There have never been more sport opportunities for kids than there are in this moment, especially as this pertains to number of leagues, ID camps, individualized training, dietary, strength training, and mental health support. Kids can play their favorite sport year-round, specialize in one sport, and showcase their skills and abilities to countless college scouts and coaches by means of the camps they attend each year. All of these things contrast to previous generations, where sport opportunities were more limited, as were the opportunities for individual training instruction unique to each kid. Still, even with these advantages to kids today, many adults (including parents and coaches) struggle to get kids to buy-in and invest greater effort and commitment toward their sport. As you might imagine, technology is the biggest distraction, as evidenced by the daily battles parents have with their kids when trying to get them off their phones and game systems and out on the field to practice their sport.
Is there too much available for sport opportunities these days?
An argument can be made that while we have dramatically increased our offerings of sport training and leagues today, we may have moved too quickly in doing so. Parents regularly tell me about different sport opportunities, but most parents are also left confused (and sometimes overwhelmed) when trying to figure out just what their kid should be doing, with whom, and when? Is that program legitimate? Should we pay that much money for that coach? Will that program really make a difference and help my kid earn an athletic scholarship?
Another concern with having unlimited sport opportunities and experiences centers around the activities, clubs, and other life experiences your child may miss by being overly-committed to sports. For example, if you spend most days bouncing from practice-to-practice, attending camps, and working with specialist coaches, there is little time left over to attend the science club, or volunteer at the local food bank. When kids miss non-sport experiences, they miss out on important human development growth, as well as experiences that will help them get into college one day. Even worse, when kids fail to “make it” in sports, it leaves many families feeling frustrated that they overplayed their hand with sports, while bypassing important life experiences.
Regardless of how many leagues, camps, and specialists you provide to your child, it is always important to balance those efforts with the reality of how many kids will actually go on to play college sports. Generally speaking, only about 5% of all high school atheltes will play at college, and that number includes partial scholarships, walk-ons, and D-3 athletes that receive no athletic money (only academic). It is clearly a risky investment to go all-in for a future college athletic scholarship when you look at the data and fully understand the realities.
Final thoughts
These days, you really have to be a critical consumer when it comes to youth sports. Long gone are the days where most kids stayed in the same cohort, and experienced the same sport leagues and related opportunities. Today, kids have countless options and opportunities, but that also means that parents need to do their homework and pursue options that make the most sense as it relates to their kids. Understanding the realities of “making it” in sports should help with youth sport decisions, as well as help provide structure and balance your child’s schedule along with other important, non-sport life experiences.
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