Participation in Team Sports Trending Down

Participation in what are considered to be popular youth team sports has decreased significantly in recent years, according to a survey by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). Chuck Corbin, in a special to the Ahwatukee Foothills News, reported that basketball has dropped 8.3%, baseball 7.2% and tackle football by 5.4% over the past five years.

Corbin wrote that there has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of youth who are totally inactive. He wrote that inactivity among children age 6 to 12 years increased by almost 25% and among youth age 13 to 17 by 13%. The increased use of video games and fear of injury—as in football—may have contributed to the decline, he said.

Corbin also noted that Michael Bergeron, Ph.D., FACSM, director of the National Youth Sport Health and Safety Institute, and John DiFiori, M.D., team physician for UCLA Athletics, have a different take on the problem. They suggest that the “sense of urgency and parent or coach-driven premature specialization and unrelenting pushing” may lead to early athletic success for a young athlete. Such an approach, they say, and “unsustainable demands” carry the risk of “killing the dream because of injury and/or loss of interest and enjoyment in the sport.”

They maintain that success in sports at the level of youth does not predict future success in team sports and argue that early specialization is often detrimental to long-term athletic achievement. They urge parents and those working with youth to emphasize health, safety and fun, a practice they believe will give children an enjoyable and rewarding experience as well as long term success in sports.