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Last year, one of the initiatives in the The Aspen Institutes State of Play 2016 Report in the USA was to incorporate more free play..
This is due largely in part to address the declining participation rates in youth sports the USA and all other countries are experiencing globally, as 70% are quitting all organised sports by the age of 13.
Why ? Because organised sport has become TOO organised. Too much structure and not permitting kids merely to play pickup in practices, throw, kick or catch without fear of criticism from adults (coaches, parents).
The trend, sadly, is continuing where more kids between the ages of 6-12 are dropping out of organized sports.
In 2015, the number of kids participating in youth sports in the USA has dropped to 26.6% vs. 30.2% in 2008 for kids between the ages of 6-12. Similar trends also between the ages of 13-17, dropped from 42.7% in 2008 to 39.3% in 2015.
The majority of organised sports are in decline in the USA over that same period, the exceptions being gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse and Field Hockey that have seen slight increases in registrations. Canada youth sports have seen similar trends, but in our article “Why sports participation in Canada is declining” the sport seeing the most attrition in total participation (youth into adult) in Canada was baseball, almost 50% decrease from 1998 to 2005.
The large reason cited for the sports that have seen increases in registrations year over year, is they have invested heavily in coaching certification programs to develop their youth coaches in the areas of skills, tactics but also Basic First Aid, Concussion Management, General Safety and Injury Prevention, Physical conditioning. According to the research done, the most trained coaches in the USA are in Lacrosse, and thanks to Hockey Canada’s ongoing direction, they continue to set the bar for coaching certification of minor hockey coaches in Canada.
Five different initiatives of bringing free play in the USA that I hope we will see carry over into Canada;
- More and more social and traditional media have focused on the benefits of Free Play including, the Washington Post, Psychology Today promoting the academic, social and sport performance benefits.
Here is a link to article we posted today on Facebook, brief interviews of various people by Aspen Institute Project Play talking about the reduction in free play happening in the USA
How can we get more kids involved in sports?
- Major League Baseball and USA Baseball introduced Play Ball – an initiative to encourage participation in all forms of baseball activities including whiffle ball, stickball, skills competitions like Pitch, Hit and Run, Home Run Derby or just playing catch in the backyard. It is being supported by a huge Media Campaign to reinforce all the various elements of the grassroots of baseball … below is an image from one of my favorite movies where kids played baseball for hours on end; Sandlot.
- New York City introduced Street Games – Bringing back low tech games played in the 60-70’s including street hockey, skateboarding, pogo sticks, ultimate disc among others. When is the last time you saw a pogo stick ? Or kids tossing a frisbee around on a street, beach, park or their front yard ? Playing Street Hockey for hours on end ?
Here is a short trailer discussing the benefits of bring street games back;
I also recall Sidney Crosby fought his former city council when they were trying to ban street hockey as it was “unsafe and caused damage to vehicles” and the social media fallout from that had city council retreat.
Good for NYC to bring back the low tech games … another low tech option that is making a comeback is board games (Remember Monopoly and Risk Marathons) and good old Vinyl Records.
- USA Volleyball introducing the concept of letting kids making up their own games playing on various surfaces (dirt, sand or grass) vs. the traditional, drill focused courses in clinics.
Even with these initiatives, literally all youth sports in the USA still experienced decreases in casual play even though many accomplished athletes like Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan to name a few attribute the reasons for their development in their youth was due largely in part to all the pickup games they played.
What was the key to those casual games?
There were no parents, coaches or officials present. The kids made up their own rules, enforced them, picked their players to make teams. There also was not expensive uniforms, +$300.00 cleats, bats, sticks, matching helmets, gloves for home and away games, tracksuits, warm-up gear and all the other costly items associated with organized sports.
Kids just went out and PLAYED for hours upon hours at a time.
- Sandlot Lacrosse
Lacrosse coach, John Doss, shared in a Facebook group I am part of last year as he introduced “Sandlot Lacrosse” Freeplay Camp, in Clermont, IN, USA.
He told parents to drop off their kids and leave, then he would merely be there to supervise his 12 year old players only from the bench (he admitted hardest thing for him was not to Coach) then told them when to come back.
He felt the goalies benefited most as there was no restrictions to make the save as there was no official scoreboard or game sheets and would take more risks coming out of the crease and at times would run down the playing surface to try and score as well. This I recall all too well watching my brother who converted from player to goalie but would at times run to mid court to take a shot at the opposing goalies in games even though his stick was much, much larger in full goalie gear. I loved to watch him play, now I have the opportunity to do the same watching my niece/nephews as four of his kids play either box or field lacrosse, including my 7 year old niece.
The biggest positive John Doss shared is that all kids had fun, they made their own rules, picked their teams and although he saw a lot of “bad” lacrosse he felt the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks as it was correctable. The other aspect that he loved to see is how they played fearlessly as there was no one correcting their “mistakes” as they tried to execute skills they would at times in structured games hold back from. This is the area that youth sports lacks the most, kids need to be safe to fail, make mistakes so they learn and develop creativity without fear of criticism.
He kicked off Sandlot LAX 2017 a couple of weeks back and roster (total number of participants) was filled in one hour. The boys can again show up, pick teams, enforce their own rules, resolve own conflicts and just play for hours on end with John merely on the bench to supervise (the deal he had to make with parents who dropped kids off and left).
Do any of these examples bring back fond memories of the free play activities you had when you were a kid? They all do for me, and although we will never get back to the good old days, we need to find a happy medium so kids can enjoy sports strictly “For the Love of the Game” again so they ultimately play well beyond 13 years old.
Huge Kudo’s to John Doss and the other initiatives in the USA to bring free play back to the game, this is so desperately needed if we are going to keep kids in youth sports and it’s time for similar initiatives to happen in Canada.
It is our job as coaches to instill the passion, love and romance into the kids so they not only play, but they ultimately play for many years to come.
Let’s work together to bring the game back to the kids.
