Youth Sports

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Youth Sports
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Do you know what the 1 reason children cite for
their participation in a sports program?
to have fun Winning the game ranks near
the bottom of the list.
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Youth Sports

• Athletic endeavors that provide children and
  youth with a systematic sequence of practices and
  contests
• 39 million youth participate in nonschool
  sponsored programs
• 7 million youth participate in interscholastic
  sports

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Youth Sports

• Why are so many children involved?
• Trend toward earlier participation
• A 4-year-old holds the age group record for
  running a marathon
• Increase in female participation
• The number of interscholastic sports for girls
  has increased from 14 (1971) to 41 (1999)

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Youth Sports

• Why are so many children involved?
• Children are beginning to get involved in what
  used to be considered nontraditional sport
  activities
• Tennis, cycling, bowling, ice hockey,
  cross-country skiing
• Rule changes
• Even the youngest child can experience success

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Youth Sports

• Why are so many children involved?
• There is an increased in the number of disabled
  children who participate
• American Wheelchair Bowling Association
• Handicapped Scuba Association
• National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis
• National Wheelchair Softball Association
• Special Olympics
• United States Quad Rugby Association

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Youth Sports

• Benefits of youth sport activities
• Academic performance improvement
• Physical fitness
• Self-esteem enhancement
• Deterrent to negative behavior

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Where Children Participate in Sports
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Most Popular Interscholastic Sports
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Why Children Participate in Sports

• To have fun
• To improve skills
• To be with friends
• To be part of a team
• To experience excitement
• To receive awards
• To win
• To become physically fit (Wankel
  Kreisel, 1985)

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Why Children Participate in Sports

• Wankel and Kreisel (1985)
• Emphasis should be on involvement, skill
  development, and enjoyment of doing the skills
• According to the children, winning and receiving
  rewards for playing are of secondary importance

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Why Children Participate in Sports
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Why Children Drop Out of Sports

• Contrary to popular belief, children do not drop
  out of sports because of stress
• More often, withdrawing from a sport is due to
  interpersonal problems
• Pursue other leisure activities
• Researchers report that a majority of dropouts
  reenter the same or new sport
• Caution should be used when using the term sport
  dropout

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Why Children Drop Out of Sports
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Why Children Drop Out of Sports
I would play again if
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Sport Participation Controversies

• Medical Issues
• Football
• Baseball
• Soccer
• Downhill skiing
• In-line skating
• Overuse injuries
• Are youth sports injuries avoidable?
• Nutrition
• Making weight

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Sport Participation Controversies Football

• Football is classified as a contact/collision
  sport
• Injury rate increases as players mature in age
  and grade level
• 65 of the injuries occur in offensive players
• However overall injury rate for youth football is
  low (5)

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Sport Participation Controversies Football

• Most prone injury sites
• Hand/wrist
• Knee
• Shoulder/humerus

• Most common injuries
• Fractures
• Epiphyseal fractures
• Sprains
• Contusions
• Strains

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Sport Participation Controversies Baseball

• Relatively safe sport for youth
• Two major injuries chest and eye injuries
• Chest trauma
• Commotio cordis batter struck in chest with
  pitched ball catcher struck by foul tipped ball
• Occurs more often in boys under 16 yr
• 2-4 deaths reported each year

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Sport Participation Controversies Baseball

• Eye injuries
• Softer ball used because of the concern for
  commotio cordis
• Fewer commotio cordis injuries result
• However, physicians are concerned that a softer
  ball will allow more of the ball to enter the eye
  orbit, resulting in a greater number of eye
  injuries

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Sport Participation Controversies Soccer

• Soccer is classified as a contact/collision sport
• One of North Americas fastest growing sports
• Studies suggest that youth soccer is a relatively
  safe activity
• Most injuries are from person-to-person contact

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Sport Participation Controversies Soccer

• Classic study (Nilsson Roaas, 1978)
• Examined injury rate from 1975-1977 in two
  tournaments (Norway Cup)
• Ages 11-18 yr
• n 25,000 youth
• 2987 matches
• 1343 injuries
• Girls had a higher injury rate
• Reason - lower skill development and training
• Greater injury rate during final rounds
• However, most injuries are minor

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Sport Participation Controversies Soccer

• Heading the ball in soccer can result in
• Headaches
• 49 of players complained after heading a ball
• Mild to severe deficits in attention
• Problems with concentration
• Mild to severe deficits in memory

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Sport Participation Controversies Soccer

• Common injury site
• Thigh
• Ankle
• Foot
• Torso
• Head neck

• Type of injury
• Contusions
• Muscle strains
• Sprains
• Fractures
• Heat illness
• Concussions

