A recent study has revealed that most kids today quit sports before age 11, leaving behind the many great benefits from sport competition including improved physical and mental health, learning athletic transferable skills, making great friendships, and appreciating the value of hard work and perseverance. Compounding matters, when kids leave sports, most do not find equivalent life experiences that regularly offer all the benefits I just mentioned — in fact, with technology advances today many kids exchange sport participation for a more sedentary lifestyle, often in isolation away from friends. Delving deeper with the new research findings we also learned that the primary reason why most kids are leaving sports before age 11 is that they claim sports are no longer fun. We have long known that the #1 reason why kids play sports is to have fun, so how (and why) have adults taken something that used to be fun for kids and made it less fun?
Why kids are quitting sports
As numbers in youth sports decline we must ask ourselves why are we witnessing this change? When we see a nearly 10% drop in youth sport participation over about a ten year period we can assume something significant is happening, and not just a natural decline in numbers:
In 2018, only 38% of kids ages 6 to 12 played team sports on a regular basis, down from 45% in 2008, according to separate research from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA)
We know kids today still want to have fun playing sports, but something is different when it comes to the enjoyment they experience playing sports today. The following quote from the SFIA study further drives home this point:
The average child today spends less than three years playing a sport, quitting by age 11, most often because the sport just isn’t fun anymore. Their parents are under pressure, too, with some sports costing thousands of dollars a year and travel expenses taking up the largest chunk
In addition to the impact on kids and their mental health, another finding related to fewer kids playing sports is the continual increase in childhood obesity figures, lending even more significance to kids being actively involved in sports. From my own clinical experience working with student athletes I can provide the following observations and insights:
- Travel and elite club sports start earlier than ever before, and not all kids are ready — or even interested — in playing sports at a serious level so early in life, and as a result quit.
- Increasingly more recreation sports are being eliminated nationwide, making it challenging to even find sport opportunities for kids. This is especially true for middle school-aged kids past pee-wee sports (elementary school) and not yet old enough for varsity high school sports. If you are not on a travel team, you might not find any opportunities for the sport your child is interested in playing.
- When you combine serious travel sports pushing kids out, and fewer recreation sports available, the result is an entire generation of kids confused about how to simply play the sports they like, but not in such a pressure-packed way as is often seen in elite travel sports.
When kids no longer have sport opportunities, they lose structure, and many kids struggle with decision-making with too much time on their hands. Sports help improve mental health and provide many social growth opportunities, and a byproduct of sport participation is that it keeps kids away from getting into trouble and making poor choices. So while we should be seeing an increase in youth sport participation, we have made it so serious and intense that we are actually seeing numbers decline and leaving kids in vulnerable positions as a result. Many kids who play travel sports experience injuries and burn out and leave sports prematurely, while other kids who simply want to play sports (but are not interested in competitive travel sports) are left with few, if any, opportunities once middle school begins.
Final thoughts
While it is concerning that so many kids are leaving youth sports, it is important that we realize they are not leaving because they suddenly dislike youth sports. No, what we are witnessing is a reaction to how adults have professionalized youth sports, squeezing out the fun of sports in exchange for pushing kids by means of year-round training, sport specialization, and travel leagues. Kids can no longer easily find recreational sport opportunities, and if they do not keep up with travel sports, kids may soon find themselves without any sport options at all. The result? Less physical activity, more lethargy, increased obesity rates, and lost opportunities for kids to physically, mentally, and emotionally grow through active sport participation.
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