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Post by tiger46 on May 10, 2017 7:55:24 GMT -6
changingthegameproject.com/why-kids-quit-sports/Virtually every single issue addressed in this article can be fixed by a coach. Unfortunately, I have been surrounded by youth coaches who do everything they can to FURTHER these issues. I am not trying to be disrespectful of the OP but this thread, in and of itself, shows what is wrong with youth sports. It'd be nice to see a Youth Football thread entitled "How Do I Maximize All Of The Kids' Playing Time?". Something else from that guy. Occasionally, you want to check your source. Specifically, 4:50 > 5:20. Just a bit hypocritical, IMO. Most youth coaches (especially football coaches) don't expend their time and effort on coaching " elite youth <insert sport here>" or, elite anything else. First; not one of my kids could play soccer worth a sh1t. So, basically, this guy wouldn't even give them the time of day- except for the amount of time it would take him to tell them they aren't good enough to play for him. Secondly, if my worst player is only marginally worse than my best player, it's pretty easy for me to be really impartial about playing time, etc... I don't know of any sport activity- or, even the activity of general sports participation- that can withstand a 70% attrition rate and still survive as an activity. I won't even bother ripping up everything else that guy states or says. I can't believe that there are people that even get suckered in by that kind of BS. ROFL!
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Post by mahonz on May 10, 2017 9:01:57 GMT -6
changingthegameproject.com/why-kids-quit-sports/Virtually every single issue addressed in this article can be fixed by a coach. Unfortunately, I have been surrounded by youth coaches who do everything they can to FURTHER these issues. I am not trying to be disrespectful of the OP but this thread, in and of itself, shows what is wrong with youth sports. It'd be nice to see a Youth Football thread entitled "How Do I Maximize All Of The Kids' Playing Time?". Something else from that guy. Occasionally, you want to check your source. Specifically, 4:50 > 5:20. Just a bit hypocritical, IMO. Most youth coaches (especially football coaches) don't expend their time and effort on coaching " elite youth <insert sport here>" or, elite anything else. First; not one of my kids couldn't play soccer worth a sh1t. So, basically, this guy wouldn't even give them the time of day- except for the amount of time it would take him to tell them they aren't good enough to play for him. Secondly, if my worst player is only marginally worse than my best player, it's pretty easy for me to be really impartial about playing time, etc... I don't know of any sport activity- or, even the activity of general sports participation- that can withstand a 70% attrition rate and still survive as an activity. I won't even bother ripping up everything else that guy states or says. I can't believe that there are people that even get suckered in by that kind of BS. ROFL! 7 out of 10 quit youth sports? Not in my neck of the woods. Sokker has and is still exploding by leaps and bounds at all levels. The jurisdictions cant build facilities fast enough. Curious where he got that info.
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Post by Chris Clement on May 12, 2017 19:16:53 GMT -6
Not sure if it's an accurate number but it's one that's been thrown around a lot. Youth sports in general don't carry over many players to the "next level." There are lots of reasons for that, of course.
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Post by coachcb on May 15, 2017 10:14:56 GMT -6
Not sure if it's an accurate number but it's one that's been thrown around a lot. Youth sports in general don't carry over many players to the "next level." There are lots of reasons for that, of course. I was a TA for a sport psychology professor in college who conducted a massive, nation wide survey on kids and sports back in the mid 2000's (I can't find the article to save my life). His results showed that 75% of kids quit by the age of 14. He had the kids list the reasons why they quit and the top reason was the same as the YSSA study: the kids weren't having fun anymore. Now, there's a lot that plays into that reasoning but there are certainly things that we can do, as coaches, to make the game more enjoyable for the kids. One of them is making sure that kids that practice hard get playing time. I keep hearing people say this is nothing more than a "participation trophy" but that's bullchit. We live in a society where we tell adults that the only thing that pays off is hard work and dedication. So, what's the pay-off for a kid that works hard and doesn't play? Watching his "team" win while he rides the pine? That would certainly be a good reason for me to quit. I still struggle with this as a varsity coach. It's tough when you have kids who have lifted and worked hard at practice but aren't your "best 11". So, we have always worked them in as we can during a game. You'd be amazed what a "lesser" athlete can do if you limit their responsibilities and coach them up. I am hoping to have a seven DL rotation in this year and possible a five-six DB rotation, depending on who's busting a--.
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Post by jrk5150 on May 15, 2017 12:46:03 GMT -6
I personally agree with your suggestions, but still not really buying the underlying premise around why kids drop sports by 14 without seeing more details on the studies.
I honestly just can't get by my thinking that you aren't going to get good self-awareness data from kids, given both my experience with kids (these are the same kids who can't tell you why they step with their left foot first after being told every damn time to step with their right foot first), and my expertise in the area of adult motivation and performance, where you don't even ask such things directly because you know you cannot trust the result. But somehow, we're supposed to just accept what kids say at face value?
Let's look at "having fun". Just off the top of my head, if I say I'm not having fun, it could be because of a bunch of things - my coach is a jerk, my team sucks and we keep losing, I suck, or I don't really know but hey, "not having fun" was offered as a choice and that sounds like it's not going to get me in trouble...
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Post by coachcb on May 15, 2017 13:41:14 GMT -6
I personally agree with your suggestions, but still not really buying the underlying premise around why kids drop sports by 14 without seeing more details on the studies. I honestly just can't get by my thinking that you aren't going to get good self-awareness data from kids, given both my experience with kids (these are the same kids who can't tell you why they step with their left foot first after being told every damn time to step with their right foot first), and my expertise in the area of adult motivation and performance, where you don't even ask such things directly because you know you cannot trust the result. But somehow, we're supposed to just accept what kids say at face value? Let's look at "having fun". Just off the top of my head, if I say I'm not having fun, it could be because of a bunch of things - my coach is a jerk, my team sucks and we keep losing, I suck, or I don't really know but hey, "not having fun" was offered as a choice and that sounds like it's not going to get me in trouble... The study my professor allowed the kids to write in the reasons why they quit. He looked for reoccurring phrases and words, coded them and ranked them. He came up with a firm list of thirty five reasons why the kids quit and "not having fun' was #1 while losing games was #22, if I remember correctly. He sent out thousands of surveys and got a pretty cross-sectional view of the subject. It was a massive undertaking on his part; he sent out thousands of surveys, all across the country. He's done quite a few studies on the subject but I cannot find them. I will email him and see if he'll send me the links to the journal articles. But
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Post by Chris Clement on May 15, 2017 14:57:28 GMT -6
Ok but the question isn't why but rather whether and it seems pretty clear that a majority of youth sports players do not continue playing.
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