Why Kid’s Play Sports
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Quote for our upcoming newsletter is one that I share in every clinic or talk I do, “Kid’s play sports because it’s fun and quit when it no longer is … it’s not rocket science.”
It amazes me how few answers when I pose that question either in workshops or keynotes, of 30 people, a few say “fun” but then I hear a myriad of other answers including winning. This week I will share why kids play sports to piggyback on recent back to back appreciation weeks, the first coaches week to thank all the volunteer youth sports coaches in Canada for everything they do, the second week for all the youth sports parents.
Too often traditional and social media have focused on the doom and gloom in youth sports, yes SOME coaches are abrasive focusing on winning above all else and SOME parents take it over the top on the sidelines, stands at youth sports games but the reality is many are GREAT and without their support kids would not have an opportunity to PLAY a game they love.
Early on in my youth sport coaching “career” as a volunteer, I started asking three questions of the players on my teams and I recommend all youth sports coaches do the same at the beginning of each season they coach
Question 1: Why are you playing X?
Answer? All of the players I asked would say Fun … from 7 year old recreational to 17-year-old AAA players and everything in between.
Question 2: What is fun about X?
Answers?
They varied from early on when the kids were Novice age groups focusing on things like the snacks, pool parties, windups then as kids got older things like working on their skills, making friends, staying in shape to learning life lessons like learning respect from coaches, leadership, communication, work ethic and so forth. Older age groups I also asked them what was not fun and over and over again was the adult criticism (from parents and coaches) when coaches played their favorites (ran short benches) and ride home which I will defer to further post why kids quit sports.
I joke with coaches in clinics, workshops that the first question kids ask when they get in the dressing room is?
What is the snack?
The last question they ask when they leave is?
When do we play again?
Fast forward 25 years and think about the sports you play as adults like slo-pitch, adult rec hockey and what is the first question you ask as the game is over and go to bench or dressing room?
Coach — Who has and how much is the beer? (AKA Snack)
The last question you ask when you are leaving?
When do we play again?
IT DOESN’T CHANGE if we instill the love of the game when kids are young so they love a sport to play and be active for a very long time.
Sadly that love or passion for sport and activity is not there like it was in past due to all the issues that have evolved that has affected today’s generation of kids but we can change it if we let kids PLAY again without criticism, reduce the structure and bring back more free play.
If you don’t believe me and have not had a chance to listen to Amanda Viseks podcast with WOC then I will give you the anecdotal studies of thousands of kids based on her research at George Washington University.
Like I, Amanda asked kids why they played sports, and over 95% stated because it was fun.
She then asked them to define what was fun, and she got many of the same answers I did as well as many others. In fact, she identified 81 characteristics why sports was fun, below are the top 6 reasons;
Trying their best, respect from coaches, get playing time, exercise and being active were all answers I received every time I asked my teams and various of 4 and 5 were getting to meet new friends and having fun as a team so none of these answers surprised me.
At NO point in all the years and all the teams I asked the question what was fun, NO player answered winning.
I know that is the adult’s motivation more than kids but Amanda confirmed it, below are the latter half of the 81 characteristics why sports were fun;
In the bottom ½ of the list (48 of 81) winning was mentioned, but there were 47 other reasons why sports were fun to play.
Few other ones Amanda highlighted also, earning medals/trophies ranked 67th on the list!
July 3rd, 2018 Update – I wrote this in October 2017 where we originally shared the quote why kids play sports. In addition to trophies, note that other least fun activities are playing in tournaments, travel and working with specialty trainers which continues to feed the $15 Billion business model that youth sports have become vs. focusing on the top 5 reasons why sports are fun. The reason I said it’s not rocket science, is one only has to ask kids why they play to get the answers, something I have been doing for many years as a means to connect with my players and also share with parents so all of our goals align vs. adults competing with other adults thru their kids.
Coincidentally, in my interview with Dr. Wade Gilbert (AKA the Coaches Doc) for our inaugural digital summit, his #1 tip what coaches can do so kids love the game at the end of the season is #3 of the reason why kids play sports, is let them PLAY. Due to the winning at all costs focus of travel teams, even when you make the travel team, many kids are victims of a short bench and don’t get the opportunity to do so, no wonder why they are putting up the white flag and 70% are quitting before they enter high school.
AGAIN, IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE.
Please NO MORE participation trophies, if players on competitive sports teams are ranking trophies at the bottom 1/3 of why sports are fun, for recreational or participation only they have no value whatsoever and like my son’s participation trophy from t-ball merely get put in the Toy Story box to be recycled down the road.
The same is going to hold true for the other extreme I came across recently, Rawlings is sponsoring the National Championships of U6 T-Ball.
Has Rawlings lost their minds? Sponsoring a National Championship guaranteeing 4 competitive games for 4-5-year-old kids? Worse yet, in November AFTER even the professional MLB players are DONE for several months. Will coaches commit to becoming the FIRST ever (and hopefully last) World Champions of T-Ball be flying in ringers? Didn’t USA Baseball just roll-out their LTAD model and are they not supporters of Multi-Sport Participation when kids should be sampling as many sports as possible until they reach adolescence?
This only a few weeks after Aspen Institutes Project Play had their 2017 summit and talked about the importance of sampling, free play activities before kids became teenagers? How are programs developing where kids organize their own sandlot games without any adults present? In my new post will share insight from their recent summit.
This has gone viral via social media (thankfully there are other sane adults thinking the same as I am).
4-5-year-old kids should merely be playing, focusing on developing all their fundamental movement skills throwing, catching, two and one handed striking, kicking, falling and getting up and so on NOT traveling to Houston to play 4 competitive games costing their families thousands of dollars. That is one of the reasons why youth sports now a $15 Billion industry in the USA!
Baseball in the US has seen increases in total participation in recent years thanks to MLB’s Play Ball program, and although this may be argued is a means to plant the seed to get in the game early, but there is such a thing as too early and too much and this is over the top.
So if you don’t believe me, you don’t believe Amanda’s research, maybe you will believe the kids. Below is a panel was done at the Aspen Institute Project Play – So when do kid’s get a vote?
Youth sport and free play will never get back to what it was for our generation due to the digital evolution but we MUST find a way to bring the game back to the kids … where it belongs.
Otherwise, the current trends where 70% of kids are quitting all sports by the age of 13 will just continue to get worse.
