We are mid-way through this decade, and as 2030 approaches there are a number of important questions that will be answered in the years ahead — many having a direct impact on our kids as it applies to their athletic experiences. Sports today are no longer as simplistic as they were when you played, as kids today play year-round, play multiple sports concurrently, play for club and travel teams, and regularly work with skill coaches and attend ID camps to be seen by college coaches. While some changes have been positive (i.e. safer equipment, greater attention to concussions), other trends have been concerning (i.e. kids experiencing sport burnout, schools struggling to find coaches and officials). This week I explore some of the bigger issues that I have learned through conversations and issues that have been discussed at my office.
Big future youth sport questions
While there are always new issues and challenges in youth and interscholastic sports, the following questions will likely have the greatest impact on the overall experience that kids enjoy while competing.
1. Can youth sports league continue to thrive? Especially recreation sports?
While youth sports can be one of the most important experiences your child has in life, the experience can also be overwhelming if you are unprepared. Recreation youth sports are great for the vast majority of kids and provide fun, fundamentals, and friendships, but these opportunities are rapidly being replaced by expensive and intense travel sport leagues. Granted, recreation leagues are not nearly as “sexy” in the sense that the focus is on learning the basics of a sport playing against kids in your local community, but recreation sports serve as a fantastic entry point to sports! Conversely, when kids zip off to travel sports before they are ready, the experience can lead to frustration, loss of confidence, sport burnout, and even premature quitting. Keeping recreation sports in your community is vitally important, but becoming increasingly more difficult to do with so many kids racing to travel sports.
2. Can we secure enough officials?
Almost every state in the country right now is struggling to find youth and interscholastic officials, and this is understandable when considering the pay, hours, and risks with volatile parents. Without good officials, kids lose out when games are poorly refereed, or cancelled altogether. Verbal assaults and threats of physical aggression are two prime reasons why people are leaving officiating, as ugly stories in youth sports are occurring increasingly more.
3. How will schools continue to adequately fund coaches and teams?
Similar to the challenges in finding good officials, schools across the country are also regularly on the hunt for responsible adults who can coach school sports. Unlike the old days of teachers who took on extra work as school coaches, most interscholastic coaches today are individuals from the community who coach around their regular job. Aside from logistic challenges, these coaches may not always have training to work with kids, and may steer away from coaching very long after low pay, strange hours, and upset parents.
4. Will college sports continue to dramatically change, and what rules will there be in the future?
The college athletic game continues to change, and for the select few families who have an amazing young athlete he or she could become an instant millionaire if they hit the NIL lottery! While that outcome is unlikely for most, there are so many changes happening at the college level right now that it is impossible to say how much this will affect sports families with the hopes of their child one day competing at the college level. Who will be making the rules — on field, and off? Where will NIL be in the future? And what will happen with gambling? More on that next…
5. The impact of gambling. How many more players will get caught? When will the next modern day “Black Sox” scandal occur?
Sports gambling was outlawed forever, then suddenly it wasn’t. It was over 100 years ago when the infamous Black Sox betting scandal occurred, but with our current excitement about gambling we must wonder what we will see in the future. Today, you can legally bet on just about anything, including “prop” bets of individual players. How much will these changes impact your kid? If your son or daughter plays college sports, what new temptations will there be to place a few discrete bets? I suspect increasingly more athletes will get flagged for betting, leaving their eligibility in question for the future.
Final thoughts
While there once was a time where youth sports were exclusively community-based, focused on fundamentals, and affordable, today’s youth landscape now includes travel sports, elite training, and big costs. Additional concerns include attracting solid coaches and officials, and making sure we don’t professionalize youth sports so much that kids no longer see the experience as fun, but instead more like a adult job. And keep an eye on rapidly changing rules, new NIL money opportunities, and sports gambling — all new trends that could have a direct impact on your child.
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