Youth sports study: Declining participation, rising costs and unqualified coaches

Great article and thanks for sharing. I wish the article went deeper into the fact that kids aren't as active as they used to be. Some of the data has to do with parents allowing their kids to make the choice of participating or not. When you give your child the option of playing a sport or video games/television which one do you think he/she will pick? Money will always will be an issue with youth sports. It was an issue for my family growing up and it will be the same as time goes on.

Lots of factors when looking at the decline of youth sports. Just my opinion.
 
Yeah the Real Sports segment came to some of the conclusions:

Parents are spending more and more $ by traveling to chase so called better "competition" and the pipe dreams that go with anything labeled "national, usa, academy, etc".

Youth Sports has grown to a 15+ billion $ industry with much econmic growth lately but overall participation is declining

The new closed leagues that have spouted up this year; DPL, BoysECNL, etc just perpetuate chasing this scream/dream.

 
My wife and I constantly debate this.

When I was young, my afternoons were spent on my bike with friends or heading to the park, then home for dinner. On weekends I might be gone all day. This was before cell phones. Mom wasn't worried unless I wasn't home when the street lights came on.

I try to push my boys to do the same but my wife is afraid they will get harmed in some fashion. I am not convinced that the world is any more dangerous, just that there are more people and the 24 hour news cycle needs things to cover so you hear about bad things more.

When they are at home, they are safe.

Don't get me started on parents arranging their kids social schedules...

I got out of the house because home was boring. Soccer, Little League, etc. were more "sanctioned" excuses to not be home and be with my friends.

Home isn't boring anymore.

It drives me crazy.
 
From the article and the Real Sports segment it seems the main issue (other than cost) is that kids are just dropping out of particular sports over time. There's probably a lot of reasons for it....once the competition gets diluted in rec those who aren't skilled move on to other things...once in club those without the talent or inclination to put in the time get frustrated and drop out....and once in high school the kids have to make (given the intensity of college competition) a decision on whether to have a particular sport be their thing to get into college (given the enormous demands on their time they face)....add to that burn out and the temptation of other things such as phones and videogames it's no surprise. But we've built a system which is designed to weed out also-rans and create college players. That it would result in lower sports participation by those either unwilling or unable to reach those high levels would seem to be a design feature (or at least a foreseeable by product) rather than a bug. It's sort of "we're shocked shocked to find gambling going on here".
 
I try to push my boys to do the same but my wife is afraid they will get harmed in some fashion. I am not convinced that the world is any more dangerous, just that there are more people and the 24 hour news cycle needs things to cover so you hear about bad things more.

Agree with you 100%, and what is it with parents who grew up in the hood thinking the suburbs they live in now are more dangerous than the hoods they grew up in. smh. I think they are the ones who turn into the "get off my lawn" old folks.
 
Just a side note on the video.

The Grand Park is simply amazing. We were there four years ago, for DA showcase and we were back there again this summer for US Club Soccer National Cup Finals. The place has exploded from 4 yrs ago.

The week we were there, there were baseball, softball and soccer tournaments going on all at the same time. Some even got to play in the AC'd indoor full size soccer field, with raised grand stands and a bar. One of the dad's sent me a picture of him having a beer while watching his kid's team playing all in a nice cool building. Unfortunately, we were outside in 85 deg/90% humidity.

There's nothing like it here in SoCal. Great Park in OC comes close, once they finish all the baseball/softball fields and amphitheater.

Also, we've been to Dreams Park in Cooperstown, NY for baseball tournament for 12U when one of our boys were at that age. That venue is something else too. I think 26 fenced baseball fields and cottages for the teams to stay in for the week.

So these super venues are great and it offers tremendous experiences for the kids. Yeah I get the biz aspects but if it wasn't for biz reason, these venues would not exist. So it is what it is.....

BTW, none of these super venues charge for parking. Its free parking and lots of it all paved. Hey Silverlakes-Oceanside-SanBernardino-Lancaster-MV/SD Polo Fields are you listening????
 
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