Youth Sports Highlight Reel

This New Pediatric Study Explains Why Kids Are Dropping Out of Youth Sports

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By Melissa Wickes
January 29, 2024
2 min

There’s a lot to celebrate this week — like Girls and Women in Sports Day. Universities and institutions across the country are hosting a ton of fun events to get girls more involved in sports.

On the contrary, a new study says 70% of kids drop out of youth sports by age 13. 

Read this week’s Youth Sports Highlight Reel to stay up-to-date on all of the things happening in youth sports this week.

Youth Sports News This Week

1. 70% of kids drop out of youth sports by age 13. A new study by the American Academy of Pediatrics chalks it up to the over professionalization of youth sports — including overtraining, pressure to specialize causing injury, intense competition, and burnout.

2.  Girls and Women in Sports Day (Feb. 8) celebrations this year are sure to be bigger than ever before because girls sports are it this year.

For example, the University of Northern Colorado hosted more than 100 girls for a clinic led by student-athletes from its cheer, softball, soccer, track and field, volleyball, and women’s basketball teams. The wrestling team also joined, due to the recent growth of the sport among girls.

The celebrations didn’t stop there — the Las Vegas Aces honored women in sports day, in partnership with UNLV, with a free sports clinic for girls 8th grade or younger with coaches and players from the aces and handful of women’s teams at UNLV.

University of Central Florida is celebrating with the 2024 UCF Women in Sports Dinner to raise funds for women’s sports teams, as well as the NGWSD Childrens Chilic Feb 3.

Penn State’s celebrations will span Jan 28 through Feb 10, with events including the women’s tennis, swimming & diving, hockey, track & field, gymnastics, basketball, softball, and lacrosse teams.

3. Massachusetts ranks as the third most popular state for lacrosse, due to all of the great lacrosse opportunities it provides. This includes club programs like Laxachusetts, its high-ranking, NCAA Division One teams, and the PLL Boston Cannons. One of the most impactful players in women’s lacrosse, Charlotte North, hails from the Boston College Eagles Lacrosse Team — and her youth camps in Marlborough are very popular.

To read all of the news highlights from this week, subscribe to the Youth Sports Highlight Reel here!

Weekend Wins

1. Congratulations Pelican State Volleyball 16U Blue on winning the 16 American Championship at the Pounders Tournament!

2. Way to go Team Esface Basketball 5th Grade Goers on winning the BullDawgs Dream It Tournament!

3. Top Flight Elite Basketball 7th Graders played UP in the 8th grade bracket this weekend — and won! Nice job, team.

4. Congrats TAV Houston on all of your wins at HPL this weekend!

5. GTS Softball 16U Elite — Gonzalez, congrats on winning the 18u Division at the Perfect Game Burst the Bubble Tournament in Iowa this weekend!

To read all of this week’s weekend wins (and see if your organization was featured), subscribe to the Youth Sports Highlight Reel here!

Resources

1. Dhani Jones and Brian Scalabrine (the White Mamba) Share 7 Youth Sports Leadership Lessons

2. Ins and Outs for Youth Sports This Year

3. How Youth Sports and the Restaurant Business are the Same

The Youth Sports Highlight Reel

The Youth Sports Highlight Reel is the only weekly newsletter dedicated to keeping youth sports organizations updated on everything they need to know to successfully run their businesses. Click here to subscribe and get this week’s issue delivered to your inbox tomorrow morning!