Most of the general population in the world are not and never will be national champions. When thinking about national championships, the most common ones thought of are those within the NCAA & respected professional leagues. What about those who win as children? The thirteen-year-old team that just won the Little League World Series? The sixteen-year-old AAU volleyball team that just won their age division at the national championship tournament?
Essentially, a lot of people’s experience in sport begins when they are very young, often before they are five. Youth sport is one of the most influential pieces that the sport industry as a whole has to offer. It impacts how kids will view sports for the rest of their life. Some children get involved and instantly find their niche and fall in love. For others, it takes a couple sports to find where they fit in best. However, some people just don’t find a place where they fit in because it is not their thing, or an outside source has made them not want to participate.
How Youth Sport is Organized
To fully see how youth sports impact the kids it serves, it is necessary to see how it is organized. Primarily, most of the coaches for these youth sport organizations are parents of the kids on the team or volunteers. These coaches are not paid and strictly work on a volunteer basis. Sports has clearly been a huge impact on their lives, and they feel the need to make an impact in the life of the next generation and how they view sports. Sometimes, parents just volunteer to fill the need of the spot for a head coach, but whether they know it or not, they are making a different in these kid’s lives and how they view sports.
Parents in Youth Sport
Subsequently, these parents that devote their time to helping kids may also be the downfall of these kids and their love of the game. Parents are a large part of how kids view the game. Oftentimes, kids fall in love with the game, but end up hating it due to the pressure that they receive from their parents mostly, with the help from the pressure to succeed for academic scholarships. Parents want their kids to succeed and a lot of the time they push them to a level that they could not achieve at that age. Parents always want their kids to be better than they were or would ever be. Because of this notion, parents push their kids to wild lengths so that they can succeed. A lot of the times, the kids want to play just because they love the game and want to play the game. However, parents push these kids to play so that they can succeed in athletics and subsequently in everyday life.
Less Youth Participation in More Than One Sport
Another thing that impacts the industry of youth sports is the fact that kids are playing less sports competitively. For example, someone might start playing four sports but by the time they get to high school, it is only down to one or two. Many kids decide to specialize in one sport earlier on for many reasons. One reason for this is the notion that they will receive a scholarship for playing this specific sport. Kids start playing more than one sport and eventually will decide to stick with the one that they are the best at. Eventually, this sport becomes a year-round job for these kids. The pressure of playing this sport wears on the kids. In order to become better at their sport, kids decide to play club sports. Club sports, such as AAU, are sports teams that travel to different tournaments in order for this kids to compete against the best players in the game. Some kids may still compete in many different sports in their high school, but when it comes time for club sports season, they are only focused on their chosen sport. Club sports often pose a financial difficulty for parents who want their kids to succeed in sports. Club sports can create a financial barrier to kids from lower income families because these families cannot always afford to pay for hotels, meals, and the cost of travel as well as the entry fees to the tournaments.
Premature Injuries in Youth
Youth sports can also lead to a ton of premature injuries due to overuse and stress on such a young and undeveloped body. These days, kids are tearing their ACL’s and other ligaments in their knee much younger than usual. Since kids are getting hurt a lot younger and continuing to play their sport, the chances of them getting hurt again, oftentimes with the same injury, are much higher. Sometimes it gets to the point where kids have been injured so badly that they are forced to stop participating earlier, which ruins their chance to compete for a college scholarship or even a chance to play a sport they love.
While youth sports are a critical part of the growth the next generation of young athletes, these issues bring into question is it really worth it? Is it worth causing permanent damage to one’s body to play a sport that likely won’t last after high school? Is choosing more than one sport dangerous to the development of young athletes? These are all critical questions to consider when thinking about the future of youth sports and how they will progress in the near future.
Coleman Ware 