Moving this over from the Proposal Season thread. There is a nationwide participation problem with kids and sports these days. Yet club sports have never been so popular. I'm just curious what others think is the root of the problem? There are really a host of things and probably a combination of these. Do club sports cause too much specialization as well as burnout? Parental pressure take away the fun at a young age? Injury/Concussion concerns? Kids just soft? What do you guys see as the main obstacles in your towns/areas? I'm just interested to see what others think is at the root of the problem of getting kids out for sports.
Student/Athlete Participation
- Thread starter Power_I_82
- Start date
I believe there are several factors playing into this, some you mentioned.
Club Sports are a part of the problem. If a family is not able to or doesn't want to get their kids involved in Club Sports at a young age, they fall so far behind that they can't catch up. I know, people are going to start giving examples of guys that played 1 year of HS Football and went on to the NFL. Those are outliers, and clearly not the normal. This goes for Pee Wee football, Youth Wrestling, etc, not just "Elite Club Sports".
Youth Coaches are another part of the problem. A youth football coach can wreck an undersized and timid 5th grade boy in a hurry. They demoralize these youngsters, they typically fall into a favoritism pattern centered around their own personal friends, and place far too much emphasis on winning rather than development. Development is a very misunderstood term right now because of our Husker Football situation. Player development at the youth level is not just physical skill building. Not nearly enough time is spent on philosophy and strategy. It is important that kids understand the big picture. Simply put, too many youth coaches are focused on winning when their PRIMARY GOAL needs to be to keep every one of those kids coming back every single year. They come back because the understand the sport which helps them fall in love.
Time demands cause a great deal of challenge as well. Summer activities such as Baseball, Softball, 4-H, and scouts will typically get run over by School sports. Weight Lifting, Team Camp, Individual Workouts, 7 on 7, and Y-League Basketball are some examples. Many times the parents are the ones that finally say no more. The parents want to camp and vacation. It amazes me the number of families that take vacation in late July and early August because that is the first time that they had a chance to even think about it.
Household Demographics is another big part of the problem. We are seeing more migrant families moving into our communities. Many of our sports programs are not familiar to them. It is challenging to create a welcoming culture that invites these families into a sport that they are not familiar with while also navigating the language barrier.
Single parent homes fall into this as well. It is a natural assumption that single parents don't have enough money to involve their kids in extracurricular activities. Money isn't the biggest factor here, it is time. The parent that is raising these kids is working full time, trying to cover homework, household duties, and also have a life. It is very challenging to find the time to support even more.
Football related, but Nebraska kids don't grow up caring about Nebraska football anymore. Nebraska football has become nothing more than a pissing post for our fan base's loudest voice. It is mostly negativity and that doesn't equate to kids growing up wanting to play football. It is quite the opposite.
Diminishing numbers are creating a spiral effect in the smaller communities. Because there are only 16 kids out for football, the Freshmen have no choice but to play. There is no JV Football, so all of the 7th and 8th grade boys get to watch their Freshmen buddies get hurt on Friday night. They show up Monday in walking boots, dislocated shoulders, concussion protocol, broken arms, and the rare treat of getting to watch them get hauled off in an Ambulance on Friday night. No, these youngsters are not interested in being thrown to the wolves.
This list could go on and on. It is complicated. I believe the biggest contributor is Youth Coaches.
Club Sports are a part of the problem. If a family is not able to or doesn't want to get their kids involved in Club Sports at a young age, they fall so far behind that they can't catch up. I know, people are going to start giving examples of guys that played 1 year of HS Football and went on to the NFL. Those are outliers, and clearly not the normal. This goes for Pee Wee football, Youth Wrestling, etc, not just "Elite Club Sports".
Youth Coaches are another part of the problem. A youth football coach can wreck an undersized and timid 5th grade boy in a hurry. They demoralize these youngsters, they typically fall into a favoritism pattern centered around their own personal friends, and place far too much emphasis on winning rather than development. Development is a very misunderstood term right now because of our Husker Football situation. Player development at the youth level is not just physical skill building. Not nearly enough time is spent on philosophy and strategy. It is important that kids understand the big picture. Simply put, too many youth coaches are focused on winning when their PRIMARY GOAL needs to be to keep every one of those kids coming back every single year. They come back because the understand the sport which helps them fall in love.
Time demands cause a great deal of challenge as well. Summer activities such as Baseball, Softball, 4-H, and scouts will typically get run over by School sports. Weight Lifting, Team Camp, Individual Workouts, 7 on 7, and Y-League Basketball are some examples. Many times the parents are the ones that finally say no more. The parents want to camp and vacation. It amazes me the number of families that take vacation in late July and early August because that is the first time that they had a chance to even think about it.
Household Demographics is another big part of the problem. We are seeing more migrant families moving into our communities. Many of our sports programs are not familiar to them. It is challenging to create a welcoming culture that invites these families into a sport that they are not familiar with while also navigating the language barrier.
Single parent homes fall into this as well. It is a natural assumption that single parents don't have enough money to involve their kids in extracurricular activities. Money isn't the biggest factor here, it is time. The parent that is raising these kids is working full time, trying to cover homework, household duties, and also have a life. It is very challenging to find the time to support even more.
Football related, but Nebraska kids don't grow up caring about Nebraska football anymore. Nebraska football has become nothing more than a pissing post for our fan base's loudest voice. It is mostly negativity and that doesn't equate to kids growing up wanting to play football. It is quite the opposite.
Diminishing numbers are creating a spiral effect in the smaller communities. Because there are only 16 kids out for football, the Freshmen have no choice but to play. There is no JV Football, so all of the 7th and 8th grade boys get to watch their Freshmen buddies get hurt on Friday night. They show up Monday in walking boots, dislocated shoulders, concussion protocol, broken arms, and the rare treat of getting to watch them get hauled off in an Ambulance on Friday night. No, these youngsters are not interested in being thrown to the wolves.
This list could go on and on. It is complicated. I believe the biggest contributor is Youth Coaches.
Good stuff. I'm more familiar with the youth sports at the Class C and D level of towns. I have heard the stories about the bigger places. I am very glad that our youth coaches coordinate with our high school coaches at the school. They try to incorporate many of the same drills, offenses, defenses, etc. as what they use in jr high and high school. In several cases our high school coaches help with the youth sports. I believe that continuity is invaluable as our kids more through the programs.
My son started youth wrestling as a 1st grader. Mainly because we got a new coach. The other guy had gutted the program in about 3-4 years of coaching. I knew my kid would be fighting me not to go after a few weeks. With the new guy he loves it and has about half the kids in the grade school wrestling. I can totally see how bad coaches at the youth level will deter kids. And to your point when my son started as a 6 year old he was already a year or two behind many of the kids he wrestled. Youth wrestling parents are nuts on a way different level.
Actually, my reference was toward Class C and D level towns.
It is common to see Youth Coaches that either didn't even play the sport that they are teaching, or worse yet they didn't understand the game when they did play. At least someone that didn't play may realize that they don't know so they go learn before trying to teach.
