The Heartbreaking Hidden Cost of the Rising Cost of Youth Sports
Yesterday CBS News published a heartbreaking article on the state of youth sports in the United States. The title alone says it all: Game over: Middle-class and poor kids are ditching youth sports.
My intent is not to rehash what the author of this article states rather plainly. So I suggest you read the article first hand if this topic is important to you. However, I do want to highlight the most heartbreaking impacts on youth sports caused by the increasing pay-to-play environment.
5 Hidden Cost on Youth Sports Caused by Rising Cost
The below 5 statements are each direct quotes from the cited article:
- Participation in sports among families earning less than $75,000 has dropped since 2011
- About 7 of 10 children from families that earn more than $100,000 play sports, compared with 3 in 10 from families earning less than $25,000
- Families earning $50,000 or less — or middle- and lower-income households — cited cost as the top reason their kids don’t participate in organized sports
- 1 in 5 parents with a kid in sports believe it will lead to a college athletic scholarship, but only 1 in 10 will get one.
- Some public schools are adding pay-to-play fees due to shrinking or stagnant sports budgets.
What all of this means is that youth sports is becoming more and more a domain only for the elite. This means less competition and less competition means a decrease in quality outcomes for athletes. Not just athletic outcomes either. Less competition also decreases the ability to teach character lessons in emotional intelligence, mental toughness, and resilience.
In short, the rising cost of youth sports will eventually hurt everyone, not just the middle class and poor. This is something I intend to cover more in the future as this is a trend I would love to find solutions to reverse.