“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
While Dickens was referring to London and Paris during the French Revolution, it’s impossible not to draw similarities to the state of youth sports during the pandemic. OK, maybe that’s extreme, but now that I have your attention let’s examine the duality of the youth sports experience in this country.
There’s no secret youth sports have become “big business.” According to a study by Wintergreen Research, the pre-pandemic size of the U.S. market was estimated at $19.2 billion, rivaling professional sports leagues including the NFL ($15 billion). All that money comes from the proliferation of youth sports-related activity; travel, equipment, registration and rental fees, software, construction, advertising, hospitality, broadcast, etc. Improvements to facilities, technology, communications and the experience for players and families have all contributed to the astounding growth. With the rise in popularity of pay-to-play models, markets are expected to reach $77.6 billion by 2026. This is “the business of youth sports.”
Lost in all those billions is the fact that U.S. youth sports exist largely in an amorphous environment within a complicated and confusing landscape. From the 700,000+ member AAU circuit to travel tournaments hosting thousands of teams around the country, this segment is vast, serves hundreds of thousands of kids, and is largely ungoverned (despite calls to do so). So, while most operations shut down during the pandemic, travel teams and private schools were among the first to resume operations with virtually no one to tell them they couldn’t. In many cases, players resumed play and returned to some sense of normalcy early in the pandemic.
The massive growth and privatization of youth sports has also resulted in increased costs for programming and services — costs that low-income families simply can’t afford. The result is an increasing number of kids being sidelined and deprived of critical physical and mental health lifelines. Fortunately, local organizations provide accessible, free programs for young people that provide a safe, fun, nurturing and challenging environment to learn critical life skills and thrive. This is “sports-based youth development.”
Many families don’t have the luxury of spending $1,000 a month or more for their children to play sports. They depend on school-based or after-school programs — most of which rely on access to public spaces like schools and parks, and all of which were shut down throughout the pandemic. These organizations, along with the families and youth they serve, have unfortunately taken the brunt of the pandemic.
The bottom line is that losing access to these programs has resulted in a series of significant consequences for young people across the country. There is a growing mental health crisis of increased depression and suicide rates among young athletes who have lost access to sports. More than two-thirds of high school athletes reported feelings of anxiety and depression at levels that typically require medical intervention. This crisis is even more evident in underserved communities where residents have less access to mental health services.
“When the pandemic hit it was as if we were watching the whole nation’s children having their anti-depressant … or anti-anxiety medication taken away,” said sports psychiatrist Dr. Claudia Reardon on a recent episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, “… because that is what sport and exercise is for so many people.”
In differentiating the “business of youth sports” from “sports-based youth development” programs, I’m not suggesting one is better than the other. I am stating unequivocally that both are important in helping young people develop physically, socially and emotionally in ways more important than ever before. Privatization at the expense of equitable access causes the scales to tip in one direction, and disproportionately affects millions. If we can ensure equitable access to quality programming regardless of age, income or zip code, youth sports could be the primary outlet for healing from the pandemic.
In drafting this piece, I was reminded of our collective COVID mantra, “we’re all in this together.” If all youth sports enterprises and organizations heeded this collective slogan during the darkest moments of the past year, it’s possible that we could now be providing ALL young people access to quality sports experiences. I believe the world would be a better place for it and that it would be an epoch in the history of doing the right thing for kids. I wonder what Dickens would have to say about that?
Keith Gordon is president and CEO of Fight For Children, which harnesses the collective power of youth sports for social good.