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Sport Participation Controversies Soccer

• Cause of injury
• Person-to person contact
• 43
• Repetitive overload
• 20.4
• Contact with ground
• 17.5
• Contact with goal post, etc.
• 6.5

• Effect of injury
• Missed one game
• 38.5
• Missed all remaining games
• 19.3

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Sport Participation Controversies Soccer

• How can soccer injuries be reduced?
• Closer officiating
• Pregame warnings for playing tactics (take downs,
  hacking)
• Coaching within the spirit of the rules
• Protective padding for players and goal posts
• Remove all sideline objects (chairs, water
  coolers, etc.)

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Sport Participation Controversies Downhill
Skiing

• Classified as a limited contact/impact sport
• Injury occurs due to contact with ground or
  stationary object
• Contact usually occurs at a high velocity
• Girls are more prone to injury than boys
• Injury rate increases up to age 13 yr of age
• Injury rate levels off between age 13 and 15 yr

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Sport Participation Controversies Downhill
Skiing

• Out of 3456 participants, 423 injuries reported
• Most of the injuries occurred in 12 and 13 year
  olds
• Common injuries
• 51.0 sprains
• 11.1 fractures

(Garrick Requa, 1979)
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Sport ParticipationControversies In-line
Skating

• Fastest growing recreational sport in the US
• Excessive speed is the main cause for injury
  (speeds of 30 mph are not uncommon)
• 35 of all falls result in injury
• 60 of all injury occurs in youth between 10 and
  14 years of age

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Sport ParticipationControversies In-line
Skating

• Prevention of injuries
• Players should wear all protective gear available
  to them
• Wrist guards
• Elbow pads
• Knee pads
• Helmet
• Often, children do not use protective equipment
  because discomfort, cost, and unsightly appearance

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Sport ParticipationControversies Overuse
Injuries

• Youth are specializing in sport at earlier ages
  which involves year round training
• Overuse injuries occur as a result of placing the
  body under repeated stress over a long period of
  time
• Common sites epiphyseal plates, cartilage of the
  apophyses, articular cartilage, stress fractures

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• Little Hercules
• Sandrak Website

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• Ironically, there are child labor laws in many
  countries that forbid stereotype work movements
  and excessive loadingbut these same restrictions
  do not apply to childrens sports

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Sport ParticipationControversies Overuse
Injuries

• Traction apophyses injuries
• Osgood-Schlatter disease
• Insertion of the patellar tendon at the tibial
  tubercle
• Severs disease
• Insertion of the Achilles tendon into the
  calcaneous
• Both injuries occur because the skeleton is
  growing faster than soft tissue elongation

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Sport ParticipationControversies Overuse
Injuries

• Little League elbow
• Repeated stress to the medial and lateral
  structures of the elbow
• Rule changes are designed to protect the young
  pitcher
• T-ball, ball is not pitched to the batter
• Some leagues no longer allow the curve ball
• Limit the number of innings/wk that a young
  player may pitch

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Sport ParticipationControversies Overuse
Injuries

• Significant increase in Runners knee injuries
• Inappropriate tracking of the kneecap

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Sport ParticipationControversies Avoidable?

• Make sure young athletes have been properly
  conditioned
• Avoid overtraining
• Provide qualified adult supervision
• Change rules to create a safe environment
• Match competitors according to body size and
  weight

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Sport ParticipationControversies Avoidable?

• Require use of appropriate safety equipment
• Do not allow an injured child to return to
  competition until the injury has been fully
  rehabilitated
• Do not allow children to partake in questionable
  practices designed to create a competitive edge
• Use coaches who are certified
• National Center for Sports Safety
• Online certification course

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Sport ParticipationControversies Nutrition

• Childs appetite should dictate need
• The practice of fasting (wrestling) and quick
  weight gain (football) should be avoided
• Vitamin supplements are not necessary when the
  young athlete is eating a balanced meal

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Sport ParticipationControversies Making Weight

• Some adults have used unacceptable practices to
  give their child a competitive edge
• Exercising in a sauna
• Not letting child drink water
• Not allowing child to swallow spit
• Administering diuretics
• Exercising in a rubber suit
• Fasting

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Sport ParticipationControversies Making Weight

• Dangers of rapid dehydration
• Cells, urine output, blood volume and sweating
  mechanisms do not function properly
• 3 weight loss will decrease physical performance
• 5 weight loss can lead to heat exhaustion
• 7 weight loss can lead to hallucinations
• 10 weight loss can lead to heat stroke and
  circulatory collapse

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Sport Participation Controversies

• Psychological issues
• Stress
• Unpleasant emotional state
• Reducing competitive stress
• Are young athletes being exposed to too much
  competitive stress?

