# Most kids quit sports by age 11



## SoccerFan4Life (Aug 9, 2019)

Interesting article around youth sports.  Trying to get kids to play and watch sports is a challenge Especially with all the apps and devices available for them.  

https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/national-youth-sport-survey-1


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## Grace T. (Aug 9, 2019)

It's not really rocket science why kids are quitting at age 11.  It's the age by which most kids are specializing, moving out of rec to travel teams.  Those that make the cut and enjoy the intensity keep playing.  Those that don't make it or don't like the intensity get frustrated and look at other things.  Those that remain in rec find its no longer as fun because the best competition, their friends, or their school mates have moved on, and in any case while their friends are wearing their State Cup hoodies to school they don't want to feel inferior by wearing their AYSO gear.  Those that are doing a variety of sports find it difficult to keep doing a variety of sports, because the demands of practices move up (AYSO for example starts with practice in the Core from 1 day a week when kids start to about 3 at this age).  Those kids that do drop out are moving onto other things, some productive some less so.  Around 12 most private middle schools are introducing bands and clubs, or are gearing up for the first honors classes.  Around 12 a lot of kids are getting their phones, or hanging around Xbox. By 11 you have a rough idea of what you are interested in and what you might be good at...that age used to be higher but the pressures of college admissions have lowered it.  And if you haven't found something your good at or enjoy your self-esteem is beginning to suffer too and you've begun to get self-conscious as you head into puberty so you begin to not care and eventually rebel.  And the parent isn't going to pay the higher fees required to specializing, like in a travel team, if the kid isn't into it and going regularly (the fights become not worth it as the kids begin to have minds of their own).

When my eldest was younger he used to dabble in guitar, art, dance, swimming, horse back riding, running, karate, soccer and even a little field hockey.  Now it's basically school work, water polo and band and if he's going to have a social life that's pretty much all the time he has.  My younger is down to 3 activities and it's really hard to get him to the third priority regularly with him practicing now 4 days a week in soccer.


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## SoccerFan4Life (Aug 10, 2019)

You have valid points but you missed one key stat on that report.  
In 2018, only 38% of kids ages 6 to 12 played team sports on a regular basis, down from 45% in 2008. 

There’s an acceleration of kids dropping sports since 10 years ago and kids are quitting at a younger age.

The fact that 38% of our children are playing team sports between 6 to 12 years of age is not a good trend if we want to keep children active.


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## MWN (Aug 10, 2019)

The youth of today would almost all be diagnosed with ADD if they were alive 30 years ago.  Its a real problem for many sports.  Baseball and Golf are seeing a decline in both participation and tv viewership because the kids of today lament its just waaaay tooo slooow.

There are a few more reasons:
1) Changes in the nuclear family mean that if the kid isn't in a single parent household, the two parents are often working and parental motivation to leave work early to make the 5pm practice is not high.  
2) The culture of hop on your bike as a 10 year old, ride a mile and half to the park and be back before dinner by dark is for the most part over.  These kids are less independent than we were.
3) The rise of the suburbs contributes to number 2, because the park isn't a mile and half ride, rather 4 miles.
4) Youth sports has been monetized as a legitimate business at the travel/competitive/club level.  The AYSO struggles, whereas US Club and US Youth's competitive programs do not.
5) The youth of today are also much more savvy and are quicker to loose the dream of being a "big league ball player."


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## timbuck (Aug 10, 2019)

There are so many kids/teams that would be better served by playing AYSO. 
But the “Joneses” would never allow it.


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## Supermodel56 (Aug 10, 2019)

SoccerFan4Life said:


> You have valid points but you missed one key stat on that report.
> In 2018, only 38% of kids ages 6 to 12 played team sports on a regular basis, down from 45% in 2008.
> 
> There’s an acceleration of kids dropping sports since 10 years ago and kids are quitting at a younger age.
> ...


Team sports are not the only type of sports available... so just because kids aren’t playing as many team sports doesn’t mean they’re not shifting towards individual sports or lesser known - for example, fencing, sailing, badminton... Would love to see that data, but I know a lot of families who pulled their kids out of major sports because they knew their kid wasn’t ever going to be that good, other parents and kids made them feel like their kid was a burden, and so decided to focus on sports they could be good at... in this case, golf and fencing. Their kid is now among the top ranked fencers in the country at his age group (big fish small pond)... it also looks a lot better on that college application than played 6 yrs soccer on the third team as a bench player. Meanwhile, they’re able to focus more time on their academics.

