White people obsession with kids sports

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a first gen Asian immigrant and have a middle schooler and elementary schooler. I grew up in Asia and moved here as an adult. In the course of raising my kids, I’ ve gotten to know people from various ethnicity and races. My immigrant friends from India, china, Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ghana all have one thing in common in that doing well academically is valued. Some of these cultures values sports but it’s only pursued seriously if the child has a tremendous level of motivation and talent. Otherwise, sports is something you do for fun and stay active. We’re unlikely to spend $$ and time pursuing travel sports or private coaching etc for an average kid.
As I interact with white colleagues, especially at work, their life revolves around sports. They coach multiple kids teams, 2 year olds are ice rinks over the weekend learning to skate. The level of rigor and commitment amazed me.
I ask this from a place of curiosity and not judgement - why is the cultural importance of sports higher than academics in the American society? I mean, an above average soccer player has zero prospects in soccer while an above average engineer can make 6 digits right out of school. Can you help me understand?

Leadership training.

Team sports teach how to lead and communicate under pressure.

Without the added pressure of an iinduvudusk sport . White people can blame the other race when then lose

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My theory? It’s the happy middle ground. White families want their kids to have a fun, playful, enjoyable childhood. They don’t want them to study all day at school, then go to academic extracurriculars all the time, then do homework.

But - they also don’t feel comfortable with a large amount of free range, play-based, child-driven, unstructured time. They want to know where their kids are, that they’re safe and well cared for, and that they’re learning real skills.

Sports fits right in that spot. Fun, but structured.

I think that's the problem with some parents today, there is no balance for their kids. It's always go, go, go for kids and there is an expectation that kids participate in sports/activities whether they want to or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow this thread is pretty devoid of actual information but sure is full of mindless generalizations. So congrats.

First I want to point out a problem with OP's argument that is common of racial generalizations on this website: "Asians" and "Asian immigrants to the US" are not the same. There are things that are common Asian immigrants in the US that are not necessarily true of all Asian people.

Also the nature of immigration skews perceptions of US culture. OP is basing their perception on interactions with colleagues. I am guessing OP works in a white collar profession in the DC area and that their workplace is full of UMC white people from UMC backgrounds. OP might have different perceptions if they were working in a different setting. OP has a view of "American culture" that is viewed on a narrow experience and with an outsider bent. All of this tends to skew reality.

Here are some actual statistics on youth sports participation:



While white children participate in sports at slightly higher rates than other races, it is not nearly as dramatic as some of you are portraying it. Also the participation of both white and black children in youth sports has actually declined in the last 10 years whereas rates of participation among AAPI and hispanic children are either holding steady or increasing.

The real divide is in family income -- families with HHIs of 100k or more account for nearly half of all youth sport participation. This should be unsurprising to most people -- youth sports are increasingly expensive and also require a lot of time investment by parents. So there is a clear advantage for families with both more financial resources and the kinds of jobs that accommodate having a stay at home or part time parent, or schedules that are conducive to things like evening and weekend practices (parents doing shift work have a serious issue with these demands).

The narrative that white people care a lot about sports and Asian people don't is both wrong and interesting -- the fact that so many of you are ignoring the participation of black and hispanic kids in youth sports altogether says a lot about who you view as your peers and who "counts" when it comes to cultural perceptions.

https://projectplay.org/youth-sports/facts/participation-rates

There’s a lot of grey to this.

I’m Hispanic and I don’t know a lot of other Hispanic families that go hardcore into sports. Our kids play games of soccer organized by themselves, occasional sports at the community center (not every year, not every season), and less often on school teams. It’s not intense unless the kid is showing talent.

I think OP is talking about a culture of sports where parents will take an average child and have them practice organized youth sports multiple times a week and spend weekends at games for a good part of the year. That’s very different imo.

Again, I’m speaking out of what I see and have experienced, but that type of difference, if widespread and not just me, wouldn’t be reflected in the data above.

Your experience IS reflected in the data -- you are part of the large percent of hispanic families that don't emphasize sports. It's right there in the data. The chart doesn't say "100% of hispanic families have children in travel sports." Though there are absolutely hispanic families in the US who are obsessed with sports -- please spend literally any time in schools in parts of Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona (I grew up in one of these states and have first hand experience) and then get back to me. Baseball and football in these areas are often dominated by hispanic players. You also see high participation in other sports. No one in Las Cruces New Mexico sits around musing "why are white people so obsessed with kids sports" because that would be stupid.

