Average child quits sports at 11

[Anonymous]

Both my kids quit soccer after first grade. Eventually went on to basketball. My eldest DD will quit basketball probably after this year (6th grade).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate that my kids need to play soccer both spring and fall even in rec to hold their spot on their teams. They’d love to play baseball but we’re not doing both. DH coaches soccer, so we’re even more stuck with sticking it out two seasons.

The field hockey stats are really interesting to me. No idea kids started that young, and it surprises me they stick with it longer than other sports on average. I didn’t start until high school and have seen few early youth programs. Anyone know what’s going on there?

Field hockey for kids, at least where we are in NoVA, is still unique in that most clubs run it with a clinic format. So for instance, my daughter started at age 8 in 3rd grade and they practice once a week for 2 hours on Sunday evenings. The first half of the season is all practice and the second half is a combo of games and practice. It's low stress, low cost, it's fun, and she can do it while she's also dancing and taking piano lessons. She had asked to play soccer but we settled on FH as a compromise because she didn't want to give up her other activities. She loves it and has every intention of sticking with it until she ages out of the club after 8th grade, and will then either try to play in high school or drop it completely in favor of something else.

[Anonymous]

This isn't rocket science.

By age 11, your kid will have been playing soccer for years (one of the few sports you can start playing at age 3), so it is predictable that your kid will want to bounce around or find something else.

You can say the same statistic about Scouts too.

11 yr olds are 7th graders - tons of school activities/clubs, band, chorus, drama reheresal, other hobbies, etc. The little time they do have leftover in their day is not going to be going to soccer practice especially if they are feeling mediocre about it to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn't rocket science.

By age 11, your kid will have been playing soccer for years (one of the few sports you can start playing at age 3), so it is predictable that your kid will want to bounce around or find something else.

You can say the same statistic about Scouts too.

11 yr olds are 7th graders - tons of school activities/clubs, band, chorus, drama reheresal, other hobbies, etc. The little time they do have leftover in their day is not going to be going to soccer practice especially if they are feeling mediocre about it to begin with.

Um, no. My rising 5th grader is turning 11 in October.

[Anonymous]

Many of you here on this board contribute to the demise of youth sports. The hyperfocus on pathway to college/pros, chasing top clubs, etc. Not many threads on team and social aspect of sports here. The monster was created by parents and we continue to feed it.

[Anonymous]

Is it that they quit sports entirely? Or just leave that particular sport and move to something different?

My DD was a competitive gymnast through 8th grade, but wanting to play a sport in her HS, and one that wasn't so ridiculously time-consuming, switched to a different sport. Quit gymnastics, but didn't quit sports.

[Anonymous]

My vote is it's because the crazy parents push soccer too hard too fast too much. Kids at age 9 and 10 are practicing two times sometimes three per week, and traveling every weekend. They just want to hang out with her friends...

My kid asked to do travel soccer. It is a big pain in the neck for DH and I, and we'd rather not. DS is certainly good at soccer, but not exceptional. He will probably continue to play for fun for the rest of his life because he likes it, but I doubt he will play on a serious basis kind after high school. His friends are on his team, so playing soccer is hanging out with his friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We quit soccer when our son couldn't play with his classmates. Great Falls Reston soccer would not allow DS to play with his classmates in first grade because he was born in 2012 and they were born in 2011. They were all 6 at the time, none of them were going to have a birthday during the season, and they were in the same first grade class. This was the rec teams not the pre-travel group. DS decided to add a second season of baseball because he really liked baseball and could play with his friends.

I get that there needs to be age brackets and the like but the cut offs at such a young age, without any opportunity for allowing some movement, is a bit ridiculous.

There are a number of sports that are available at an early age. Baseball and softball are available starting as early as 4 (blastball or t ball). Flag football starts early, heck I know kids playing Pee Wee tackle football at 6. Lacrosse and the like are all available.

I do think that kids drop out off sports that they are playing for fun and exercise when they start moving to 2 practices a week or 2 games a week and the time commitment starts to increase.

The pressure to play travel ball in a fair number of sports is crazy. As more kid leave for travel teams at an earlier age, there are fewer kids to play rec ball and rec ball becomes less fun.

We wanted DS to continue with soccer but the idea that he cannot play with his friends was a killer.

