I am preparing for some upcoming talks and was reflecting on how things have changed in youth sports from when I grew up where the one constant as we moved each year due to my father’s work was playing various unstructured, recreation and then competitive sports into my 20’s. I was fortunate to play on so many great teams, with GREAT coaches and team mates in various suburbs of Montreal, Baffin Island, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. The one constant for me everywhere we moved is that I could play (emphasis PLAY) sports in a safe to fail environment unlike what I have seen first hand or heard from coaches, parents and executive members is happening today in all youth sports and it has become a global issue.
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I now have coached many of the same youth sports I played for over 20 years and like many others in the space, I am very concerned about where youth sports has evolved to the point where kids are no longer play kids, it is now adults competing with other adults thru kids.
Below is a compare / contrast summary of what sports were like for me then, and what I have seen first hand as both a parent and coach now.
Then – We played on ponds, streets, outdoor rinks, courts and fields for HOURS on end and the only thing that stopped us was hunger or it got too dark.
Now – Those ponds or outdoor rinks are not available due to global warming,. Municipalities are proposing banning street hockey or other activities as it is not safe or could cause vehicle damage and parents are concerned we can not play unsupervised as we may get hurt, worse yet, abducted by the driver in the white van.
We can’t wrap Kids in bubble wrap, they need to suffer minor injuries like scrapes and bruises so they learn how to get up when the fall down, overcome adversity and develop important life skills when they pursue post secondary education, enter the workforce, get involved in relationships, get married and become parents themselves.
Then – High school sports were free other than the apparel items we paid for but got to keep vs. giving back at the end of the season
Now – High School sports, if they are offered, either are skills based academy programs costing thousands of dollars or require athletic fees due to eroding school budgets
Then – High school teachers who completed degrees in PE would coach our teams as extracurricular activities and busses would be provided for us to travel to away games.
Now – High school sports rely heavily on volunteer coaches as a result of declining PE Specialists and many are given teams because they put their hand up but have very limited coaching qualifications who are unaware of the importance of teaching fundamental movement skills, physical literacy or following the long term athletic development models. Busses are available for away games, but require fundraising or increases in athletic fees as they are $500.00 for inter city trips in the lower mainland of Vancouver, BC to take teams to away games. The alternative is to recruit parent volunteers, who have to sign waivers and are on the hook for their own gas to do so.
Then – Community sports registration fees were only a few hundred dollars and included a lot of the necessary team equipment required to play like bats, helmets, pads, pants.
Now – Parents are on the hook for most, if not all, of the equipment costs and reg fees, team fees, carding fees push community sports well over $1000.00 for recreational programs, several thousand dollars for competitive levels and elite programs 10’s of thousands of dollars annually.
Then – Community sports had two tiers, recreational stream and competitive stream where we played teams within an hour of where we resided
Now – Both recreational and competitive tiers exist, but also “elite” travel teams have evolved where the trickle down effect has rec teams even travelling great distances to tournaments inflating family budgets that are not accounted for in team budgets so it “appears” that participation is much lower than it actually is. If a coach opts for a local tournament, a travel tournament in the province and then one in the USA requiring flights, the team budget goes from $25,000 to over $100,000 !
Then – Coaches were permitted to drive players to/from practices, games, team events, there were no cell phones like there are today
Now – Coaches are not permitted to drive players due to abuse issues that have evolved thanks to the likes of Graham James and mandatory 2 Deep (2 adults) and NO smartphones in the dressing rooms to ensure no videos are posted to social media platforms.
Then – we could walk or bike to our local schools, fields, rinks for practices
Now – Even if parents permitted us to do so, thanks to the phenomena known as free range kids, police and social services are showing up at parents doors and questioning them at length as have received allegations they are not good caregivers if they are letting them walk to school, parks unsupervised.
See below for short clip where Bill Maher interviews Dve Barry and talk about the phenomena Free Range Parenting to permit kids to walk to school unsupervised again.
Then – Winning a banner was a BIG deal that required the journey months before the accomplishment with 2 a day practices, qualifying games and a long playoff run. I will never forget when my summer games team won the gold medal, I received letters from the mayor, MLA’s, MP’s, even the Premier of the province congratulating us for our accomplishment.
Now – Many hockey regional associations have budgets for banners in the thousands of dollars, in hockey alone I estimate 1 in 4 teams can qualify to win a banner reach season and they have for both league and playoffs.
Then – All of your equipment that was not provided as part of your team fees only cost a couple of hundred dollars for most sports, exception being hockey, it always has been costly to outfit players but now equipment costs alone prohibit from parents signing up their kids.
Now – Equipment can cost families over $1000.00 or more per season, and thankfully my son opted to be a player, not a goalie in Hockey, their equipment is twice that of players.
Then – Bats, hockey sticks, tennis racquets were made of wood, skates were made of leather, other protective equipment local materials and much softer padding and limited plastics used today. I will never forget my favorite stick, the wood Sherwood 5030 which was the number 1 selling stick of all time and still a favorite of adult recreational players (AKA beer league) today.
