Kid’s martial arts: How important is having fun? Guest post by Mark McLaughlin
What are some of the reasons why youth athletes drop out of sports?
Coach Amanda watches over warm ups in kid’s martial arts class
At least 30 million kids between the ages of 6-17 play in organized sports programs each year and of those 30 million about 35% drop out each year. A more staggering statistic is 70-80% of youth between the ages of 13-15 drop out of organized sports entirely. One of the most widely cited studies on why youth athletes stop playing organized team sports is called “Participation and Attrition Patterns in American Agency-sponsored and Interscholastic Sports.” 8,000 boys and girls from 10 to 18 years of age in 17 US locations completed a survey on their participation in school and non-school sports programs.
In this survey, 2 fun related reasons were found to be dominant in why kids dropped out of playing sports, these were followed by reasons related to time constraints, lack of coaching, and dislike for the pressures involved with playing sports. They found that three changes would likely induce the greatest number of drop-outs to play the sport again: “Practices were more fun”, “Coaches understood players better” and “I could play more”.
Coaches Amanda, Trent, and Mina get the kids warmed up in kid’s martial arts class
What this study shows us is that when kids are young and participating in sports the FUN factor needs to be the number one rule. Too often coaches and parents believe that playing a more competitive and concentrated schedule year around, beginning when kids are young, will produce a successful athlete and this could not be further from the truth. When you look at for example the Canadian Long Term Athletic Development Model (LTAD http://www.canadiansportforlife.ca/learn-about-canadian-sport-life/ltad-stages) there are multiple stages which young athletes need to progress through to allow them to fulfill his/her full athletic potential later on in life. It is during the early stages of this program which children begin to develop basic physical literacy by learning about agility, balance, coordination, and speed (ABCs). These basics will serve them as training in the later years begins to become more specialized. During this time the focus should be on having fun and participating in a wide variety of sports with a minimal focus on competition.
When you look at the alarming rate of injuries suffered by youth athletes (http://resultsperiod1.com/site/injury-statistics-for-youth-sports-in-the-united-states/) annually in the United States something is wrong with the way we are coaching and training not only the athletes but the coaches and volunteers who are working with them. Coaches who work with youth athletes need to understand that they cannot undertake the same training volume and intensity as teenagers or adults. A more concentrated training and competition schedule when kids are young is one of the major factors of injury and burnout.
In a report called “Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in America” from Women’s Sports Foundation (2008) when parents of kids were surveyed about the reasons behind kids completely stopping playing team sports were asked why it happened, the main reason given for both sons and daughters was “no longer fun”.
Fun game of jiu jitsu virus in kid’s martial arts class
To allow the youth athlete the greatest possibility of reaching their full athletic potential later on in life it is imperative that when they are young the joy of sports and having fun should be the number one goal. Allowing the athlete to mature and develop slowly and steadily is also crucial to keep them out of the high incidence of injury and allowing them to develop the building blocks of physical literacy which will give them confidence to excel and enjoy sports for their entire lives.
by Mark McLaughlin of Performance Training Center