By Angela Williams Glenn 
We’re pushing our young athletes like never before. Sports are no longer just for a season—they’re all year. That means that sometimes student-athletes are balancing practices, additional workouts and expectations, and games for two different teams at the same time. It’s no longer just practice with the team, or even doing your own work in the front yard with mom or dad. It’s an expectation that you’re signing up and your parents are forking over even more money for expensive additional training, whether that’s private lessons or a personal trainer for building strength and speed.
I’m all for a kid having to work hard and earn their spot; however, not every kid who’s signing up for sports wants to play in college. They may want to play a little more competitively and more often than a rec team, but with the explosion of for-profit youth sports, rec teams seem non-existent after about age 12. For-profit club organizations buy out small-town youth programs, promising to get kids ready for the next level, and those kids sometimes skip playing for their high school teams.
This has helped make youth sports a privilege for those who can afford not just the team fees, but the extra training seemingly required to stay on the “best” teams. And in today’s digital world, there’s a lot of pressure to feel like everyone needs to be on the “best” team.
With that pressure to be the “best” and play for the “best” team, today’s young athletes are facing increased stress and anxiety like never before.
I’ve worked with teenagers for two decades, and I was one the decade before that; with each one, it seems the bar to even participate in youth sports was pushed higher and higher. We’re demanding a lot of our young people. That also explains why we’re seeing an increase in injuries like concussions and torn ligaments that, decades ago, weren’t as common. That means youth sports culture is taking a toll on both mental and physical health.
There is a time and place for high expectations and demands for athletes who live and breathe their sports, or who plan to play in college, but not every child competes with the goal of post-high school play. They want the experience in youth sports we had: to play games they enjoy with their friends, develop a strong work ethic and commitment, and learn how to fail and how to succeed. Participating in youth sports shouldn’t have to come at the expense of our kids’ health.
Sometimes it’s enough to play for the love of the game.
by Carolyn Moore 
by Tatum Marlatt 
by Jenni Brennan 
