What kids gain—and lose—in youth sports
Sociologist Chris Knoester answers alumni questions about confidence, pressure, rising costs and why fun still matters most for young athletes
Professor Chris Knoester played many sports growing up, basketball and baseball at Calvin College, and basketball professionally overseas for a time. He regularly surveys parents to measure their attitudes on sports.
Youth sports aren’t just where kids learn how to dribble, pass and compete. They can also be integral in developing confidence, friendships and lifelong skills. But while youth sports are bigger than ever, kids are dropping out like never before—at a 60 to 70 percent rate before adulthood. Why? And can we change it?
Chris Knoester is a professor of sociology, research chair for the Ohio State Sports and Society Initiative and a research fellow with the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport. He is also the principal investigator of the National Sports and Society Survey, a landmark work that focuses on patterns of sports involvement and their links to well-being. Here, he answers alumni questions.
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What are some positive and negative impacts to kids when they play sports? — Jose Blanco ’04
People believe that sports build character, improve health, improve academic performance and enhance social status. We have found evidence to support these beliefs, and that sports can nurture social relationships and be great fun. But sports are also rife with mistreatment and abuse, health risks and even negative associations with mental health. Thus, sports have the potential to do amazing things—both positive and negative. A lot depends on how sports are offered, directed, supported, safeguarded and celebrated.
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Why is the dropout rate for youth sports so high? Are the contributing factors child- or parent-related? — Dennis McCarley ’74
The dropout rate for youth sports is concerningly high. We find that up to 70 percent of kids drop out by age 18. When asked, far and away the most common reasons given are: “not having fun” and “not a good enough player.” We interpret these results, and similar findings, as reflections of adult-focused sport organizing that tends to emphasize winning, becoming a standout athlete and inclusion and playing time on teams being heavily linked to athletic excellence. Of course, high costs, injuries and other interests and demands are also frequently cited reasons for dropping out.
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As a sociologist, I am interested in your insight into the motivation of modern parents who put such an emphasis (often over academics) on sport success and accomplishments. — Jessica Mantini ’03, ’12 MS
This is a worrisome issue. On the one hand, sports participation can be great fun, improve health and well-being, build character, nurture social interactions and relationships, and offer social status and the pursuit of excellence, with associated rewards. Yet, as you suggest, the time, effort and costs for training and especially higher levels of competition generally seem to be astronomical. Economists note that working a minimum wage job offers a far better return on at least financial investments.
But many parents and children love sports, want to pursue their athletic dreams, and are willing to invest countless hours, money and efforts to do so. A number of parents also seem to have unrealistic expectations: We have found one-third think their kid is at least somewhat likely to become a small college athlete, over a quarter think a college scholarship is similarly possible, and one-sixth indicated that it was at least somewhat likely that their child would become a professional or Olympian. Only about 7 percent of high school athletes achieve any of these statuses.
But parents and their children are seemingly willing to do almost anything to pursue athletic dreams. Part of it seems to be that parents not only want great things for their children, and commonly love sports and watching their children play, but also they view their child’s achievements as evidence of the quality of their parenting. They are willing to go to almost any length to help their children pursue success—especially in athletics. Relatedly, there are many social benefits that accrue to accomplished athletes and even our educational institutions reward athletic excellence. So shifting justifications commonly occur.
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Are youth sports participants more successful later in life? — Chad Gibson ’97 MCRP
Interesting and important question. We have found that youth sports participation appears to nurture the development of grit into adulthood. Also, it is associated with socioeconomic measures of success such as employment status, personal income, social class and job satisfaction. We find that playing youth sports continually predicts better mental health in adulthood, but playing and dropping out is actually associated with worse mental health than that experienced by those who never play.
Generally, participation is associated with quite a few positive outcomes—but it is tricky to disentangle the extent to which that is because of the types of people who thrive in youth sports vs. the value added by sports participation.
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Has the focus on college recruitment and rising costs led parents to become more involved in their athlete’s experience? — Beau Bollinger ’06
These factors definitely seem to matter. We traced rises in parents’ involvement in their children’s sports across generations. In part, it seems to be a function of increased parenting expectations, the commercialization of sports, the rise of a youth sports industry, and apparent payoffs for athletic success in terms of social status, celebrated achievements, preferred admissions to college, and opportunities to pursue even more highly rewarded collegiate, Olympic or professional dreams.
Parents recognize that if they do more, they can aid their children’s chances for success. Also, if they invest so much time, money and energy, they expect returns on those investments in terms of a child’s effort, opportunities, positive consequences and some measure of success.
