With 70% of kids quitting youth sports by the time they are 13 clearly something needs to change. A lot of sports parents and coaches believe that many kids give up on sports because youth sports stop being fun! After all, it’s hard to enjoy doing something two, three or even four times a week if you don’t actually like doing it, right? So here’s a crazy idea—what if we made sports fun again? What if we stripped away the trainers and high-powered travel tournaments, the 6-week sports camps and latest equipment and just made do with what was left—a great game. Maybe we could all stand to play a few more pick-up games and remind ourselves that playing sports should, and is, a fun time!

Earlier this week we posted an article about helicopter sports parents, those ones that get a touch too involved in their child’s athletic career. And while most have good intentions (even if they are a bit overzealous about it) sometimes you run into a sports mom or dad that thinks their child is Heir Jordan. And they want to make sure that everyone else knows it to. One of our Little League moms dropped this comment a few weeks ago and we had to share,

The word “quitting” always has such negative connotation, especially in youth sports. No one wants to be called a “quitter” (or see their child labeled as such). And although there are some cases where it might okay to let your child “quit” youth sports, even if quit isn’t necessarily the best word to describe why they might stop playing, with 70% of kids giving up on youth sports by the time they are 13 clearly something needs to give. In a LinkedIn discussion (great places for sports parents and coaches to meet and talk shop!), here’s what one dad-coach did to make sure youth sports stayed fun and kids wanted to keep playing:

We got this great comment from a sports mom the other day on our post about overcoming first year jitters as a youth athlete and just had to share it! It’s probably safe to say that a lot of sports parents have been in a situation similar to this basketball mom.

Even with the best of intentions and preparations such as first aid classes, CPR certification, AEDs on-site, teaching the proper technique to players, checking the field before every game, buying all the right equipment and more, accidents can and do happen in youth sports. Most of the times these sports injuries are pretty minor—a scraped up knee or elbow, maybe a jammed finger or bloody nose, or a sprained ankle that requires a couple days off their feet. Playing sports, especially full-contact sports, comes with a certain risk and even though 99% of the time nothing goes awry every now and again there is a freak accident that ends in a season ending injury.

Want to hear a crazy statistic? “Each year, more than thirty-five million kids register for organized youth sports, yet a staggering 70% of kids quit playing sports by age 13.” Now we all know that the odds of a kid “going pro,” or even just landing a spot on their college team, are pretty slim—but is that the only reason to keep playing sports? Why are so many kids giving up on youth sports at such a young age? Sure, not everyone that signs up for Little League baseball is going to love it, but do 70% of kids really dislike sports that much that they never want to play another sport ever again? Obviously we here at SportsSignup are a little biased, but we feel that playing sports, be it in a youth sports league, intramural team, or just a pickup game at the community center, is something you should want to do your whole life! So what can we as parents, coaches, administrators and officials do to keep kids from quitting sports so young?

I’m just going to come right out there and say it—there are more than a few bad youth sports coaches out there. Some are enthusiastic but don’t really know the game (which is probably the best case of a bad scenario), some are only coaching so their own child will be the star (not good at all), and some got roped into coaching because no one else volunteered (ten points for volunteering but if they don’t want to be there chances are the team won’t want to either). Tens of millions of kids are involved in some youth sports organization every year and that means there are millions of teams across dozens of sports that need coaches. Hopefully your child has had great coaches so far throughout their athletic career but odds are, sooner or later, they are going to get a bad coach.

First off, if your child has just signed up (or rather, you registered them) for their first year on a youth sports team then welcome to the world of sports parenting! It’s going to be a bumpy but exciting ride as you learn the ins and outs of balancing practice schedules with other commitments, get sticker shock at the price of new equipment and learn how to deal with life on the sidelines. But just like this first season will be a learning experience for you it will also be a learning experience for your youth athlete. And while some kids dive headfirst into youth sports with all the gusto and spirit that only a 6 year old can manage, others might be a little more cautious and nervous about playing sports for the first time. Here are 3 tips to help your youth athlete overcome their first year jitters:

Some sports parents would jump at the chance to coach their own youth athletes. After all, they spend plenty of time playing catch or tossing balls for batting practice in the backyard and are at every game already, how much harder is it to be the actual coach? But before you dive headfirst into the world of parent-coaches here are four questions you should ask yourself.

It seems like there has been a rise in sport specialization, even among younger athletes, in recent years. The argument for specialization is that it allows players to excel at one particular sport as opposed to just being “good” at a few. Many sports parents that dream of athletic scholarships often feel like sports specialization is the best way to improve their child’s chances of getting that scholarship, but not everyone agrees. There is still a lot of be said for being a multi-sport athlete. Here are a few of the benefits to playing a different sport each season.