Not all kids getting a kick out of sports
YOUTH FITNESS: Researchers say organized athletics aren’t benefiting all children
If you were born in 1965, 1975 or 1985 and played minor hockey, your chances of playing a single game in the NHL were about one in 1,000. Among elite players, only 0.05 per cent made it to the NHL.
These figures, compiled from Ontario author Ken Campbell for his book, Selling the Dream: How Hockey Parents and their Kids are Paying the Price for our National Obsession, spell out some bleak figures for parents who hope to see their children reach the NHL.
For an increasing number of doctors, educators and parents, however, those bleak figures mask an even bigger problem. They illustrate our fixation on organized sports for kids, a system that is deeply ingrained in Canadian society, but one that has a poor track record for producing active, healthy and fit adults. More and more doctors are saying sports are actually getting in the way of efforts to create a more active and healthy population, at a time when inactive children have become a national crisis.
The problem, say researchers, is that organized sports work very well for a small number of kids. Athletic kids are embraced by a system that rewards them with attention, success, strong coaching and enriching experiences. For kids who can’t keep up — or who simply don’t develop as quickly or peak at the right time — the same system can reject them, sometimes creating a lifelong aversion, not just to sports, but to physical activity in general.
Fred Engh, an American educator, founder of the National Alliance for Youth Sports and the author of Why Johnny Hates Sports, says as many as 70 per cent of kids begin playing sports at age five will have dropped out by age 13.
“The No. 1 reason (kids drop out of sports) is it ceased to be fun because of the pressure put on them by parents,” Engh says. “This would lead one to believe that with that bad experience, many kids shy away from physical activity later on in life.”
The problem, Engh says, is that organized sports put too much emphasis on the competition. “Parents maintain control of what happens in youth sports, thus we continue to see mostly parents who run youth sports as if it is the professional level.”
Peter Nieman, a Calgary pediatrician and dedicated runner, says he too often sees kids pressured into sports they don’t feel passion for. The result too often ends with injury and dropouts, not just of sports, but of athletics in general.
“Canadian culture is very driven when it comes to sports, especially hockey,” Nieman says. “But if it’s the adult’s idea more than the kid’s, it’s usually a bad idea.”
There’s no doubt that sports has benefits to many people. The trouble, says Albi Sole, program co-ordinator of the University of Calgary’s Outdoor Centre, is that only a sliver of kids succeed in organized sports. The rest are often left to find their own way into an active life. He worries too few are finding the benefits of simple outdoor exercise such as hiking.
“There’s an incredibly positive cultural narrative around sport. We’re all familiar with it; there’s a lot of talk in the press every single day. We know why sport is a good thing,” Sole says. “When we talk about outdoor activity, when does it come into people’s consciousness? Only when it’s newsworthy. Only when there’s an avalanche. Only when there’s a bear attack.
“There’s nobody talking about the good things because, when it comes down to it, there’s no money to be made. This is not a money business.”
So what can be done to engage those kids uninterested or unsuccessful in sports? Engh says it’s “foolhardy” to think current physical education in schools can solve the problem.
“For the most part, (phys-ed) teachers simply allowing kids to kick a ball around certainly doesn’t do much for creating a feeling for the value of activity,” Engh says. “What school systems have failed to do is require PE teachers to teach the value of activity for the rest of their lives ... from a health standpoint, if not the social benefits sports provides.”
The key, experts say, is exposing children to a multitude of physical activities and letting them follow their interests in a supportive environment. Role modelling and teaching the long-term benefits of activity can’t hurt either.
“Just like food or medication, you have to find the right activity,” Nieman says. “I think if people are ambitious, it’s a good thing, but it should not be pathological.
“If a kid enjoys it, I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep it up their entire lives.”