Survey: Parents Worried About Their Kids Resuming Sports Activities
By Ken Reed
A new Aspen Institute’s Project Play/Utah State University survey revealed that the nation’s parents are increasingly worried about allowing their children to return to youth sports.
Only 53% of youth sports parents say they expect their child to resume sports activity at the same or higher level as before current Covid-19 restrictions were put in place. That figure stood at 70% back in May.
In addition, only 50% of parents now feel comfortable with their child playing local, community-based sports when restrictions are lifted. In May, that figure was 66%. Meanwhile, only 44% of parents of kids that participate in travel and club competitions against teams from outside their city or county are comfortable with their child competing. That number is down from 52% in May.
“It is striking how quickly parents have reevaluated their priorities for their children in youth sport,” according to Dr. Travis Dorsch, study director and founding director of the Families in Sport Lab at Utah State University. “Although parents held high hopes at the initial stages of the pandemic for a relatively quick return to normal, the extension of youth sport-related restrictions into the summer seems to have parents rethinking the widely accepted model of competitive youth sport in America.”
The fact the virus continues to spike in more than two-thirds of the states in the country as we head closer to the fall sports season will only exacerbate parental concerns about youth group activities.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
Sports Forum Podcast
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Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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