The panel tracks participation from 1972 to the present. The number of women players grew steadily over the next five years. The reasons for this include the passing of Title IX to ensure female players enjoyed the same opportunities as men. Some of it is due to societal changes: women's roles were being reinvented across every aspect of our culture; that it took place on the playing field as well is hardly surprising. The number of young male athletes increased as well; perhaps the ruling stimulated interest in sports in general, and more boys went out for teams.
The numbers of young men and women who joined high school teams stayed fairly consistent from roughly 1980 to 1994. However, the number of enrolled 14-17 year olds (grades 9-12) fell during the early 1980s, leveled out and then dipped again in the late 1980s before starting to climb again. Therefore, because of declining enrollment, the percentage of students on sports teams actually grew. As enrollment fell from 12.38 million in Fall 1995 to 11.6 million in Fall 1998, for example, the percentage of student athletes grew from 41% to 45%.
Why do these teenagers pursue athletics? Boys will always try out for the football team. High school sports are a religion in some communities; to be on the football team is a badge of honor for young men. Some youths are looking for ways to get physically fit. Perhaps others are looking to become more "well rounded" and have a sport to put on college applications. Perhaps others are influenced by their parents or friends. Intriguingly, both men's and women's teams have seen steady growth since 1994 (top sports for boys: football and basketball; for women: basketball and track & field).
The trend for more young people to pursue organized sports can be seen elsewhere. Membership in Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts — groups that value team playing and physical fitness — has been growing steadily (since 1994 actually, the same year as high school sports!). Little League membership has increased from about 2.6 million players in 1992 to 2.9 million players in 1999, a jump of 8% (the league had 70,000 players in 1954).
But there are issues here. Parents often have to make a sizeable investment in equipment purchases, pay for expensive lessons, and take time driving kids to and from practice. There are increasing incidents of violent or threatening behavior at kids' games by parents. What is the effect on children? Roughly 70% of children drop out of league games by the age of 13, according to one survey. The number one reason? It had ceased to be fun for them. Kids also get hurt at these games. According to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, more than 3.5 million sports-related injuries in kids under age 15 needed medical attention.
Other questions come to mind: Whatever happened to unstructured play, groups of kids who just get together in the neighborhood? Is this a thing of the past? Are affluent kids over-managed? According to a survey by Urban Youth Sports, 15% of urban children participate in organized sports, while 85-90% play in the suburbs. Affluence plays a role in all this, of course: it takes money for uniforms, equipment, and for the maintenance of proper practice space.
Sources: "The Dark Side of Kids' Sports." The Physician and Sportsmedicine, September 2001; "Urban Youth Sports." Retrieved February 9, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.sportinsociety.com; "Young Athletes." Retrieved February 9, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.orthopedicsosa.com; athlete figures from U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Handbook of the United States, Washington D.C.; enrollment figures from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Statistics of State School Systems: Statistics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Systems; Statistics of Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Schools: Projections of Education Statistics to 2010.
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