Listeners answer: Why is high school sports participation down?

With the news that high school sports participation is down nationally for the first time in 30 years, Dori posed the question to his listeners  — why?

Cost, lazy parents, video games

“I think there are three factors that go into that. I think a lot of it is the cost. I know that my wife and I have spent well over $2,000 already for football — with the equipment, and the clothes that go underneath it, and the specialized camps — and the season hasn’t even started yet. So it gets expensive. I think the other thing is that parents have become lazy. My wife and I are very active participants in the gym, we stay very healthy, and we pass that on to our kids because they live by example. I think some parents are lazy, and the kids pick that up, and they don’t want to play sports. I think the other thing is the video games. Our son plays video games, and we have to control that. His grades have even gone down sometimes because of it.” – Mike in Puyallup

Coaches who are not teachers

“I would agree with Mike in Puyallup to a point, but the example about the parents showing the kids that they work out is ridiculous because my parents didn’t push me into sports — I did it on my own. But I think one of the issues that I see is that a lot of the coaches no longer work at the school — they’re not teachers. When I was in high school, a lot of the coaches were teachers, and they would go into classes and recruit kids. Something else is, there are schools out there that, for whatever reason, might fund just varsity and JV — they don’t look at the C-team as a feeder to create a robust program. ” – John in Federal Way

Kids not work-hardening themselves

“I coach varsity football for Lake Stevens High School, and this year we have better numbers than the last two years — however, the talent we’re getting is not as good. I do know that there is the fear of concussions and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy [which can result from repeated trauma to the head]. But I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that our kids are not work-hardening themselves anymore. They spend a majority of time in-house, playing video games. They’re not out riding bikes and jumping off of bridges and falling out of trees. So injuries have been astronomical this year. I have never seen so many injuries in pre-season sports.”– Todd in Lake Stevens

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Serious injuries

“I’ve got two boys playing in a youth football league. And I feel like the kids gravitate to the youth sports because it seems to be coached by parents. Also, they gravitate to youth sports due to fear of serious injuries. We do not want him to participate in the middle school football team.” – Carma in Monroe

Politics and money

“Sadly, the decline in sports participation is for the same reason as many of our social ills — politics and money. It is well known on my son’s baseball team that if you do not play on the coach’s select team, you won’t be varsity, or your playing time will be limited. Also, each player is required to fund-raise to the tune of about $500.” – Gregory in Bellevue

The proliferation of select teams

“I believe there is a multitude of reasons why the sports participation numbers are down. One of the main factors is that kids are not playing multiple sports as much. It used to be that kids would play two to three sports, but now it’s trending down to one, which decreases individual participation by 30 to 60 percent. The second-biggest factor — which I believe is tied together with factor #1 — is clubs/select teams. The for-profit businesses that are training kids from a young age, like 8 or 9 years old and up, are pushing kids to train year-round in a single sport. Kids are also getting more recognition while playing national tournaments, so they don’t need the high school team to get them to the next level as in previous generations of athletes. In Puyallup alone, there are three indoor year-round baseball training facilities, and parents pay thousands of dollars to have their kids there; since so much money is being spent, they want to focus on that one sport.” – Andy in Puyallup

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.