OK, We Have To Stop Professionalizing Kids Sports

It’s May, or, if you signed your kid up for any spring or year-round extracurricular, it’s hell month. Days without practice or rehearsals are few and far between, and every weekend seems like it’s an away game — or, even worse, a tournament.

This level of commitment doesn’t even seem to be reserved for the big kids anymore — U8 town soccer practically carries as many obligations as a D1 team these days. And one mom on TikTok says that it’s high time for parents to put their foot down.

“I think we need to normalize kids being able to participate in activities and extracurriculars without professionalizing them as parents,” said LittleRedSchoolhouse on TikTok.

“They should be able to gain the skill of playing on a team, learning how to play a sport, being physical, having fun with their friends, getting out there and being active, without being forced into this, ‘More, more, more, go, go, go, go, you must be the best at it,’ sort of behavior,” she said.

LittleRedSchoolhouse explained that there just simply aren’t many opportunities anymore for kids who just want to play a sport ~casually~ (kids who picked flowers during soccer practice, she’s talking about us).

Now, she says, even non-competition teams require a whole lot of time and energy from both the kids, and their parents, too. While her daughter takes dance classes at the most low-commitment studio in the area, and she still finds her weekends tied up with obligations.

“They have three performances coming up in a 24 hour period, and she has to be there for all of them, which is a 12 hour commitment for our family for her to be able to do this,” she said. “But she's only dancing for five minutes in each performance, which means that we have to be there for 12 hours so that she can dance for 15 minutes.”

Eek. And, of course, there’s the financial aspect on top of all of that.

“Plus we have to pay for tickets. Plus we have to pay a costume fee... plus we have to pay for her to be in the performance, plus we have to fundraise for the performance, plus we have to pay for her to do the dance class in the first place,” LittleRedSchoolhouse said.

Parents shared similar experiences in the comments, and many bemoaned how the intensity lead to limited opportunities for their kids.

“I can’t even find soccer that isn’t at least 2-3 days/week for 1st graders,” one parent said.

“My hubs and I were talking about how you could try out for sports in middle or high school with no experience. Now the 6th graders are coming in with 3 years of beach volleyball 🤦🏻‍♀️” said another.

“This is one of those things that annoys me SO MUCH,” one user said. “My middle schooler can’t even try new sports bc everything is hyper competitive now in her age range. Like why can’t sports just be a hobby for kids.”

“If THEY want to be serious about it it’s one thing but pushing them as a parent into making this activity their whole life is insane,” another added.

If your kid dreams of the big leagues, maybe they want nothing more than eight hours of practice a week (and a few state championship trophies by high school, preferably). But, for most kids, participation trophies and orange slices after the game are more than enough.