Don't let your kids waste their time on Sports

[politeperson]

@roycroftmom

My kids did just fine in varsity sports. I am able to differentiate between a personal anecdote and a greater social trend.

If the sports were so wonderful for the current 20-35 year olds who churned thru them, one might have reasonably expected them to be in better shape as adults, mentally and physically. Young adults, as a generation, don’t seem more likely to keep up their sports participation, relative to young adults elsewhere. Maybe a less intense program would have been more enjoyable and maintained.

You’re confusing a subset of the population with the entire population.

There is substantial evidence that participation in youth sports is correlated with higher levels of physical activity, lower BMI, obesity levels, better mental health, etc, several decades later. Especially among women.

This can be true of a subset of adults (those who participated at moderate or high levels) while at the same time the overall population of adults is experiencing high levels of obesity, diabetes, etc.

That doesn’t mean youth sports need to be as intensely focused early on as they are in some sports and in some places.