5.2: Sports

 Physical Activity

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Several children play soccer, struggling for the ball. They wear team uniforms, some colored orange and labeled "Hornets", and the others colored purple and labeled "Cyclones." (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; via Lifespan Development: The Human Journey).

Middle childhood seems to be a great time to introduce children to organized sports, and in fact, many parents do. Nearly 3 million children play soccer in the United States (United States Youth Soccer, 2012). This activity promises to help children build social skills, improve athletically and learn a sense of competition. However, it has been suggested that the emphasis on competition and athletic skill can be counterproductive and lead children to grow tired of the game and want to quit. In many respects, it appears that children's activities are no longer children's activities once adults become involved and approach the games as adults rather than children. The U.S. Soccer Federation recently advised coaches to reduce the amount of drilling engaged in during practice and to allow children to play more freely and to choose their own positions. The hope is that this will build on their love of the game and foster their natural talents.

Sports are important for children. Children's participation in sports has been linked to:

• Higher levels of satisfaction with family and overall quality of life in children
• Improved physical and emotional development
• Better academic performance

Yet, a study on children's sports in the United States (Sabo & Veliz, 2008) has found that gender, poverty, location, ethnicity, and disability can limit opportunities to engage in sports. Girls were more likely to have never participated in any type of sport (see Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)). They also found that fathers may not be providing their daughters as much support as they do their sons. While boys rated their fathers as their biggest mentor who taught them the most about sports, girls rated coaches and physical education teachers as their key mentors. Sabo and Veliz also found that children in suburban neighborhoods had a much higher participation of sports than boys and girls living in rural or urban centers. In addition, Caucasian girls and boys participated in organized sports at higher rates than minority children (see Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\)).

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Two pie charts for children's participation status in organized or team sports, divided by gender. For girls, 69% are current participants, 13% have dropped out, and 18% have never participated. For boys, 75% are current participants, 12% have dropped out, and 13% have never participated. Source: Sabo & Veliz, 2008. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; via Lifespan Development: The Human Journey).

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Two pie charts for race and ethnicity of children participating in organized or team sports, divided by gender. For girls participating in sports, 60% are Caucasian, 15% are African-American, 17% are Hispanic, and 8% are Asian. For boys participating in sports, 56% are Caucasian, 16% are African-American, 16% are Hispanic, and 13% are Asian. Source: Sabo & Veliz, 2008. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; via Lifespan Development: The Human Journey).

Finally, Sabo and Veliz asked children who had dropped out of organized sports why they left. For both girls and boys, the number one answer was that it was no longer any fun (Table \(\PageIndex{1}\)). According to the Sport Policy and Research Collaborative (SPARC) (2013), almost 1 in 3 children drop out of organized sports, and while there are many factors involved in the decisions to drop out, one suggestion has been the lack of training that coaches of children's sports receive may be contributing to this attrition (Barnett et al., 1992). Several studies have found that when coaches receive proper training, the drop-out rate is about 5% instead of the usual 30% (FraserThomas et al., 2005; SPARC, 2013).

Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Top Reasons Children Dropped Out or Stopped Playing Organized/Team Sports.

Reason	Girls	Boys
I was not having fun	38%	39%
I wanted to focus more on studying and grades	36%	29%
I had a health problem or injury	27%	26%
I wanted to focus more on other clubs or activities	22%	22%
I did not like or get along with the coach	18%	18%
I did not like or get along with others on the team	16%	16%
I was not a good enough player	15%	15%
My family worried about me getting hurt or injured while playing sports	14%	12%

Welcome to the world of esports

According to Discover Esports (2017), esports is a form of competition with the medium being video games. Players use computers or specific video game consoles to play video games against each other. In addition to playing themselves, children my just watch others play the video games. The recent SPARC (2016) report on the "State of Play" in the United States highlights a disturbing trend. One in four children between the ages of 5 and 16 rate playing computer games with their friends as a form of exercise. Over half of males and about 20% of females, aged 12–19, say they are fans of esports. Since 2008 there has also been a downward trend in the number of sports children are engaged in, despite a body of research evidence that suggests that specializing in only one activity can increase the chances of injury, while playing multiple sports is protective (SPARC, 2016). A University of Wisconsin study found that 49% of athletes who specialized in a sport experienced an injury compared with 23% of those who played multiple sports (McGuine, 2016).

Physical Education

For many children, physical education in school is a key component in introducing children to sports. After years of schools cutting back on physical education programs, there has been a turnaround, prompted by concerns over childhood obesity and the related health issues. Despite these changes, currently only the state of Oregon and the District of Columbia meet PE guidelines of a minimum of 150 minutes per week of physical activity in elementary school and 225 minutes in middle school (SPARC, 2016).