Youth Sports and Fitness Challenges Remain
By Ken Reed
Most children stop playing organized sports between the ages of 11 and 13. The reason most often cited by kids is it’s no longer fun. The reason it’s no longer fun? Adults.
There’s too much “adult” in youth sports.
Overbearing win-at-all-costs coaches and parents are driving kids to the sidelines. In 2008, kids’ (6-12 years old) sports participation stood at 45%. By 2021 that number was down to 37%.
“It’s so adult-dominated,” says Tom Farrey, founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program. “It’s designed by adults for adults.” Reform is “a challenge because there’s a lot of money to be made.”
Adults create private sports leagues, camps, travel teams and showcase tournaments that are very profitable for them, but also very expensive for kids and their parents. Many kids are left out of youth Sportsworld because of economic reasons.
According to government data from 2020-21, 67.7% of children ages 6 to 17 from the wealthiest families played organized sports. Only 33.9% of kids from poorer homes participated.
“There are two main issues,” Dionne Koller, director of the Center for Sport and the Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said.
“One [issue] is exclusion and the barriers to entry because youth sport is heavily privatized and it’s extremely expensive and hard to access for lots and lots of kids. For the ones who do get into youth sport, we have another set of problems. Those break down along what is referred to as the professionalization of youth sports.”
That’s right. The professionalization of youth sports comes about due to the win-at-all-costs (WAAC) and profit-at-all-costs (PAAC) mentalities of the adults involved in the industry.
Declining youth sports participation is a glaring societal health problem because research shows fit children are physically, mentally and behaviorally healthier than their unfit peers.
Yes, it goes beyond declining sports participation numbers. The number of physical education classes is also declining in the United States. Some school kids never even have to take a single P.E. class these days.
Recess time is also being cut. Our children are less physically active today in every way, not just in the sports and physical education realms.
American kids rank 47th out of 50 countries in fitness levels.
As a society, we must be more determined, and creative, in finding ways to get children consistently moving more, whether that’s through sports or other physical activities.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #30 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The State of College Athletics with Dr. David Ridpath: Problems and Potential Solutions – Ridpath is a sports administration professor at Ohio University and a long-time member of The Drake Group, a college sports reform think tank.
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Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman. We discuss the state of college athletics today.
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
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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