Why don't some kids play sports? Maybe you should ask them
How we can better understand what our sons and daughters are going through with sports, and why some kids aren't participating. It's never too late.
Where are the kids who aren’t playing? It’s a question that gets to the heart of the mission of the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, a national initiative driving to get to 63% youth sports participation by 2030. Right now, we are around 55%.
Last week, when I explored the misleading statistic that 7 out of 10 kids quit sports by 13, I wrote about how parents and coaches can work to fight attrition from youth sports , an issue that persists. Pushing toward the 63% goal, though, perhaps we can better understand which kids aren’t participating in sports and why. It’s a question Michele LaBotz, a sports medicine physician who works extensively in pediatrics, has challenged me to explore during our ongoing correspondence about youth sports.
“I have found that the decision to drop out of sport is often not determined by a single ‘decision point,’ but reflects a process,” LaBotz, the medical director of the athletic training program at the University of New England, wrote to me in an email. “In my experience, this is often the emergence of other priorities that markedly increases the opportunity cost for sport participation, and leads athletes to decide that the time and energy spent in sport is no longer worthwhile. ” We can all better understand what our kids are going through with sports.
Thinking more about that process, and why they are dropping out (or not playing at all), can give us insight to counsel them. While they may decide to stop at some point, here are five tips to help keep the option of playing sports on the table. YOUTH SPORTS SURVIVAL GUIDE: Order Coach Steve's new book 1.
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