While I think every kid should have a basic ability to catch/throw a ball, dribble and shoot a basketball - just so they can have those skills for social activities... I think it’s good parents are realizing that it makes much more sense to invest in activities/Sports that the kid enjoys and can also be successful rather than just following the crowd. Every kid has their own talents, our job as parents is to help them figure out what that is and help nurture it.


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## Grace T. (Aug 10, 2019)

timbuck said:


> There are so many kids/teams that would be better served by playing AYSO.
> But the “Joneses” would never allow it.


AYSO was the victim of its own poor product and an impractical philosophy.  The first problem is a lack of coaching and referee experience...even level 2 and 3 kids get bored and their parents frustrated if you have to rely on volunteer coaches that don't know what they are doing or referees that are constantly making mistakes.  The second problem is a lack of differentiation...the level 1 kid isn't challenged by being on the same team as a level 5 kid and the kid who wants to put more work into it gets frustrated because his teammates don't show up to practice.   The third problem is the peal off problem.  When the level 1s leave for club, the level 2s get frustrated because they can't get better because they are playing with the 5s, the 2nds leave, the 3rs get frustrated, rinse repeat until you have only 5s who realize they aren't good and get frustrated.  The vision of AYSO was to have future pros playing with the handicapped kids (everyone plays) and to give them equal time...great vision in the ideal but it was never going to work.

In the UK rec is organized very differently.  Only the academy players are on pro track.  College athletics aren't a big concern nor is listing an athletic on your application since admissions are largely exam driven.  Rec is divided into various levels where appropriate talent plays with appropriate talent.  To AYSO's credit, they've sort of started to do this by dividing kids up into United, Extras, All Stars and Core...though the execution still leaves some room for improvement.


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## focomoso (Aug 10, 2019)

Grace T. said:


> In the UK rec is organized very differently.  Only the academy players are on pro track.  College athletics aren't a big concern nor is listing an athletic on your application since admissions are largely exam driven.  Rec is divided into various levels where appropriate talent plays with appropriate talent.


This. 

It's the same in Poland where most kids just play for fun and only a tiny sliver play on the pro clubs' academies. The fact that soccer culture is so much more developed in Europe means there are fewer illusions about kids being pros. Very, very few kids make it to the pros who aren't playing at some reasonably well-known academy by 15 or 16.


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## Supermodel56 (Aug 10, 2019)

I’ve also gotta wonder if high school and jr High sports is a factor as well... Up until middle school, rec/club was the only option, most elementary schools don’t have team sports... but in Jr. high and high school, if you’re good enough, you make the team, if you don’t make the team, then it’s a sign to start looking into other activities and like Grace was saying if the kid doesn’t find something else, this can easily lead to lower self esteem, not knowing where you fit in etc... you don’t want to be the “wannabe” kid who can’t make the team but keeps trying out, especially at an age where kids can be extremely mean.  (Not saying that’s right, but that it could very well be the mentality)


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## MWN (Aug 11, 2019)

Supermodel56 said:


> ...their kid is now among the top ranked fencers in the country at his age group ...


If my kid keeps the trend with his grades he is going to be an awesome fencer ... but it will be building fences, hanging gates, etc.

I think sport of fencing get a boost every time a new Star Wars movie is released (Article), and so did archery when the Hunger Games came out.  Indeed, the French Fencing Association just recognized "Light Saber" dueling as an official skill/sport (Article).

What we are now seeing on HS teams is the specialization that occurs with club/travel/competitive youth sports at the elementary and middle school grades means that many recreational players have no chance of making their HS teams.  My boys Varsity HS soccer team was made exclusively of club players with most of the JV and JV Reserve teams comprised of 90% club and 10% rec.  The rec players can't break through to Varsity though.  Football is different ... everybody makes the JV team.


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## espola (Aug 11, 2019)

MWN said:


> If my kid keeps the trend with his grades he is going to be an awesome fencer ... but it will be building fences, hanging gates, etc.
> 
> I think sport of fencing get a boost every time a new Star Wars movie is released (Article), and so did archery when the Hunger Games came out.  Indeed, the French Fencing Association just recognized "Light Saber" dueling as an official skill/sport (Article).
> 
> What we are now seeing on HS teams is the specialization that occurs with club/travel/competitive youth sports at the elementary and middle school grades means that many recreational players have no chance of making their HS teams.  My boys Varsity HS soccer team was made exclusively of club players with most of the JV and JV Reserve teams comprised of 90% club and 10% rec.  The rec players can't break through to Varsity though.  Football is different ... everybody makes the JV team.


