Where are all of the Kids?
A look at inequities in American youth sports.
Every week, I read articles on a broad spectrum of topics. As a professor, I feel an inherent duty to stay informed not only on my area of expertise but also on a wide variety of topics so that I can engage my students in the world today.
Some of the articles I have read have a common theme of vanishing youth sports. So, I wanted to take a break from our regularly scheduled program to discuss this issue and consider what we might be able to do to help in this area.
When I was growing up, sports were a constant in my life. Sports gave me the opportunity to meet new friends, see new places, and even grow overall as a person. My brother and I would frequently go to the parks during the summer and easily spend our entire day playing with friends and playing all types of sports like basketball, football, and baseball. As if that wasn’t enough, in the evenings we would then go to a sports practice of either our local recreation league or for the travel sport that we were playing at the time. Sports was just something that we did. It seemed like all of my friends at the time were doing similar things as well. It was easily the epicenter of our lives. To be intentionally inside was so contrarian to the lifestyle that we lived that you would be the outside in most conversations amongst my peers.
I don't want to sound like an old man right now with the “back in my day” speech, but, I do feel some sadness when I look around neighborhoods when the weather is much nicer and I don’t see kids playing. Often, I ask my wife when we drive around our city, “Where are all of the kids?” When I high school basketball, I was able to receive a little bit more insight as to what was going on. The top reasons that I have found from articles and personal experience that have changed youth sports are:
Financial Burden
Social/ Geographical Inequity
COVID 19
Burnout
The Growing Financial Burden of Youth Sports
According to this article, 75% of parents are considering pulling their children from youth sports because of the costs. Some have even stated that they have added an extra job just to be able to cover the expenses of their child playing their sport. One would naturally have to wonder, why would you go to such lengths for a child playing in a sport? I think there are two reasons- 1) because the parent really might believe that their child might have a chance at a scholarship or something beyond or 2) the sports community is so valuable that they believe that it is worth the money because of the life skills it teaches. The danger with the first thought is that we (parents) are putting everything on the child to succeed. The child then is in danger of burnout (more on this later) and even worse, athletic identity foreclosure.
The second argument is more intriguing to me because it is something that I preach in my classes every semester. “Sports are a microcosm to society.” I believe that sports often reflect what happens in our world. Even further, I still hold that sports have some value to them and teach life lessons better than a lot of other tools we have. However, if sports have value, shouldn't we try to provide more avenues to make them accessible to others? The rising costs only add to the game of the haves and have not that often left lower-income groups out.
The article goes on to say that 56% of parents worry that they cannot afford their child playing in sports anymore. On one level, I understand that travel sports were initially intended for elite athletes to gain exposure and play against other top talent nationwide. Those teams are more likely to incur costs that could grow pretty exponentially. My biggest concern is the diminishing availability of local recreation leagues. Where do players who want to just learn how to play the game? Or to have that community while learning the life skills that sports offer. It is heartbreaking to learn this stat and to know that families are having to make tough decisions like taking on more debt so their child can play a youth sport.
Geographic Disparities
In addition to financial barriers, geographic disparities further exacerbate the inequities in youth sports participation. Participation rates are not uniform across the United States, and children living in certain regions simply have more opportunities to play sports than others. States like Vermont, Iowa, and North Dakota consistently report higher participation rates, largely due to better resources, greater community support, and more accessible sports programs. These areas typically have well-established recreational leagues and partnerships with schools, allowing more kids to get involved without financial barriers.
Conversely, states such as New Mexico, Mississippi, and Nevada face lower participation rates due to a lack of resources and program availability. In these regions, the infrastructure for youth sports is often underdeveloped, making it harder for children to find teams or local leagues to join. Additionally, the cost of participation in more affluent areas tends to be higher, and low-income families in these regions may find themselves priced out of the opportunity to engage in sports.
These geographic disparities underscore a larger issue: youth sports in many communities are not equally accessible. While wealthier children in well-resourced areas can enjoy a range of organized sports, many children in low-income, rural, or underserved areas are excluded, facing both financial and logistical barriers to participation. This growing divide between regions reflects a need for policymakers, sports organizations, and local governments to address these inequities and ensure that all children, regardless of their socioeconomic status or location, have the chance to participate in sports.
Pandemic Effect
In 2017, around 58% of youth aged 6-17 participated in sports. We haven’t quite recovered from the pandemic and that number dropped to around 53% in 2022.
It’s no secret that the pandemic caused disruptions to our normal rhythms of life. One lasting effect that I think happened during that time was massive social isolation. Many became comfortable with living life away from others during that time and simply continued once a lot of the restrictions were lifted.
Medical reasons aside, I still so see the impact that the pandemic had on youth sports even today.
Addressing Burnout
This might be best to have for its own post on a later date but I do want to share some of my quick thoughts on this.
We have seen countless studies on how terrible sports specialization is. If you’ve never heard of that phrase before, it is basically where the youth athlete plays one sport all year around. Most of the studies have been done on the physical effects of how it can actually damage the athletes more than help them. To my knowledge, there has not been a lot of academic research on the psychological effects yet. But in most of my readings, it is suggested that specialization leads to burnout among other mentally debilitating effects such as stress and performance anxiety.
Despite what the research says, sports specialization is still on the rise. We still see more and more athletes every year specialize in a singular sport. My guess is that this is one of the main causes of burnout in youth sports.
Where Do We Go From Here?
There is plenty of room for improvement in this space. If you believe that sports bring value to lives and communities, this might be something to speak to your local representatives about to provide more funding in these areas and to shrink the financial burden that some families are going through.
I would be remiss if I did include my shameless plug of the Next Play Project. I am here to help athletes, parents, and coaches discover the purpose of sports on the playing field and beyond the game. This is one of my passions and a huge reason why I decided to go into this business. I believe that sports have a value that transcends the playing field and I want to be able to coach others in finding what that means for themselves.
Last Thoughts
What do you think about the diminishing of youth sports? What ideas do you have on what can be done? I would love to hear back from you!
As always, thank you so much for reading and your continued support!