PARADE REPORTS: INTENSE PRESSURE CAUSES YOUNG SPORTS PLAYERS TO DROP OUT IN RECORD NUMBERS
New York, August 4 – “If I had to sum up the crisis in kids’ sports,” J. Duke Albanese, Maine’s former commissioner of education, tells PARADE for this Sunday’s issue, “I’d do it in one word – adults.”
“There is a terrible imbalance between the needs kids have and the needs of the adults running their sports programs,” says Dr. Bruce Svare, director of the National Institute for Sports Reform. “Above all, kids need to have fun. Instead, adults are providing unrealistic expectations and crushing pressure.” As a result, Svare says, 70% of America’s children are abandoning organized sports by age 13. Svare’s own call to action is to fundamentally rethink the way children play organized sports.
According to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) statistics, fewer than 2% of high school athletes will ever receive a college athletic scholarship. Only one in 13,000 high school athletes makes it to the pros. But these statistics don’t deter some parents of young athletes who are willing to do whatever it takes to help their children become professional athletes. Additionally, prepubescent athletes are experimenting with performance-enhancing drugs. And doctors are reporting sharp spikes in injuries caused by year-round specialization in a single sport at an early age.
Many communities are currently instituting changes in children’s sports. In Maine, educators, student athletes and others have teamed up to launch a counterrevolution called Sports Done Right to radically remake Maine’s youth sports culture and provide a model that the rest of America might emulate. Other states are following suit. School officials in Connecticut are concerned about the toll of too much focus on a single sport, so they have instituted a statewide ban on students playing on a private travel team during the same season they play their sport in high school. In Florida, after facing a rash of violent behavior by sports parents, the Jupiter-Tequesta Athletic Association requires parents to take an online course on how to behave at their children’s athletic events.
Fixing the crisis in kids’ sports begins at home. Some tips from Sports Done Right to get parents started:
• Encourage your child, regardless of his or her degree of success of level of skill.
• Ensure a balance in your student athlete’s life, encouraging participation in multiple sports and activities while placing academics first.
• Emphasize enjoyment, development of skills and team play as the cornerstones of your child’s early sports experiences while reserving serious competition for the varsity level.
• Leave coaching to coaches and avoid placing too much pressure on your youngster about playing time and performance.
• Be realistic about your child’s future in sports.
• Be there when your child looks to the sidelines for a positive role model.
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