Hs athletics in decline

[Vini vidi]

Are HS sports in decline due to AAU, travel team sports, etc. know it’s a football board primarily just interested in opinions. Article from last spring showed football participation down 14% in last decade.

[89Falcon]

1 minute ago, Vini vidi said:

Are HS sports in decline due to AAU, travel team sports, etc. know it’s a football board primarily just interested in opinions. Article from last spring showed football participation down 14% in last decade.

Football participation is down 14% in the last decade due to changing demographics and a population base that prefers to play soccer. 

[bullets13]

14 hours ago, 89Falcon said:

Football participation is down 14% in the last decade due to changing demographics and a population base that prefers to play soccer. 

I think concern about CTE plays a role in it as well, although I think your point plays a bigger role. Still, I know a handful of parents who’ve pushed their kids in other directions athletically out of concern for head injuries 

[SmashMouth]

You know what HAS surged in the last decade?  Social media platforms & gaming. I think that has as much or more to do with it than anything. Just my opinion, of course.

[Goslin]

It’s everything mentioned and more.  Here’s another one.  Kids playing one sport and one sport only year-round.  2 different sports my kid played in youth league, the coaches told me that for him to “move to the next level” he’d have to play/practice/train for that sport year-round.  In both instances I told those coaches we couldn’t do that because my son had football.  Both told me that they wanted him for their “Competitive” leagues but if he wasn’t ready to commit to year-round and give up football then he’d have to stay in Rec league until he aged out.  My son was like 9-10 years old BTW.

There’s kids that get locked into soccer or baseball or whatever at 7/8/9 years old and that’s ALL they play.  Coaches/Parents are convinced that’s the way to go which I totally disagree with but whatever.  There’s a lot of kids that could be great multi-sport athletes with one of those sports being football but can’t because mom/dad/trainer/coach are convinced that Jr’s only chance at a scholly to a D1 school is playing baseball year-round for the next decade.

 

[OlDawg]

10 minutes ago, Goslin said:

It’s everything mentioned and more.  Here’s another one.  Kids playing one sport and one sport only year-round.  2 different sports my kid played in youth league, the coaches told me that for him to “move to the next level” he’d have to play/practice/train for that sport year-round.  In both instances I told those coaches we couldn’t do that because my son had football.  Both told me that they wanted him for their “Competitive” leagues but if he wasn’t ready to commit to year-round and give up football then he’d have to stay in Rec league until he aged out.  My son was like 9-10 years old BTW.

There’s kids that get locked into soccer or baseball or whatever at 7/8/9 years old and that’s ALL they play.  Coaches/Parents are convinced that’s the way to go which I totally disagree with but whatever.  There’s a lot of kids that could be great multi-sport athletes with one of those sports being football but can’t because mom/dad/trainer/coach are convinced that Jr’s only chance at a scholly to a D1 school is playing baseball year-round for the next decade.

 

Interesting. Because I’ve read quite a bit of medical literature that actually recommends multiple sports for better muscle growth and injury prevention.

When I was growing up, I played youth football. But, as I got older, my mom made me choose—more because we couldn’t afford to be involved in everything—and she did discourage football over other sports. So, I played baseball and was on the swim/dive team in high school & went with swimming in college before joining the military.

[AggiesAreWe]

6 minutes ago, Goslin said:

It’s everything mentioned and more.  Here’s another one.  Kids playing one sport and one sport only year-round.  2 different sports my kid played in youth league, the coaches told me that for him to “move to the next level” he’d have to play/practice/train for that sport year-round.  In both instances I told those coaches we couldn’t do that because my son had football.  Both told me that they wanted him for their “Competitive” leagues but if he wasn’t ready to commit to year-round and give up football then he’d have to stay in Rec league until he aged out.  My son was like 9-10 years old BTW.

