-8th grade is not too late.

As a soccer parent, the idea that a kid could pick up soccer in the 8th grade and expect to make any sort of competitive team is ridiculous. Maybe they could scuffle around on some coed YMCA team or something, but they wouldn't make any sort of club or high school team.

 

[sluggo72]

As a soccer parent, the idea that a kid could pick up soccer in the 8th grade and expect to make any sort of competitive team is ridiculous. Maybe they could scuffle around on some coed YMCA team or something, but they wouldn't make any sort of club or high school team.

well we are going to disagree on this, I'll say the same for football, wrestling, and even lacrosse. They may be behind some to start, but if they work hard enough, they'll catch up within the year, 2 at most.

 

[Judge Smails]

well we are going to disagree on this, I'll say the same for football, wrestling, and even lacrosse. They may be behind some to start, but if they work hard enough, they'll catch up within the year, 2 at most.

I don't know about lacrosse, but you are probably okay with football and wrestling, which aren't so skill intensive. Basketball, baseball, soccer.....you will never make up the skill gap starting in 8th grade to ever be a factor, unless you are a 7 footer in basketball, or a Top 99.999% athlete like a Deon Sanders.

 

[sluggo72]

I don't know about lacrosse, but you are probably okay with football and wrestling, which aren't so skill intensive. Basketball, baseball, soccer.....you will never make up the skill gap starting in 8th grade to ever be a factor, unless you are a 7 footer in basketball, or a Top 99.999% athlete like a Deon Sanders.

if you go back and read my post I did mention 9-12 could try baseball basketball, but none of that travel stuff. as I mentioned, I think sports for youths, should come primarily via the schools, I do not like the AAU stuff or whatever it is called.

 

[Player2BNamedL8r]

well we are going to disagree on this, I'll say the same for football, wrestling, and even lacrosse. They may be behind some to start, but if they work hard enough, they'll catch up within the year, 2 at most.

Agree with this. The one variable that trumps everything else is natural athletic ability. If an 8th grader is a superior athlete, he/she will undoubtedly surpass the less athletic kid who has been "specializing" since age 5.

Case in point, my freshman year in high school was the first our school offered soccer as a varsity sport. We had a junior who was a star basketball player try out so that he could stay in shape for his hoops season (remember when we used to do that - run track to stay in shape for football?). By the end of the season, he was all-district in soccer after only playing the sport for 3 months (and we had 2 teams in our division which routinely competed for the PA state title).

 

[sluggo72]

I don't know about lacrosse, but you are probably okay with football and wrestling, which aren't so skill intensive. Basketball, baseball, soccer.....you will never make up the skill gap starting in 8th grade to ever be a factor, unless you are a 7 footer in basketball, or a Top 99.999% athlete like a Deon Sanders.

and tell where you get the idea football wrestling aint skill intensive sports.

 

[wbcincy]

Specialization. When I was in school you played football or soccer in the fall, Basketball or Wrestling in the winter and Track and Field or Baseball in the Spring/Summer. Now most of these sports have become all year round.

I would agree with this. Because of how intense and year-round these individual sports have become, you don't see kids participating in 3 or 4 as much anymore. I'd be interested to see the numbers on how many kids still play at least 1 organized sport. I'm guessing that hasn't changed much.

 

[Judge Smails]

Agree with this. The one variable that trumps everything else is natural athletic ability. If an 8th grader is a superior athlete, he/she will undoubtedly surpass the less athletic kid who has been "specializing" since age 5.

Case in point, my freshman year in high school was the first our school offered soccer as a varsity sport. We had a junior who was a star basketball player try out so that he could stay in shape for his hoops season (remember when we used to do that - run track to stay in shape for football?). By the end of the season, he was all-district in soccer after only playing the sport for 3 months (and we had 2 teams in our division which routinely competed for the PA state title).

That must have been a sorry-ass soccer district. ;o)

 

[Judge Smails]

and tell where you get the idea football wrestling aint skill intensive sports.

In football, speed, strength, quickness, size for certain positions are far more important than technique. The physical traits are going to overpower the technique at the high school level. The superior athlete is going to have to acquire the technique to succeed at the higher levels, but with some rudimentary hand/eye coordination, the blazing fast wide receiver will blow by the average athlete cornerback, the brute at DT with size and strength will run over the 190 lb "technically sound" offensive guard, etc.

 

[Op2]

Video games? Really? Since nobody else has pointed it out, I will. Video games were invented decades before the cited trend, and not just the video games in the arcade that cost 25 cents per play.

 

[LionJim]

well we are going to disagree on this, I'll say the same for football, wrestling, and even lacrosse. They may be behind some to start, but if they work hard enough, they'll catch up within the year, 2 at most.

No, not in soccer. Smails is absolutely right. Trust me.

 

[LaJolla Lion]

well we are going to disagree on this, I'll say the same for football, wrestling, and even lacrosse. They may be behind some to start, but if they work hard enough, they'll catch up within the year, 2 at most.

They could play the sport, but they wouldn't be any good picking it up that late. Possibly at goalie, but even keepers now need ball skills. You cannot pick up soccer at 12 and make any team, it's not going to happen.

