Playing youth t-ball or joining your first soccer team when you were 9 years old used to be fun, beginner level experiences for kids to be exposed to the fun of learning how to play a specific sport. You used to join a rec league for a season and then if you wished, could try another sport the next season. Youth sports have changed quite a bit in the past 20-30 years and now kids are starting to play organized team sports as young as 3 or 4 years old and picking a sport to specialize in and play year round by the end of elementary school with special private coaching and using the best pitching machines and batting cages during the winter, for example. The level of intensity for youth sports is the same as it was for high school and even some college athletes 25 years ago and this is leading to a host of new problems.

One of the biggest changes is the age at which children are now signed up for sports. Not long ago, the youngest age usually, was around seven or eight years old to play soccer and ten or eleven years old to try basketball. Now it is sometimes still in diapers for soccer and kindergarten for basketball. Most of the kids at these little ages don’t have neither the physical coordination nor the attention span to be able to handle an hour long sports practice. Because of this, children quit a sport earlier because it was too hard for them.

Kids are also being told that they have to specialize and focus on one sport by the time they are 10 years old in order to get an athletic scholarship to college. This has increased stress related injuries in a lot younger ages as a result of overuse on their growing bodies. The overuse on the kids physically and mentally has caused a whole generation of kids that totally burn out by the time they are teenagers which is a real shame.

This more intense level of athletics at a younger age is also experienced by their coaches and the parents as well. There have been so many parents that got caught up in their children’s games or competitions that they cause problems with their inappropriate behaviors and must be told to leave. Because of this, the majority of schools and youth leagues now require parents to sign a contract saying they will act appropriately. Coaching has also become more demanding for children. In the past a parent would volunteer to coach and that was much appreciated. Now parents are hiring private coaches and personal trainers to have their kid to be the best athlete ever. The amount of money parents now spend on their children’s athletic pursuits is sky high.

Maybe, people will realize that kids need to be kids and don’t need the physical or mental stress that is being put on them in their sports by their coaches and parents.

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