The Various Ways Kids Sports Have Changed and Why Less Teens Are Involved in Sports Today
Playing youth t-ball or joining your first soccer team when you were 9 years old used to be fun, beginner level experiences for kids to be exposed to the fun of learning how to play a particular sport. You used to try a recreational league for a season and then if you wished, could try a different sport the next season. Youth sports have changed quite a bit in the past 20-30 years and now children are beginning to play organized team sports at the ages of 3 or 4 years old and choosing a sport to specialize in and play year round by the end of elementary school with special private coaching and using the best pitching machines and batting cages in the winter, for example. The level of intensity for youth sports is the same as it was for teen atheltes and even some college athletes 25 years ago and this is causing several new problems.
One of the greatest differences is the age at which kids are encouraged to play sports. Not long ago, the youngest age usually, was around seven or eight years old to try soccer and ten or eleven years old to try basketball. Now it is sometimes still in diapers for soccer and kindergarten for basketball. Most of the kids at these little ages do not have neither the physical coordination nor the mental capacity to be able to handle an hour long sports practice. Due to this, children quit a sport very young because it was too hard for them.
Children are also being told that they have to specialize and focus on one sport around the age of 10 years old to be able to get an athletic scholarship to college. This has increased stress related injuries in much younger ages as a result of overdoing it on their still developing bodies. The overuse on the kids physically and mentally has created an entire generation of youth to completely burn out by the time they are teenagers which is so sad.
This more intense level of athletics at a younger age is also seen by the coaches and the parents as well. There have been so many parents that got caught up in their children’s games or competitions that they cause problems with their inappropriate behaviors and must be told to leave. Because of this, the majority of schools and youth leagues now require parents to sign a contract for acting in a well mannered way. Coaching has also become much more intense for kids. In the past a parent would volunteer to coach and that was much appreciated. Today parents are hiring private coaches and personal trainers to have their kid to be the best athlete ever. The Financial investment parents put into their children’s athletic endeavors is huge.
Maybe, people will realize that children need to be children and do not need the physical or mental stress that is being placed upon them in their sports by their coaches and parents.
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