 

[Marylovesthelions]

One of the theories of my wife and I is that the different generations react to the way they were brought up. Kids that were raised in the 60s and 70s by baby boomer parents who (generally) didn't put as much effort and attention into their kids' activities produced a generation who really focused on getting their kids into organized sports and trying to see they reach their full potential. Is the recent drop in youth sports participation a reaction to that by young parents who resented the constant drive to practices all the time? Or is it a function of shrinking middle class disposable income?

Fewer and fewer children with fathers in the home. 60 years ago and before young black boys played catch with dad and learned how to play baseball. Well there is no dad now. In the 60s and 79s it seems that there was a much higher percentage of black American born major leaguers. Same with white boys, 3 times as many without dads to push them into sports.

 

[jj410]

One of the theories of my wife and I is that the different generations react to the way they were brought up. Kids that were raised in the 60s and 70s by baby boomer parents who (generally) didn't put as much effort and attention into their kids' activities produced a generation who really focused on getting their kids into organized sports and trying to see they reach their full potential. Is the recent drop in youth sports participation a reaction to that by young parents who resented the constant drive to practices all the time? Or is it a function of shrinking middle class disposable income?

 

[Evan Ceg]

The previous posters have listed a number of factors that I agree with. One of my friends my age noted several years ago that the big difference between sports when he was a kid versus kids today is the amount of adult supervision. When I was young, we often called our buddies on the phone and got together for impromptu football, basketball and baseball games at the nearest playground or rec center. No adults within sight. We negotiated our own rules and rulings (safe/out?) and if a scraped knee or a brief shoving match occurred, no one made a federal case out of it. We often invented games.

My friend noted that kids today don't know what to do without an adult directing them. I'm convinced that the popularity of X-sports like BMX owes much to the fact that adults can't teach it.

If I could change this aspect of modern American life, it would be that there are no formally organized sports until age 12 and that prior to that age, there is no adult oversight of kids games, with the possible exception of a mom or dad sitting in a car across the street keeping an eye on things just in case something really bad happens.

 

[LionJim]

They could play the sport, but they wouldn't be any good picking it up that late. Possibly at goalie, but even keepers now need ball skills. You cannot pick up soccer at 12 and make any team, it's not going to happen.

Not. Going. To. Happen.

 

[Howie'81]

Parents "baby" their kids today. When I was a kid in the 60's and 70's, my parents freakin' kicked me out of the house to go play. So me and my friends, day after day, would play sports out in the back yard depending on what was in season. In those days it was basketball, baseball, and football. I played them all. And playing these sports in neighborhood pick up games caused many of us to become interested in trying our for Little League and then later Junior High sports teams, i.e. organized teams. There was no "Pee Wee" football in those days, which was good. I despise it and think that kids develop much better skills, i.e. skills that coaches can't teach, by running around with the neighborhood kids in 4 on 4 or 5 on 5 football games. No less than JoePa agreed with this. He did not like organized sports before 9th grade. Even in Little League, kids ruin their arms trying to throw pitches their bodies aren't developed enough to throw.

Nowadays kids are pampered. They're always indoors it seems. Too much video gaming. Too much internet. Too many "smart" phones, which in reality are small computers. Parents need to throw a ball out into the back yard, and kick the kids out after it telling them to go the hell out and play.

That's my view.

 

[jj410]

Today's helicopter parents don't encourage independent play at an early age but let them sit on their fat asses absorbed in social media, so they don't develop habits that would lead to playing in organized sports at a later age.
(I see Howie beat me to it)
Let's hope tackle football declines further, at least until age 14.

 

[Howie'81]

I think it's because you have to start when you're 5 years old and play year round to be in the "in" club with the parents and coaches. Parents sometimes don't have time to drive to practice and tournaments hours away every night. I know someone who is driving around the country all summer with her daughter doing track and field competitions. The daughter isn't any good, but qualifies for these things because nobody else is driving to a completion in Virginia that qualifies you for an event in Illinois. She ended up getting 30th in the nation out of 40 competitors. Another drives her son to hockey in Hershey every day, from state college for practice, and then back. Huge SUV. If he got a schollie for college they'd would still have lost money on this venture. Just insane the amou t of time and money being out into this with such a low expectation of success after high school.

I agree and the whole idea is totally idiotic.

 

[Cletus11]

Doesn't say all sports, just football/basketball/soccer/baseball. I would agree that those sports are declining in participation as more kids are playing lacrosse, hockey, wrestling, swimming, etc...the Big 4 sports are going down as more kids who are not elite in those sports are moving to other sports where they can play on the 1st team. And/or those sports are now prevalent enough that they are in more areas. When I was growing up in the 80's, there wasn't lacrosse and swimming and some other sports to play as there were no leagues, now there are leagues in just about every sport to play.

 

[Howie'81]

Specialization. When I was in school you played football or soccer in the fall, Basketball or Wrestling in the winter and Track and Field or Baseball in the Spring/Summer. Now most of these sports have become all year round.

Which is a shame and a stupidity around developing modern athletes. The truth is that by playing different sports when you are young helps you to become a better overall athlete. I don't think specialization is necessary even at the high school level, maybe not even at the college level. Jim Brown, for instance, was one of the best lacrosse players EVER. And I'm sure playing both sports helped him to be better at the other.