MAJOR CAUSES OF YOUTH DROPOUT AND PREVENTION

What are the major causes of youth dropout in sports and how is it prevented?

Sadie L. LaMay

Ottawa University
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Abstract

Burnout among children and adolescent athletes are a growing problem in the United States.

More and more children are dropping out of sport participation at younger ages. For reasons such

as stress, parents, coaches, overuse injuries, overtraining, it is not fun anymore, or they think

they are not good enough to succeed. They are being pushed to do things they do not want to do,

long practices, they hate losing, inconsistent coaches, lot of traveling, perfectionism, injuries,

very high self and or parent expectations or many other reasons. But the two major reasons are

overtraining and injures. These reasons can lead to burnout, which may have detrimental effect

on the children participating in sports as a lifelong healthy activity. Since the United States is on

a rise for obesity it is important to keep children participating in sports because children of

athletic parents are more likely to participate and be athletic themselves. As more children are

becoming involved in sports it is important to try to keep them all in it for good beneficial

reasons psychologically and physically. Sports help children grow and mature. They help motor

skill development as well as peer and social interactions with others. There are many benefits

through sports participation for children they just need to do it on their own terms and not be

pushed to do something they might not want to do, being pushed can lead to overtraining and or

injuries and then these can lead to drop out of the sport(s).
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Introduction

Youth sports are becoming very popular within the United States with a number of
about 25-60 million children and adolescent participants. 75% of families with
school-aged children have at least one child who participates in an organized sport
(Merkel, 2013). Unfortunately, there is a change in youth athletes quitting
participation in sports. The question is why? Youth athletes could be thought of as
young children having the time of their lives, running up and down the field giggling
and laughing. Whether they are running the wrong way or watching butterflies in
the outfield. It is found that the two major factors to youth dropout are overtraining
and injuries.
Youth Dropout
It has been found that 70% of children are dropping out of sports before the
age of 13. Why you might ask? Reasons such as parents, coaches, burnout, not fun
anymore, excessive stress and pressure put on them at too young of and age. But
the two major factors are overtraining and injuries. There are many benefits of
youth staying in sports not only to be healthy, but many skills that they cannot
adapt while sitting in a desk in a classroom. In youth sports it is all about having
fun, but they could be hearing their parents arguing about money, they think they
can help by quitting. Their parents or coaches screaming at them on the sidelines
saying they are not good enough they are not trying enough whatever the case
maybe.

Burnout in youth is noticed when something they used to do so well at, they no longer

enjoy it or no longer perform well at it. Burnout can be defined as physical or mental collapse

caused by overwork or stress. With the growing emphasis in our nation in improving peak

physical performance in youth sports, frequently the mental aspect is ignored. (Bruener, 2012).

But, it is forgotten that childrens psychological development is just as important as physical

development in terms of readiness for training in specific sports. There are many factors

associated with burnout in youth athletes. These factors include: (Bruener, 2012)

Very high self- and external expectations

A win-at-all-costs attitude

Parental pressure

Long practices with little variety

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Inconsistent coaching practices

Overuse injuries

Overtraining

Excessive time demands

High travel demands

Love from others determined by winning and losing

Perfectionism

Each year, 35 % of children who participate in organized sports drop out. Current data has also

revealed that by the age of 15, 75% of youth no longer play organized sports most all from

factors listed above.

Overtraining

As said before there are many reasons children quit sports, important points to keep in I

mind is overtraining and or overuse injuries. Overtraining and overuse injuries/sport injuries are

too of the major causes of youth dropout. An overuse injury is micro traumatic damage to a bone,

muscle, or tendon that has been subjected to repetitive stress without sufficient time to heal or

undergo the natural reparative process (Breener, 2007). This often happens in all athletes most

commonly seen in athletes with no enough recovery time and or athletes with back to back

seasons and or year round seasons. Overuse injuries can be classified into 4 stages: (1) pain in

the affected area after physical activity; (2) pain during the activity, without restricting

performance; (3) pain during the activity that restricts performance; (4) chronic, unremitting pain

even at rest. Up to 50% of all injuries seen in pediatric sports medicine are related to overuse

(Breener, 2007). This can be a huge cause for burnout especially in youth athletes because they
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remember the pain and it was at a young age therefore, they think it may not be something that is

worth hurting later on. Because come on, nobody like feeling hurt and injured all the time.