When my son went on his visit to Northwestern, we discovered that the mens soccer coach's office is tucked away in the Fencing Gym building.


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## skillz91745 (Aug 11, 2019)

Oh and since this fact has not been mentioned, I will note that kids at age 9-10 are probably getting tired of being constantly yelled at by a$$hole coaches for an entire game or practice! Just maybe!?!? when perhaps they didn’t in AYSO. Oh and a lack of playing time. Hell, I don’t care what age a kid is he or she just might not want to sit and watch other teammates play.


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## timbuck (Aug 11, 2019)

My rant on why kids are quitting sports:

1. We need to bring back school sports at the elementary and middle school level. Put together as many teams as there are kids that will sign up. Make it free(ish). Don’t create super teams. Just throw teams together. Don’t have giant rosters so everyone gets lots of playing time.  (Soccer, baseball, softball, volleyball, basketball.). I know "where do we find the coaches?" -  I'm sure there are 2 or 3 parents per grade that can step up and handle it.  (My kids attended a small private school from K-5th grade.  They had school sports starting in 4th grade.  It was awesome.  I coached girls hoops and co-ed soccer).

2. The article places some of the blame on unqualified coaches. And says coaches need more training.  But not at the cost of a family vacation. 
Soccer has license levels (do other sports have coaching classes that are mandated by a national governing body?)
-Grassroots License (cost is $125), 
-D License ($500 and requires 2 weekends near your home; split apart by a few months. 
-C License($1,500 and you need to fly yourself to Kansas City twice and pay for a hotel room for a total of 10 days)
-B and A License- $3k and $4k. And you must fly yourself to Kansas City 3 times. And pay for 15 nights in a hotel.

3. Travel- teams will drive or fly hundreds (even thousands) of miles for a game or tournament. They’ll drive past dozens of teams that would give them a competitive match. 
Why do we need a “youth national championship” in any sport? We can’t even decide how to crown a college football title winner.

4. Tournaments- 
Tell me why kids need to play 4 games in a weekend? Tournaments are fun. But kids don’t need to play 6-8 tournaments a summer (18- 32 games???) We don’t ask adult soccer or basketball players to play multiple games in a day, so why do we think it’s a good idea for a kid who’s body isn’t ready for this kind of exertion? 
I recently heard about a team of 11 or 12 year olds where their coach told them they need to plan their vacations around the 6 tournaments they are playing. “If you skip a tournament for a family vacation, you will need to find another team.”  (Summer is only about 8 weeks long now that schools have shortened the break.  So these kids are only getting 2 free weekends this summer).

4. Cost of uniforms- Kobe is all over the above article. Kobe is one of the faces of Nike. Nike (and adidas) provide uniforms for most sports.  The required cost for uniforms is between $250 and $500. Per kid. Per season. They also sell soccer shoes in youth sizes for nearly $200.

5. Playing the game because you love it. Not because mom and dad says “I just spent $2,000 for you to be on this team. You better not play like crap again.” 
I think the iPad age has a lot to do with this. Back in the day, if you didn’t have anything to do and there was nothing on tv, you’d go outside and find some kids to play a game with. Baseball, soccer, basketball, football, tag, ride bikes, go for a swim. You figured out what you might be good at by playing outside for hours. Not because some jackass with a clipboard watched you at a tryout and decided you should be on his “elite” travel team.

6. Tryouts- a kid shouldn’t be worried about “making a team” or being “cut” until they no longer believe in the tooth fairy. Maybe even later. 
But attend any tryout for any sport and the lazy coaches will pick the biggest kid and the fastest kid. They won’t look at a smaller kid who has decent fundamentals and a strong work ethic. Then they win games because they’ve got kids who won the genetic lottery. 
And the parents love it because they have a shelf full of $5 plastic trophies that they can brag about at cocktail parties.