I don't really understand this. We do rec soccer in another league and my kids have always played with their same-grade classmates. I thought only travel soccer went by birth year.

I don't know if Great Falls Reston Soccer is setting things up differently then other leagues but we requested that our son was put on a team with his friends, all three were the same age and at the same ES and lived on the same street. The two boys born in 2011 were put on one team and our son, born in 2012, was put on a different team. We emailed the coordinator and asked for our son to be moved to the team with the other boys and we were told he could not play with them because they set teams by birth year. Since the other two were born in 2011 they could be on the same team but our son, born in 2012, could not be on that team. We were told that they would not allow him to change teams and play with the 2011 team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My vote is it's because the crazy parents push soccer too hard too fast too much. Kids at age 9 and 10 are practicing two times sometimes three per week, and traveling every weekend. They just want to hang out with her friends...

My kid asked to do travel soccer. It is a big pain in the neck for DH and I, and we'd rather not. DS is certainly good at soccer, but not exceptional. He will probably continue to play for fun for the rest of his life because he likes it, but I doubt he will play on a serious basis kind after high school. His friends are on his team, so playing soccer is hanging out with his friends.

Same, I have two in travel soccer and it is a lot for us. I'm not pushing either for more unless they really want it. To be pro or high Div 1, the pathway is way harder than the very low hours/days commitment most are complaining about here. 3 practices for 1.5 hrs per week? Try boarding school 6 hours per day or homeschooling with a private coach 7 days per week. My friend's kid plays D1 tennis and that's the pathway they all took to get there. Agreed that would kill the sport for the vast majority of kids (and parents), but that's what they are competing with to succeed.

[Anonymous]

I think it has more to do with the fact

parents likely picked and directed the sports in the early years.

Then, the commitment picks up in terms of number of practices and games in the middle school years (even for Rec) and parents get tapped out of carpool, games, and weekends lost.

Then homework gets more intense and kids need to focus on it longer and in more in depth

kids are complaining, parents are tired, and parents finally are ready to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many of you here on this board contribute to the demise of youth sports. The hyperfocus on pathway to college/pros, chasing top clubs, etc. Not many threads on team and social aspect of sports here. The monster was created by parents and we continue to feed it.

What thread are you reading? Pretty much every PP is the opposite of what you describe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn't rocket science.

By age 11, your kid will have been playing soccer for years (one of the few sports you can start playing at age 3), so it is predictable that your kid will want to bounce around or find something else.

You can say the same statistic about Scouts too.

11 yr olds are 7th graders - tons of school activities/clubs, band, chorus, drama reheresal, other hobbies, etc. The little time they do have leftover in their day is not going to be going to soccer practice especially if they are feeling mediocre about it to begin with.

To be 11 in 7th grade means you started kindergarten at 4 (probably in a jurisdiction with a "turn 5 by December 31" cut off for K). Most jurisdictions require a child to turn 5 by a September cut off to start K, so the majority of children will be 11 during 5th and 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it that they quit sports entirely? Or just leave that particular sport and move to something different?

My DD was a competitive gymnast through 8th grade, but wanting to play a sport in her HS, and one that wasn't so ridiculously time-consuming, switched to a different sport. Quit gymnastics, but didn't quit sports.

Only 15% of the kids who quit pick up another sport, according to the study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of you here on this board contribute to the demise of youth sports. The hyperfocus on pathway to college/pros, chasing top clubs, etc. Not many threads on team and social aspect of sports here. The monster was created by parents and we continue to feed it.

What thread are you reading? Pretty much every PP is the opposite of what you describe.

Crazy parents trying to find the "top" club for their kids are part of the problem. But so are clubs and governing organizations that are so focused on winning that each team is a year to year proposition, which makes it hard to form social connections in sports. It is never about the kids, it is about the win, and kids don't care as much about winning the adults in charge (and some parents) do.

[Anonymous]

Kids never pursued the same sports or even sports indefinitely. When I was in school the numbers that dropped off were far far greater through middle school and highl school simply because there were few competitive outlets outside of the High School in several of the chosen sports.

Kids interest, time demands and focus on sports or other activities simply change as a matter of personal growth. There is no real bogeyman to blame here other than the obsession with the numbers to keep interest in particular sports artificially high to support a business model.