Now – A lot of sports equipment they are made of high tech composite materials and are made in China taking jobs away from Canadian manufacturers and leading to many of the companies like Cooper, Koho, Montreal, CCM, Bauer dissolving or being acquired by much larger conglomerates (Remember Nike-Bauer Helmets, skates?).
Then – parents would cheer for us on the sidelines, praise effort and great plays made by BOTH teams.
Now – The vocal minority (approx. 5-10%) of parents are spoiling the experience for all parties concerned by criticizing mistakes, at times verbally abusive towards players, officials and coaches that is only condoned in youth sports but if people did so in professional sports facilities they would be ejected.
Then – even at the most competitive levels we played for fun, making friends, being active and represent our communities.
Now – Our coaches and parents want us to win at all costs
Then – Our coaches taught us valuable life lessons like respect, sportsmanship, team work, leadership, communication, never giving up
Now – Coaches are more focused on the outcome of each game, will play their “favorites” to do so and are more focused on strategies than they are on technical or what separates good coaches from the great ones who focus on teaching life skills thru sport. Almost every youth sports game I see today I see examples how players do not respect their opponents or demonstrate poor sportsmanship when things don’t go their way.
Then – Parents would not talk to coaches, teachers other than when WE were called into the office as WE were in trouble
Now – it is the other way around, helicopter/lawnmower parents hover and are paving the way for their kids and think nothing of reaching out when their kids don’t meet their expectations as they are concerned they will not be scouted if they are not playing on elite teams when they are 9 yrs old.
Then – we played more unstructured than structured sports and activities for HOURS on end where we developed our skills, creativity and passion for the game itself
In many instances there were no coaches, parents or officials present, we did not have what has become even more expensive uniforms and equipment and we picked our own teams, enforced our own rules.
Now – everything for us is planned to the minute and free play is limited. Organized sports have parents, coaches and officials telling us what to do, when to do it, how to do it not allowing for creativity and development. Many adults involved with youth sports also don’t recognize the main reason kids play is to have fun and as a result of all the various issues that are impacting youth sport today, they quit a game they once loved too soon because it no longer is.
Then – We sweat for months in practices, qualifying games, playoffs to win the championship trophy
Now – kids get a trophy 3X the size we did just for showing up
Click here to read our blog “No Participation Trophies”
Then – sports was fun, coaches were supportive, caring and acted as mentors to prepare for the next level and life beyond sport.
Now – sports is now a career path, requiring us to work in one sport starting at 7 years old depriving us the experience of participating in multiple other sports and activities
Then – we sampled numerous sports including free play at recess, lunch time and after school, spring, summer and Christmas breaks and also spent time with family, getting much needed rest and recovery from competition.
Now – As a result of early sport specialization, many kids are playing less than 2 sports per year and those same periods where we used to have free play, rest, time with family are filled with travel tournaments, development camps
Then – in every one of the recreational or competitive teams I was on, everyone contributed to the outcome where we won tournaments, provincials and even a gold medal in the BC Summer games
Now – coaches rely on their favorites to win games at all costs and many kids are deprived the opportunity to contribute to the outcome of the game, tournament.
PS – 90% of kids would rather play on losing teams than sit on the bench for winning teams
Then – we played because we wanted to work on our skills and be the best we could be, coaches respected us, we got playing time, we got along with our team mates and we were active
Now – We are being told to play one sport year round starting at 7 years old and we suffer burnout, overuse injuries and lose the passion we had to play so we quit much earlier than prior generation did and are inactive in our adulthood
Then – Video games were just starting to be developed
Now – They have evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry where egames is now classified as a sport and kids can qualify for endorsement deals to “compete” and even have world wide rankings like many other sports do
Then – Our active play in or outside was hours per day, only a small % was structured, majority was unstructured free play and the internet, social media platforms was just starting to evolve
Now – the former active free play has been replaced by inactive screen time, kids between the ages of 8-18 spend 7.5 hours a day in front of screens as result of the digital era
Then – Only 10% of kids were overweight or obese, none had type II diabetes and were active for life
Now – Over 33% of kids are overweight or obese, if current trends continue 70% will be by 2040 and now kids under 18 have Type II Diabetes and a myriad of other health issues that is leading to health authorities projecting todays generation of kids may die 5 years earlier than our generation will … the first time in history it may occur.
Then – Kids played multiple sports until they were seniors in high school, then they opted to specialize in one or more sports after they graduated.
Now – 70% of kids are quitting all sports by the age of 13 and many lack physical literacy, can perform fundamental movement skills and are less likely to be active for life
Then – we played For The Love Of The Game, we aspired to be like our role models in professional sports – how many of you remember standing at the plate like Babe, scoring THE goal like Bobby/Gretzky/Lemieux in hockey, Pele in Soccer, downhill ski-racing like Steve Podborski, Ken Reed etc.
Now – We play for our parents who aspire for us to get a NCAA scholarship or play professionally but less than 1% will reach that level.
Let’s work together to bring the game back to the kids – where it belongs.
