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[quote=Anonymous][quote] In the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I swore I’d never again complain about driving carpool for my kids’ rock-climbing team through Seattle traffic. Medical science has long touted the physical and mental health benefits of children’s sports. Add in social interaction, and youth sports feels like an all-in-one pandemic fix.

But as youth teams and leagues return, it’s worth examining what our children are actually signed up for. Youth sports are no longer the neighborhood pickup games of American lore. In recent years children as young as 6 and 7 are increasingly enrolling in high-level sports programs with professional coaches and year-round competition schedules.

By age 13, up to 70% of children have dropped out of organized sports. I was certain the stats wouldn’t apply to my family — until two of the best, strongest, older athletes on my kids’ climbing team dropped out.

Evidence suggests that as young people compete more intensely in sports, gains in mental wellness may be replaced by mental health challenges particular to competitive athletics. Pre-pandemic, up to 20% of college athletes experienced major depression. For young athletes competing at national and international levels, anxiety and depression were 20% to 45% — higher in some cases than those in the age-matched control groups. In one study of elite Canadian swimmers, an eye-popping 68% met the criteria for depression.[/quote]
https://www.nj.com/highschoolsports/2021/05/covid-could-cost-us-a-generation-of-student-athletes-some-are-sounding-alarms-about-a-crisis-already-unfolding.html

After reading the article, I now think a lot of the things I see on the top team is related to the stress and depression of the players(specially on the girls side). Right now it is very high stress time because of the ID/tryout season and pandemic. I wonder if any club will start to address these issues. Probably not. [/quote]

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