Impact of pandemic on specific sports/age groups?

[Anonymous]

I’m curious if anyone has noticed trends in participation, competitiveness or opportunities in their child’s sport and specific age group after pandemic interruptions?

I’m asking because it’s really obvious in my DD’s sports and age group as well as my HS parent friends’ kids’ sports.

-HS no-cut sports like x-c and rowing: numbers are just starting to come back up to 2019 levels and extra eligibility years discouraged a lot of athletes who were on the bubble of being recruited

-baseball for 8-9 year olds: numbers are way up compared to the age groups older and younger, and the teams that current 3rd graders were on last summer and are on this fall are stronger than older kids. My pet theory is that this age group didn’t have their last year of T-ball so avoiding the boredom of it kept more athletic kids in the mix or open to trying it for the first time in 2021

-gymnastics for 8 year old girls: my DD is in this age group and compared to girls a year older and younger than her, she has very few same-age peers in her team; girls younger than her had a continuous early experience and it seems like that’s helped them zoom ahead. I think closures in my area forced girls who stuck with gymnastics to start pre-team to all over again, even though it felt like they were still progressing from where they had left off at the time.

-swimming in 9-10 age group: Club looks normal but lacks depth in strokes beyond freestyle. There are 1-2 stars but a lot of kids look like they are still struggling to put everything together. Summer numbers were still way down in this age group and kids in their last year of 8&u. I think these kids missed the last year of swim lessons/first year of minis and got stuck on post-pandemic lesson waitlists. Feels like this age group has a permanent hole in it.

Any other sports/age observations?

[Anonymous]

Hmm, interesting. I do notice that my 5th grade daughter's cohorts in soccer and dance are smaller than both the 4th and 6th graders.

I can see it's the same for 5th grade boys soccer.

Can't speak to any differences in skills, though.

[Anonymous]

DS is 10 and I have noticed a lot of this. His age group and the one above in both swimming in baseball have MUCH lower numbers than the younger groups. He does another sports where there are almost no middle schoolers and typically that would be a large group. Those kids didn't have access (for the most part) to their sports for up to a year during the crucial age where they decide whether to stick with it. And where we are I didn't see any attempt at trying to get those kids back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is 10 and I have noticed a lot of this. His age group and the one above in both swimming in baseball have MUCH lower numbers than the younger groups. He does another sports where there are almost no middle schoolers and typically that would be a large group. Those kids didn't have access (for the most part) to their sports for up to a year during the crucial age where they decide whether to stick with it. And where we are I didn't see any attempt at trying to get those kids back.

I’m wondering if you’re talking about tennis? Big participation gap where I am for kids 12-14ish. They didn’t have the chance to get beyond the advanced beginner stage and probably felt “too old” to start over when they came back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is 10 and I have noticed a lot of this. His age group and the one above in both swimming in baseball have MUCH lower numbers than the younger groups. He does another sports where there are almost no middle schoolers and typically that would be a large group. Those kids didn't have access (for the most part) to their sports for up to a year during the crucial age where they decide whether to stick with it. And where we are I didn't see any attempt at trying to get those kids back.

I’m wondering if you’re talking about tennis? Big participation gap where I am for kids 12-14ish. They didn’t have the chance to get beyond the advanced beginner stage and probably felt “too old” to start over when they came back.

Not tennis, but it is an individual sport. One part of it has an age limit of 15, so I think those kids, and parents, figured they were too late and just skipped to the next stage or dropped out altogether. I was speaking with a high school coach of this sports and they said they expect to have almost no team for 2-3 years due to this.

[Anonymous]

Man here I thought you were going to talk about the effect COVID had on College sports - things are still backed up and recruiting sucks. But hey, glad to see younger kids still playing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Man here I thought you were going to talk about the effect COVID had on College sports - things are still backed up and recruiting sucks. But hey, glad to see younger kids still playing!

Not much to parse about college sports! Such a mess for kids in certain HS years who got squeezed out, plus the 2020 college seniors in winter sports. I think in many cases the extra year disproportionately favored college athletes who were 1st years and wouldn’t have had playing time/opportunities that year anyway.

[Anonymous]

I would say the 2012 and 2013 soccer years are by and large weaker. The 2010s too. Don't know why it skips the 2011s...maybe because they didn't miss their whole U9 year

[Anonymous]

My kids are 14, 11, and 8 and honestly I haven't really noticed any major differences relating to the pandemic, expect in terms of marching bands #s for this year's freshman class (lower than usual - probably due to kids quitting rather than do virtual band in 6th grade during the pandemic).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 14, 11, and 8 and honestly I haven't really noticed any major differences relating to the pandemic, expect in terms of marching bands #s for this year's freshman class (lower than usual - probably due to kids quitting rather than do virtual band in 6th grade during the pandemic).

Marching band and band in general is a good point! Definitely hurting for numbers in my school.

[Anonymous]

There was a huge baby bust for any kids born starting in mid 2009 and continuing until the end of 2011 (people not getting pregnant after the economy falling over in Nov 2008).

[Anonymous]

Indoor sports seems to be smaller and the travel teams seem less competitive

[Anonymous]

right, why won't people ever say what the dang thing is.

[Anonymous]

Tackle football is having a resurgence post-pandemic

I think people realized there's a brief window for some of these things and to take advantage when they can

[Anonymous]

I think some people learned during the pandemic that time is precious and running your kid all over the place for travel anything is a fools errand and counterproductive to a good life.