• by Jon Last , Columnist, November 12, 2024

When I was a kid, back in the days when we walked uphill both to and from school, youth sports was very different.   The neighborhood kids and I would spend our after-school time playing many different sports in the street.

Spring and summer were for stickball.  Parked cars and manhole covers were often bases.  Approaching traffic was an immediate stoppage of play.  The cranky neighbor’s front stoop was a home run. 

When the leaves started to turn, it was time for football, and colder weather meant it was time to bring out the hockey nets.    And while coaches and organized youth leagues and teams filled in the gaps, they didn’t take on prominence until the middle school years, when most of us were multiseason and multisport athletes.

Today, greater professionalism in the administration of formal national programs has brought about greater levels of participation in kids’ sports.  In an era of helicopter parents, unsupervised street sports are few and far between.

In fact, recent research shows a growing emphasis on single sport specialization.  A majority of adults under age 45 agreed with the statement, “I believe that kids today are better served by focusing on one sport rather than participating in multiple sports.”

The agreement is most acute among adults age 35-44, where 60% agree.  Fifty-six percent of tomorrow’s youth sports parents, adults under age 25, agree.   It’s only the older age groups where just slightly less than a majority agree that specialization is in a child’s better interest.

There are a number of factors contributing to this phenomenon.  There has been plenty of data that speaks to kids' lack of leisure time, even though that seems to have abated somewhat in our post-COVID, hybrid work environment.  Perhaps most prevalent is a pervasive concern about children’s welfare.  In June, we asked Americans to indicate which generation of American children had it tougher overall.  Less than a third responded that it was their own generation, with nearly seven in ten saying it was today’s children.  Delving deeper into the reasons why, respondents cited safety concerns and the challenge of promoting healthy social interaction among kids.

I would also suggest there's a heightened need to achieve and to stand out from the crowd in a hyper-competitive battle for admission to selective colleges -- creating that suburban parent we all know, who believes their child is going to turn pro at age eight after hitting his or her first home run (or four-base error).

All this creates an interesting series of marketing challenge for youth sports organizers looking to create appeal and engagement for the single-sport-oriented family at an early age, while also providing a safe and inclusive environment for those that aren’t quite ready to sign their NIL deal yet.