Burnout or Overtraining Syndrome

Burnout, or overtraining syndrome, has been well described in adult athletes, but not

much is found having to do with youth athletes. Overtraining syndrome can be defined as series

of psychological, physiologic, and hormonal changes that result in decreased sports

performance. Symptoms include: chronic muscle or joint pain, personality changes, elevated

resting heart rate, and decreased sports performance. Youth may have fatigue, lack of enthusiasm

about practice or competitions or difficulty with success. This should all be recognized as

burnout or overtraining syndrome (Breener, 2007). There are some steps that should be followed

to prevent this syndrome:

1. Keep workouts interested, with age-appropriate games and training, to keep in fun.

2. Take time off from organized or structured sports participation 1 to 2 days per week to

allow the body to rest.

3. Permit longer scheduled breaks from training and competition every 2 to 3 months while

focusing on other activities and cross-training to prevent loss of skill or level of

conditioning.

4. Focus on wellness and teaching athletes to be in tune with their bodies for cues to slow

down or alter their training methods.

Injuries

Each year, more than 3.5 million young athletes experience a sports injury severe enough

to warrant medical attention, according to Safe Kids USA. In addition, approximately 66% of

these injures are serious enough to require attention in the emergency department (Williams,
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2017). Based off a report from Our Everyday Life the most common injuries are ankle sprains,

muscle strains, bone injuries and heat related sicknesses. As well as, 6% of these being traumatic

brain injuries. After injuries like these is when you see the most dropouts. The children

themselves or their parents do not want to risk the chance of developing additional injuries, so

they discontinue playing sports.

Preventing Injury

Injuries should be taken very seriously and should always be a priority to take care of.

Watching injuries closer and not over working the body and greatly prevent injuries from

occurring. For the athletes, sports readiness, aerobic and anaerobic fattiness, strength

training, flexibility, proper rest, hydration, and nutrition are things they can do to reduce risk

of injury. For the parents and the community are appropriate fit and use of equipment and

footwear, enforcing safe rule, adjustment for environmental conditions, and education of

coaches. Finally for the coach, preseason conditioning/activity, appropriate training

frequency, intensity, and duration, limiting increases in training volume to 10% weekly.

Insure proper form and technique, implementation of appropriate strengthening and

conditioning program, and incorporation of warm-up and cool-down phases for practice and

competition (Merkel, 2013).

Preventing Overtraining

Overtraining is important to keep from doing. The parents, athletes, and coaches can help

prevent this by monitoring your training schedule. Determining how many sports they

participate in over a year, month or week. How many days and hours are dedicated to that

sport. Schedule in rest days, recovery weeks and off season recovery time (Jenn, 2014).

Focus on wellness and teaching athletes to be in tune with their bodies for cues to slow down
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or alter their training methods (Breener, 2007). Most importantly recognize symptoms of

overtraining and take a break to do something different away from regular routine. Although

these are negative effects against sports, it needs to be remembered that there are much more

benefits to participation than there is negative.

Positive Impact

In the United States we have many youth participating in sports, whether it is school or

agency-sponsored programs, it is important to examine the possible benefits of this involvement.

There have been arguments raised over years that sports are not beneficial by any means. But

within the research and policy literature, numerous benefits have been identified. For instance,

Seefeldt, Ewing, and Walk (1992) have identified the following possible benefits associated with

competition: (Hedstrom & Gould, 2004):

Learning physical skills (motor skills) such as running, jumping, and hopping. As well as

sport specific skills like shooting a basketball in the hoop, how to hit tennis ball, or kick a

soccer ball, etc.

Beginning to appreciate fitness. Two most common phrases children use for why they

participate in sports are things such as to get exercise and stay in shape.

Sense of belonging as well as benefits with social interaction. In sports there is a lot of

peer interaction though both teammates and competition.

Develop sport skills for leisure activity. Learning fundamental motor skills like

coordination. This can increase participation and involvement.

Growth and maturation effects

Regular physical activity leading to increased fitness

Self-concept or self-worth effects

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Social competence

Moral development

Of all the benefits of why youth should participate in sports moral development raises the most

eyebrows. Researchers have questioned whether sports actually build character or not and as an

exercise science major this question always gets raised at least a few times in classes.

Researchers have said that in fair play, sportsmanship, and moral development information can

be taught to children in sport and physical education settings, character can be enhanced

(Hedstrom & Gould, 2004).

Conclusion

The reason for this report was to find out the major factors for youth athletes dropping

out of sports and how to prevent them. The two major factors for youth drop out in sports is

overtraining and injuries. This can be prevented by take time off from organized or structured

sports participation 1 to 2 days per week to allow the body to rest. Permit longer scheduled

breaks from training and competition every 2 to 3 months while focusing on other activities and

cross-training to prevent loss of skill or level of conditioning. Focus on wellness and teaching

athletes to be in tune with their bodies for cues to slow down or alter their training methods.

(Breener, 2007) Sports have a lot of great benefits, keep them interested and involved to help

their overall lives and health.

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