All For The Kids Foundation

Also pushing poorer kids out is the increasing professionalization of youth sports: Time reports that the business of kids’ sports has grown 55 percent since 2010, and is now a $15.3 billion industry. Driving that growth is the perception that a child’s athletic achievement might improve her college prospects, lead to an athletic scholarship, and lend some prestige to the family name. Well-off-enough parents invest in specialized camps, leagues, equipment, and travel teams, while children from families without the financial resources or time fill out dwindling town leagues. On top of these factors, schools with shrinking budgets are dropping physical education or requiring kids to pay for their school teams.

As a result, seventy percent of kids leave sports entirely by age 13.

Parents know that the physical exercise their kids are getting from sports is good for their health. But that's far from their only motivation for encouraging their children to participate in organized athletics. Through numerous academic studies, it has been proven time and again that youth sport has the potential to accomplish many more important objectives in children’s development.

Youth athletics emphasize character development and change kids from the inside out.

Through participation in athletics, kids learn how to win and how to lose. They learn what it's like to put in lots of work and have things not go their way. And they learn what it feels like to put in a lot of work — and then win. These are lessons that can’t simply be taught; truly understanding discipline and dedication, success and failure, requires experience.

The organized way youth participate in sports — with leadership and fellowship — not only prepares kids for the next game, but for much broader roles in life. Sports offer formative and life-long lessons that stick with children who play.

In fact, a recent study conducted by Michigan State University demonstrated that even a brief sports experience in adolescence can profoundly improve a child’s discipline, commitment, physical confidence, and hope. The study showed youth athletes develop a "can do" life strategy that translates to other aspects of their lives. And this change persists. Nine months later, the teens in the MSU study had maintained their bolstered sense of confidence and hope, and were better utilizing life skills, such as conflict resolution.

Research also shows that young people who play sports ultimately get better jobs, with higher salaries – and those benefits last a lifetime. A plethora of other benefits manifest from participation in youth sports:

PHYSICAL HEALTH

Higher levels of physical activity

Less body fat

Reduced risk of becoming overweight or obese

Higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness

PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH

Higher levels of self-esteem

Lower levels of depression

Lower levels of suicidal ideation

Lower levels of problem behaviors

SOCIAL WELLBEING

Opportunities to make new friends

Exposure to positive role models

Opportunities to travel

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Higher GPAs than non-athletes

Higher graduation rates

More likely to attend college