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Sport ParticipationControversies Stress
Model depicting the development of stress and
potential behavioral outcomes
Consequences Withdraw and try a new sport
Withdraw permanently
Situation Individual views outcome as important
Emotional Response Unfavorable appraisal leads to
physiological and cognitive stress
Appraisal Individual evaluates his/her ability
to meet the demands of the situation
Passer, 1982
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Sport ParticipationControversies Another
Viewpoint

• Youth sport participation is not the only stress
  encountered in the daily life of a young person
• Precompetitive state anxiety
• Study by Simon Marten (1979)
• 468 children in youth sports
• 281 children who competed in a physical education
  softball game, school test, group competition in
  band, and band solo competition

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Sport ParticipationControversies State Anxiety
Result note the greatest level of precompetitive
state anxiety is for band solo students
Childrens precompetitive state anxiety in 11
sport activities. The precompetitive state
anxiety scale ranges from 10-30.
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Sport ParticipationControversies Reducing
Stress

• Change something about the sport so that success
  occurs more often than failure
• T-ball uses stationary batting tee instead of a
  pitcher
• Skill training instills confidence
• More time should be spent on teaching and less
  time on scrimmaging

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Sport ParticipationControversies Reducing
Stress

• Children who perceive themselves as competent are
  less threatened and perform better
• Winning/losing should be placed in perspective
• Child may feel that he/she has disappointed
  parents or coach
• Help child set realistic goals

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Youth Sport Coaching

• Whos coaching our children?
• mostly volunteers
• 90 lack the necessary formal preparation to
  coach
• 9 out of 10 volunteer coaches are men
• Safe on First
• An organization designed to run background checks
  on those who coach children in US
• Sex offenders, criminal record, etc.

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Youth Sport Coaching

• Why do people volunteer?
• Involvement of coach's child in league
• Personal enjoyment
• Skill development of players
• Character development of players
• Personal challenge

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Youth Sport Coaching - Education

• The annual turnover rate for coaches is 50
• There is a rise in the number of lawsuits
  directed toward youth sport coaches and
  organizations because of alleged negligence
  during practices and games

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Youth Sport Coaching - Education

• The National Standards for Athletic Coaches (US)
• National Coaching Certification Program (Canada)
• Technological advances now allow educators to
  reach more potential youth sport coaches to
  obtain coaching education and certification

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Youth Sport Coaching

• Arguments against mandatory coaching
  certification
• Due to the increase in participation, more sport
  offerings are required, and therefore, additional
  coaches are needed
• Demand for coaches exceeds supply
• Programs may have to be cut
• Certification process is expensive

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Youth Sport Coaching
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Parental EducationCurbing Violence

• There has been a significant increase in violent
  behavior from parents during the last 15 years
• Occurrences range from attacks to murder

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Parental EducationCurbing Violence

• Organizations are requiring parental education
• Sportsmanship training
• Parents Association for Youth Sports (PAYS)
• Parent beats a volunteer coach to death in front
  of his children after a youth ice hockey game for
  ten year olds

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Bill of Rights of Young Athletes
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• Correlates of PA in youth
• Individual
• Demographic factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Environmental
• Opportunity
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Aesthetics

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• Correlates of PA in youth
• Individual
• Demographic factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Environmental
• Opportunity
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Aesthetics

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Sex
Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study
(WHO, 2002)
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Family Income
Estabrooks Gyurcsik (2000)
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Age
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• Correlates of PA in youth
• Individual
• Demographic factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Environmental
• Opportunity
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Aesthetics

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• Correlates of PA in youth
• Individual
• Demographic factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Environmental
• Opportunity
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Aesthetics

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• Correlates of PA in youth
• Individual
• Demographic factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Environmental
• Opportunity
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Aesthetics

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• Correlates of PA in youth
• Individual
• Demographic factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Environmental
• Opportunity
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Aesthetics

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• Correlates of PA in youth
• Individual
• Demographic factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Environmental
• Opportunity
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Aesthetics

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• Correlates of PA in youth
• Individual
• Demographic factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Environmental
• Opportunity
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Aesthetics

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• Correlates of PA in youth
• Individual
• Demographic factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Environmental
• Opportunity
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Aesthetics

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• Correlates of PA in youth
• Individual
• Demographic factors
• Psychological factors
• Social factors
• Environmental
• Opportunity
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Aesthetics

Built Environment