It also doesn't say that 0% of Asian families have kids in sports. Because that's not true! It's also not true that 100% of white families are obsessed with sports. These are simply not accurate statements and yet it hasn't stopped people on this thread from posting broad generalizations about large groups of people based on their anecdotal observation of how the people they know in their own life behave. Your personal experience may be interesting but it is not a foundation to draw conclusions about how participation in sports varies among races.

Your specific experience is interesting but it's not data and it doesn't undermine the assertion that there are actually pretty minimal differences in sports participation between races in the US, and that the more significant division is between between families based on income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a first gen Asian immigrant and have a middle schooler and elementary schooler. I grew up in Asia and moved here as an adult. In the course of raising my kids, I’ ve gotten to know people from various ethnicity and races. My immigrant friends from India, china, Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ghana all have one thing in common in that doing well academically is valued. Some of these cultures values sports but it’s only pursued seriously if the child has a tremendous level of motivation and talent. Otherwise, sports is something you do for fun and stay active. We’re unlikely to spend $$ and time pursuing travel sports or private coaching etc for an average kid.
As I interact with white colleagues, especially at work, their life revolves around sports. They coach multiple kids teams, 2 year olds are ice rinks over the weekend learning to skate. The level of rigor and commitment amazed me.
I ask this from a place of curiosity and not judgement - why is the cultural importance of sports higher than academics in the American society? I mean, an above average soccer player has zero prospects in soccer while an above average engineer can make 6 digits right out of school. Can you help me understand?

Leadership training.

Team sports teach how to lead and communicate under pressure.

I'm sure that year of intramural soccer did wonders for leadership training.

Please be fr. How many people are playing sports in college at a truly competitive level? Very few.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow this thread is pretty devoid of actual information but sure is full of mindless generalizations. So congrats.

First I want to point out a problem with OP's argument that is common of racial generalizations on this website: "Asians" and "Asian immigrants to the US" are not the same. There are things that are common Asian immigrants in the US that are not necessarily true of all Asian people.

Also the nature of immigration skews perceptions of US culture. OP is basing their perception on interactions with colleagues. I am guessing OP works in a white collar profession in the DC area and that their workplace is full of UMC white people from UMC backgrounds. OP might have different perceptions if they were working in a different setting. OP has a view of "American culture" that is viewed on a narrow experience and with an outsider bent. All of this tends to skew reality.

Here are some actual statistics on youth sports participation:



While white children participate in sports at slightly higher rates than other races, it is not nearly as dramatic as some of you are portraying it. Also the participation of both white and black children in youth sports has actually declined in the last 10 years whereas rates of participation among AAPI and hispanic children are either holding steady or increasing.

The real divide is in family income -- families with HHIs of 100k or more account for nearly half of all youth sport participation. This should be unsurprising to most people -- youth sports are increasingly expensive and also require a lot of time investment by parents. So there is a clear advantage for families with both more financial resources and the kinds of jobs that accommodate having a stay at home or part time parent, or schedules that are conducive to things like evening and weekend practices (parents doing shift work have a serious issue with these demands).

The narrative that white people care a lot about sports and Asian people don't is both wrong and interesting -- the fact that so many of you are ignoring the participation of black and hispanic kids in youth sports altogether says a lot about who you view as your peers and who "counts" when it comes to cultural perceptions.

https://projectplay.org/youth-sports/facts/participation-rates

There’s a lot of grey to this.

I’m Hispanic and I don’t know a lot of other Hispanic families that go hardcore into sports. Our kids play games of soccer organized by themselves, occasional sports at the community center (not every year, not every season), and less often on school teams. It’s not intense unless the kid is showing talent.

I think OP is talking about a culture of sports where parents will take an average child and have them practice organized youth sports multiple times a week and spend weekends at games for a good part of the year. That’s very different imo.

Again, I’m speaking out of what I see and have experienced, but that type of difference, if widespread and not just me, wouldn’t be reflected in the data above.

*It looks like in the graphs that one rec sport would be counted as regularly the same as a kid who does travel sports or two sports a season.

Sure but wouldn't that be true across all racial categories? Like if there are hispanic families who participate in sports in more casual ways at the rec level, do you assume there are NOT white families that do the same?

My kid has never participated in any sport above the rec level. I'm white. So yes there is nuance here you want to interpret it as nuanced ONLY for the racial category you belong to and then draw broad conclusions about other races based on the exact same data. This is not persuasive.