There’s kids that get locked into soccer or baseball or whatever at 7/8/9 years old and that’s ALL they play.  Coaches/Parents are convinced that’s the way to go which I totally disagree with but whatever.  There’s a lot of kids that could be great multi-sport athletes with one of those sports being football but can’t because mom/dad/trainer/coach are convinced that Jr’s only chance at a scholly to a D1 school is playing baseball year-round for the next decade.

 

One of the greatest college baseball coaches of all time, Wayne Graham, made a statement some time ago that he always recruited multi sport athletes over straight baseball players. Said their mentality, toughness and all around athletic abilities were more important than being a baseball savant. 

I have always been about playing as many sports as possible, particularly at a young age. This bull about making an 8 year old play only one sport year round is nothing but selfishness from the coach. Plain and simple.

[Vini vidi]

32 minutes ago, Goslin said:

It’s everything mentioned and more.  Here’s another one.  Kids playing one sport and one sport only year-round.  2 different sports my kid played in youth league, the coaches told me that for him to “move to the next level” he’d have to play/practice/train for that sport year-round.  In both instances I told those coaches we couldn’t do that because my son had football.  Both told me that they wanted him for their “Competitive” leagues but if he wasn’t ready to commit to year-round and give up football then he’d have to stay in Rec league until he aged out.  My son was like 9-10 years old BTW.

There’s kids that get locked into soccer or baseball or whatever at 7/8/9 years old and that’s ALL they play.  Coaches/Parents are convinced that’s the way to go which I totally disagree with but whatever.  There’s a lot of kids that could be great multi-sport athletes with one of those sports being football but can’t because mom/dad/trainer/coach are convinced that Jr’s only chance at a scholly to a D1 school is playing baseball year-round for the next decade.

 

Lots of money to be made off of privatized sports. 
 

[Goslin]

44 minutes ago, Vini vidi said:

Lots of money to be made off of privatized sports. 
 

Oh yeah, for sure.  Those “Competitive Leagues” sure weren’t gonna be free.

 

Every School Coach I’ve ever talked to told me they want multi-sport athletes.  Said they prefer multi-sport athletes for all the reason mentioned above about better overall health and development and also simply because it allows them to maintain a full roster in all sports.  I’ve met more than one parent, on the other hand, who were convinced that their child had to play one sport year round and also play Club league rather than School Ball.  For example, Mom&Dad have had Jr playing soccer since he was 5.  Soccer is ALL he plays.  When he gets to 7th Grade the parents want him only playing soccer in Jr High and nothing else, ESPECIALLY football because it’s “so dangerous”.  Coaches tell the parent that to be on the Soccer team Jr has to be in Athletic period each day at School and part of that class is playing/practicing/learning whatever sport is in season then and in the Fall that’s football.  Parent gets pissed, end up not putting the kid in Athletics in Jr High, and there’s one less talented kid in Athletics.  Stupid but I just saw this very thing play out recently with kids my kids know and their parents.

[Kegger]

Sport specialization and CTE concerns are a huge part of it. However, the culture of living life through Social Media/Gaming has taken hold on the younger generations. Kids just don't love it the way they used to. Athletics are hard work and that just isn't what these kids are interested in. Also many of the goals have shifted towards obtaining offers (for posting purposes) over team success. 

[aki1994]

Not an issue at PN-G. Football numbers are always high. This year there will be roughly 75 kids trying out for baseball to fill 3 teams. 9th grade football this year had roughly 80 kids playing. 

[Vini vidi]

7 minutes ago, aki1994 said:

Not an issue at PN-G. Football numbers are always high. This year there will be roughly 75 kids trying out for baseball to fill 3 teams. 9th grade football this year had roughly 80 kids playing. 

That’s awesome. 
when I first started coaching 30+ years ago now it was not unusual for what would be today’s 4a to run an a,b,c team in jh 7/8 and 3 teams in hs. How many around here run those numbers

[TC2020]

What's not an issue at PNG now will eventually become one if things don't change.  The USA's culture is getting pretty soft - which is why we are seeing a decline in things that are physically and emotionally demanding in this country.