As these kids move up in age group, you see them struggle against the late bloomers who worked on skill and smarts. 
Or you have smaller kids who quit too soon because they are frustrated with losing to the giant kids. And with the car ride home hearing from mom and dad that “you need to bring it!! You aren’t trying hard enough”

7. Adults making a full time living coaching kids. Not an easy way to earn a living and I commend those who do it because they are so passionate about it. But I’m not sure it was intended for 40 year old men to earn $50k-$100k a year teaching a sport to young kids. If you coach 4 club soccer teams and provide private training ($50-$100 per hour), you make at least $50k a year. Mostly cash. Combine that with “if you don’t win, we won’t let you coach this team again next year”. (This either comes from club administrator or parents who jump to a new team every year because they need to win) So you have coaches treating 8 year olds like factory workers to give the right output to let them keep their job.

8. Parents- after a few years, most start to hate the system. But they are afraid to complain because they are fearful that their kid will get benched for it. Or kicked off of the team.

9. Scholarship- club sports sell “if you want a scholarship, you’ve gotta play for this team”. Since when did kids sports become about getting college paid for? I never laced up my cleats with that in my head (probably because I was/am a very average/below average athlete). But I played every game because I loved playing. 
Look at the statistics on sports scholarships. 
I read somewhere that there are 150,000 athletic scholarships awarded per year in the US. That’s about 1.5% of all undergrad students. The average scholarship is $18k per student. Check out the cost of college. This doesn’t cover it. And in many sports (not named Football and men’s basketball) most kids aren’t getting full rides. 
Let your kid dream big about playing on the big stage. But let it be their dream. And not your dream of free college. 
If you need to force your kid to pick up the ball/bat/racquet/running shoes/etc outside of practice- They don’t have that dream.

10. Injuries. Go ahead and google “acl tear for youth female athletes”. Or “shoulder surgery for youth pitchers”. Or “concussions for youth football players”. Year round sports. Too many games. No “offseason” (The SCDSL homepage  actually has “There is no offseason” as one of the first things you see .) Adult rules on substitutions (16 year old girls have basically the same sub restrictions as adult professional soccer players. Wtf?).


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## SoccerFan4Life (Aug 12, 2019)

I blame it on ......
1. Social media : so much fun watching silly people and silly videos than running and getting yelled at by coaches. 

2. Netflix: my daughter is hooked and can watch movies all day. 

3. Yelling:  old school training doesn’t work anymore for this new generation 

4. Parents: we are too soft and allow our kids to stay online most of the day.   I remember when my parents wouldn’t allow me to watch tv during the day. It doesn’t work for this generation because they don’t watch tv.   So much for building my movie room.  Lol


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## Supermodel56 (Aug 12, 2019)

timbuck said:


> 1. We need to bring back school sports at the elementary and middle school level. Put together as many teams as there are kids that will sign up. Make it free(ish). Don’t create super teams. Just throw teams together.


I feel like rec programs pretty much meet the need of what you're proposing and do it much better than a school can.  They tried to play organized sports at my kids school during PE and to be honest it’s really not that much fun anymore... it didn’t matter if it was soccer, football, softball, etc... The club kids were bored because the level of play was so low, some worried about getting hurt because other kids were reckless. Others like my kid didn’t want to  “show off”/draw attention so they spent the whole time just teaching some other kids how to dribble/pass, etc... probably the only positive out of that. 

The trend of early club specialization and private’s has really changed the dynamic... when I was a kid, the level of play was a much narrower range so while some were better than others, we could all play with each other, nobody had private’s or club until JR high, high school. But now, the range is so wide and the kids who specialize spend so much time already with their club teams, time outside of club/training is better spent doing other things - like schoolwork, family time, chores, or friends, not joining a rec level school team. 

I honestly don't think it's a terrible thing that some kids are backing out - so long as they're finding something else and other ways to stay fit. Maybe not so great for the industry, but from a kid and long term success perspective, you gotta pursue what you love. Team dynamics can be learned in any environment, not just sports.


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## Grace T. (Aug 12, 2019)

Supermodel56 said:


> The trend of early club specialization and private’s has really changed the dynamic... when I was a kid, the level of play was a much narrower range so while some were better than others, we could all play with each other, nobody had private’s or club until JR high, high school. But now, the range is so wide and the kids who specialize spend so much time already with their club teams, time outside of club/training is better spent doing other things - like schoolwork, family time, chores, or friends, not joining a rec level school team.
> 
> .


