The Current Crisis in Youth Sports

America's New Year Resolution: Fix Youth Sports

My colleagues who study youth sports are - and have been for quite some time - aware of the headline. And, I think we all are aware of it, as we see it play out on a daily and weekly basis in our communities and social media.

But every so often a high-profile coach or athlete will also raise the issue - and then the media shines a light on it……until it quickly fades from the landing page. Recently, former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky was one of those voices who spoke out about the current state of youth sports.

The Business of Youth Sports

Ironically, I came about the story in the Youth Sports Business Report . Yeah, that’s part of the issue - youth sports has become a Big Business. I remember seven years ago when Time magazine did a feature article on the topic ‘How Kids’ Sports Became a $15 Billion Industry’. It is now estimated to be a nearly $30 Billion business. There is certainly money to be made on youth sports. Forbes magazine (yes that Forbe$) even ran a story on ‘Best Practices For Investors Exploring The Youth Sports Industry’.

Before anyone claims that I am anti-capitalism, let’s just pump the breaks and not go down that road. Clearly, there are natural economic aspects of youth sports but ….. I’ll just leave it there for now.

3 Major Issues

Orlovsky’s comments and critique of youth sports focused on three major issues:

1. Oversized coaching egos

2. Unhealthy emphasis on winning

3. Neglect of athlete development

I think we all would - Agree. Agree. Agree. And I don’t think there is a need to expand but there are certainly more issues. I think we all could add to the list … but we know that there is an issue - how do we fix it?

Fixing Youth Sports in America

I posted Orlovsky’s critique on X and Lance Walker, who is heading up efforts in health and human performance at Oklahoma State University, responded: “Let’s get it fixed!”

Over the past decade or so, I have heard several enthusiastic, motivated scholars, practitioners, and supporters of youth sports and youth development in general voice their interest in “fixing youth sports”. These rally cries have from time to time even led to think tanks, meetings, initiatives, etc. For example, the 2014 Summit on Developing the Healthy Youth Athlete: The Public Health Challenge and Opportunity - a decade ago!! Here we are at the start of 2025 … same situation, maybe worse.

The National Youth Sports Strategy

If you are an American citizen, you should probably know that your tax dollars are going toward an entire National Physical Activity Plan, first established in 2010 and then revised in 2016, that aims to increase physical activity in all segments of the U.S. population - this also includes aspects of youth sports. You may also be unaware, but interested, that this also relates to the The National Youth Sports Strategy (NYSS). In the Spring of 2019, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services along with the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition held “listening sessions” to gain input on developing the NYSS. You can view all 6 video recordings of the proceedings here.

The NYSS was released in the Fall of 2019. Download the complete 109-page report here (remember, you paid for it).

…..so whatever happened to the NYSS? Oh ya, just another pretty brochure.

Project Play

This blog on the crisis of youth sports would be remiss without mention of the efforts of Tom Farrey at Project Play, an initiative to build healthy communities through sports. On their Youth Sports Policy and Governance page it is stated well …..

“The best-performing sport systems in the world prioritize mass participation and create basic protections for youth athletes. Ecosystems are interconnected from the grassroots to the treetops. Access gaps are identified and incentives are created for stakeholders to close them. These are key findings from Aspen Institute research on the World’s Leading Sport Systems.”

Indeed, fixing the youth sports crisis will take a socio-ecological approach from the macro-environment to the community to the local organizations to the parents and coaches and athletes. A top-down and bottom-up approach. It’s complex. There are certainly some model programs in the U.S. ….but then the parents and kids go to another sport club or school etc. and it falls apart. As also stated by Project Play “the United States is programs-rich and systems-poor.”

The USOPC and National Governing Bodies of Sport

I do not want to go deep into the overall governance of sport in America but the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and its National Governing Bodies (NGB) are often seen as the “governing” agencies of many sports in America. This system was put into place in 1978 through the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.

On September 6, 2023 a public hearing on ‘“The Future of Olympic and Paralympic Sports in America” brought to light and challenged some of the issues within this model. Tom Farrey was an important voice at these hearings and alongside Dr. Ashleigh Huffman, former chief of sport diplomacy at the U.S. State Department (hmmm.. never knew such a position existed) posted this article summarizing the hearings and adding insights for solutions. The article concludes "We can do better."

It’s Complex and Complicated

Going back to the social media exchange with Lance Walker. Lance asked - What are the top three resources we can disseminate to our state’s club and high school coaches, administrators, and parents to begin the conversation here in Oklahoma?

First, great question. Second, I responded by saying that I was sorta spit balling … but honestly, I would request resources to train and implement coach developers (see U.S. Center for Coaching Excellence) across the state. However, this cannot be done effectively without some sort of policy. I would also get the biggest influencers locally - OU, Oklahoma State coaches etc. to be a major messaging agent for change. We have the knowledge and know-how … but it needs to be implemented successfully and this requires HUGE socio-cultural-political-ideological-behavioural aspects from parents, coaches, etc.

3 Considerations for Upstream Work

This latter (and key) point (i.e. socio-cultural-political-ideological-behavioural aspects) is well beyond my pay grade and skillset. Some good ideas can be gleaned from the area of organizational psychology and leadership. Clearly, getting together “leaders” in youth sports is not working so well.

One relevant read is Upstream by Dan Heath. Across six pages (p 234-239) of the final chapter, Heath lays out 3 suggestions to consider when pursuing upstream initiatives for those who are motivated to solve problems (i.e. the youth sports crisis) and need to overcome the barriers to upstream thinking – those barriers being Problem Blindness (“I don’t see the problem”); A Lack of Ownership (“The problem is not mine to fix”); and Tunneling (“I can’t deal with it right now”). Here they are -

1. Be impatient with action but patient for outcomes

2. Macro starts with micro

3. Favor scoreboards over pills

…to be continued