[Anonymous]

The alternative is to stay inside and watch tv, play on iPad, eat too much etc. Your kid isn’t always studying academics or playing outside with friends. It’s a way to get them outside and being physically active. I ran track and cross country in middle and high school. I don’t have weight problems. Not getting your kid involved in some kind of physical activity is bad parenting in my opinion. Plenty of white peoples on our rec soccer teams are doing it for fun and to have our kids exercise. It’s like 4-5 months out of the year if they play soccer in the fall and spring. My kids also went to kumon for a while and I noticed a lot of the Indian families had their kid enrolled in Kumon and karate. Group sports are also important. My husband who is fist generation Asian wanted to do karate and kumon because he thinks karate will teach them discipline to study or concentrate or something like that. Soccer helps my boys fit in better at school. They love playing it everyday at school.

[Anonymous]

My kid plays travel soccer. Currently on his team the top 5 most talented players who get the most time on the field are black, Korean, hispanic (2), white. The team is maybe half or slightly less than half white? There are two Korean kids and two Arab kids out of a roster of 14. Some kids im not entirely sure of their backgrounds. Definitely not an all white crew though.

[Anonymous]

Op, it’s because they think it will help them get into college.

I hold your opinion of it even tho I am white. Mostly because I think the amount of adult time and gas and money spent on youth sports is not healthy for the adults involved which in turn is not healthy for the kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, it’s because they think it will help them get into college.

I hold your opinion of it even tho I am white. Mostly because I think the amount of adult time and gas and money spent on youth sports is not healthy for the adults involved which in turn is not healthy for the kids

So hours and hours of extra academic lessons or musical instrument training is totally acceptable but sportsmanship, camaraderie, teamwork and physical activity are bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alot of white men love sports and are the energy behind the kids in sport thing.

My son has a weinie personality. Flag football has been really good to toughen him up.

I've heard employers are looking for kids who played team sports because they have much better social skills, can take criticism without wilting.

Employers talking about team sports are just another coded way for white men to hire white men. Female athletes, athletes of hispanic and asian descent, these team sport participants don't get a boost. And let's be real, it's only certain sports.

My current firm and the one I worked for previously target female athletes from all types of sports. Most athletes are self-motivated and persistent. They don't accept 'no' for an answer and find ways to overcome obstacles. Some of the most successful professional sales people are former athletes, both males and females.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who perform at a high level in sports do better in college, college acceptance, leadership and business.

Yes, the first thing they asked me in BigLaw was what travel sport I played

You don't think people can read that based on your body language and how you carry yourself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, it’s because they think it will help them get into college.

I hold your opinion of it even tho I am white. Mostly because I think the amount of adult time and gas and money spent on youth sports is not healthy for the adults involved which in turn is not healthy for the kids

Totally agree. What's really wrong with today's world is parents sacrificing too much for and spending too much time with their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why this thread is allowed to be here. Substitute “white” for any other race and it would have been taken down in a minute.

Completely agree with this. The point of the thread was not curiosity. It was clearly judging a particular race for a stereotype of extracurricular choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a first gen Asian immigrant and have a middle schooler and elementary schooler. I grew up in Asia and moved here as an adult. In the course of raising my kids, I’ ve gotten to know people from various ethnicity and races. My immigrant friends from India, china, Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ghana all have one thing in common in that doing well academically is valued. Some of these cultures values sports but it’s only pursued seriously if the child has a tremendous level of motivation and talent. Otherwise, sports is something you do for fun and stay active. We’re unlikely to spend $$ and time pursuing travel sports or private coaching etc for an average kid.
As I interact with white colleagues, especially at work, their life revolves around sports. They coach multiple kids teams, 2 year olds are ice rinks over the weekend learning to skate. The level of rigor and commitment amazed me.
I ask this from a place of curiosity and not judgement - why is the cultural importance of sports higher than academics in the American society? I mean, an above average soccer player has zero prospects in soccer while an above average engineer can make 6 digits right out of school. Can you help me understand?

Leadership training.

Team sports teach how to lead and communicate under pressure.

I'm sure that year of intramural soccer did wonders for leadership training.

Please be fr. How many people are playing sports in college at a truly competitive level? Very few.

You don't have to play sports at the college-level to benefit from leadership and teamwork. I would argue that you get more of those training by playing sports at a younger formative age.

I played volleyball in middle school and high school. I was not good enough to play in college and learned to accept that brutal truth at a young age. I continued to play club and intramural in college. It helped me deal with stress and stay healthy. It also helped me foster my competitive drive which served me well in the corporate world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why this thread is allowed to be here. Substitute “white” for any other race and it would have been taken down in a minute.

Completely agree with this. The point of the thread was not curiosity. It was clearly judging a particular race for a stereotype of extracurricular choices.

I guess the sports white people played toughened them up so they don't run off to a mod at the first breath of criticism