I have to say this is true of recess too.  At DYS school, the soccer players play soccer (he likes to play on the field as opposed to always being in goal, since he's a keeper), and the basketball players play basketball.  They don't play gridiron football (none of the kids are on a team and the school doesn't allow tackling because of insurance reasons) and baseball is too hard to organize without bats and gloves for everyone (same with lacrosse). The soccer and basketball players don't like to cross over to the other side because they don't like moving from getting picked first to getting picked near the bottom.  The kids that don't play either sport (or god forbid, swimming) sometimes get uncomfortable particularly now that they are too old to want to hang out in the sandbox.  In PE, the school tries to get them into games that fewer people specialize in including handball, squash, volleyball, track and field hockey.  It's why the kids like getting together on their phones and xboxes...they don't need a grownup supervising the get together in the park so they have a lot more freedom and the playing field is more level (though my son is an idiot when it comes to Fortnite....he keeps rushing out and getting himself sniped early on...must be the keeper thing)


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## OrangeCountyDad (Aug 13, 2019)

> In 2018, only 38% of kids ages 6 to 12 played team sports on a regular basis, down from 45% in 2008,


What was the difference in the American economy from 2008 to 2018?


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## mirage (Aug 14, 2019)

OrangeCountyDad said:


> What was the difference in the American economy from 2008 to 2018?


There's a huge difference to the positive, in terms of economy in USA.  We are so much better now than then.  Without getting into Presidential. politics, the numbers completely prove that the nation is far better off in ALL income levels and employment.

The survey actually should be titled something like "Many kids try variety of sports, before settling to continue on by age 11".

The fact is almost all parents have their kids try different sports and some stick and some don't.  For an example, my two boys.  Older played baseball, basketball and soccer.  Played baseball through 12U and quit.  Played basketball for two years in a league (NJB) and quit - still plays pickup all the time. Played soccer from U6 and still playing for college.  Younger son, played baseball and quit at 10U (LL/AA), and soccer from U6 to current (Senior in HS/U19).

In both kids case, based on their choice of sports, the fallen off sports can be considered "quitting sports" based on the study because they no longer continued.

Do kids quit - absolutely.  I'm certain parents push kids that really don't like or have no interest in playing into some sports early on.  So if you take the entire population base and say how many quit, yeah a very large number will.  But one doesn't need a study to know that, right?

What would be more meaningful is of those that committed to a single sport, how many quit when and why.  In my personal experience and friends kids through multiple youth sports,  there is a drop off starting around early puberty.  The drop off stabilizes through puberty and towards the end of it, there is another large drop.  I think one can explain some of it to two key factors:

1) early puberty causes large physical size and strength differences between kids and some late bloomer simply get tired of being beaten up and "man handled"; consequently, lose their desire to play and is no longer a fun activities so they quit.

2) later puberty causes life to happen to them.  Growing up introduces other aspects of life that many kids find more important to them and because those who are still playing are dedicated, many simply do not want to put the effort into any given sport.

It appears to me that the title is bit misleading and the underlying assumption lacks some key aspects.   If they covered these points, then I didn't read the article close enough - my bad.   It just appears that the data analytics people got a hold of the raw data and provided their interpretation based on trends, then fit some surface level research as a substantiation for their outcome....


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## Supermodel56 (Aug 14, 2019)

mirage said:


> The survey actually should be titled something like "Many kids try variety of sports, before settling to continue on by age 11".
> 
> The fact is almost all parents have their kids try different sports and some stick and some don't.


Actually, that’s a great point, it’s possible it was a lot easier before to play multiple sports as a kid, but now, kids may be selecting one over another due to more demanding time commitments as well.  Parents complain about not getting enough for their sky high club fees and so clubs increase training days, etc... kids can’t do two sports anymore...

I also wonder if eSports is a factor as well... I know it sounds ridiculous and yes, I know it’s not an actual sport in the physical sense - but is there an actual shift in mindset where parents and kids consider that as a legitimate alternative?


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## MWN (Aug 14, 2019)

Supermodel56 said:


> I also wonder if eSports is a factor as well... I know it sounds ridiculous and yes, I know it’s not an actual sport in the physical sense - but is there an actual shift in mindset where parents and kids consider that as a legitimate alternative?


I know my kid does ...


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## redhood (Aug 14, 2019)

I will smack any parent upside the head that allows their preteen to quit sports to stay at home and play eSports.


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## outside! (Aug 14, 2019)

mirage said:


> There's a huge difference to the positive, in terms of economy in USA.  We are so much better now than then.  Without getting into Presidential. politics, the numbers completely prove that the nation is far better off in ALL income levels and employment.


Which numbers? There are many that would disagree with plenty of numbers. Having said that, the detailed discussion would be for the off topic forum, where I never go.


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