Before she traveled the country following Alabama, Ohio State and Texas, Heather Dinich was nestled in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
“I'm from Pottsville,” she says, “home of Yuengling (beer), and that's all.”
But there were youth sports, like there are just about anywhere.
“I think back to my time playing softball from fifth through eighth grade, which is why I love the Pittsburgh Pirates,” Dinich, now an ESPN college football writer, says. “And that contributed to my overall love of sports, and ultimately, why I’m a sports reporter.
“I wanted to be Andy Van Slake in center field. I wore his number. I wanted to dive head first like Pete Rose. And I'm so jealous of the young girls who get to play flag football because I can only imagine how much more
I would have known as a high school girl about football than I did growing up without it.”
It’s a model her employer has thought about a lot: Kids who play sports become sports fans. It used to be an easy formula when Dinich was growing up in the 1980s, but today, it’s a competitive market for kids’ attention.
Families spend, on average, $1,016 per year on their child’s primary sport, according to the most recent Aspen Institute parent survey. Many pay a lot more than that. There is a relentless race, even at young ages, for slots on travel and select teams. Kids feel pressure, or just plain inadequate, and they quit.
Recent data from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association has found that only 38% of 6- to 12-year-olds are playing sports on a regular basis.
ESPN has honed in on this age group, investing $5 million in philanthropy and marketing and focused on four pillars it hopes will help remove barriers to entry with what it calls "Take Back Sports."
It is grounded in the idea that strong community sports from a young age keeps kids playing and gives them a puncher’s chance of becoming sports fans for life.
Dinich, along with a collection of athlete ambassadors, are at the forefront of what ESPN calls its movement to empower parents, coaches and kids.
“We're not sending them out there to get a scholarship,” says Dinich, who has three sons (16, 14, 12) and experience with the high school and club levels of sports. “We're sending them out there to grow as people, to have fun, to be good teammates and to be well-rounded kids. And to be healthy”
What is 'Take Back Sports,' and why did ESPN start it?
ESPN has aligned it’s “platforms, partnerships and purpose” to make playing sports possible for kids across the USA. The Network is a member of the Aspen Institute’s "Project Play," which seeks to build healthy communities through sports.
"Project Play" has set the goal engaging 63% youth sports participation by 2030. We are around 55%, according to the latest numbers.
“Our focus is on parents, teachers, coaches, and caring adults,” says Kevin Martinez, vice president of ESPN Corporate Citizenship. “We're trying to demonstrate and show, and base in fact, the amplitude of when you participate in sports, you will develop foundational skills that will carry through your entire life, including leadership, resilience, teamwork, and mental wellness.
“Kids are really struggling. It is the most unhappy generation ever measured. How do we become part of the solution to make them happy? We think sports is part of that answer. How do you not burn them out? How do you make sure that there's access to sports, and how do you make sure that there's mentors that are involved? And so we came up with four strategies.”
The four pillars of "Take Back Sports: where they can have the largest impact:
- Community recreational leagues: where seeds are planted for a fervent interest in sports.
- Quality coaching: which can make or break a child’s experience with sports.
- Multisport play: which can reduce burnout and help kids stay in sports longer.
- Having fun: which sounds so simple, but, according to "Project Play" research, is a primary reason (along with playing alongside friends) why kids play sports in the first place.
"Take Back Sports," led by ESPN and Disney includes professional sports leagues and sports brands, as well Little League Baseball and Softball. It focuses on creating more affordable programs that give every kid a chance to play, develop and thrive.
The initiative, according to ESPN, has impacted more than 1 million kids and 67,000 coaches through support of organizations like the Positive Coaching Alliance, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Special Olympics and the Women’s Sports Foundation.
It focuses on creating more affordable programs that give every kid a chance to play, develop and thrive.
Why community sports are so important
The overall goal is to help more kids experience the benefits of sports participation early in life. The initiative collaborates with Disney Jr. and "Every Kid Sports" to expand access to youth sports for preschoolers (ages 3-7) via grants to help income-restricted families.
“The whole push to get it back to the community level is so important,” Dinich says. “That's where we met so many families. Some of our best friends right now, who we go on ski trips with and go on vacation with, are families that we met at youth soccer. Those community teams are critical to friendships and families and that whole aspect of having fun.
“I believe wholeheartedly we need to get back to that because the other thing that we're seeing in club sports is kids’ own little transfer portal. ‘Oh, I'm not getting playing time. I'm hopping to this one.’ And you know what all they really want to do? They want to play with the kids from school. And some of them haven't had the same teammates for four years because they’re team-hopping. And so that goes back to the essence of the team, the importance of coaches.”
We have a responsibility as parents in enhancing the youth sports experience
Martinez says a kid’s first experience with sports is usually with his or her parents, a connection, he says, that “becomes part of the social construct of the family identity.”
In other words, you’re a Yankees or a Celtics fan because your dad is or your mom is. However, the sport the parents played can also become part of that construct.
It can be a dicey proposition.
“The chances are very small that they get a scholarship, that they become professional, ultimately influence financially the rest of their life,” Martinez says. “And so, it's incumbent upon us to also say, wait a minute, sports should first and foremost be about having fun and something that the child wants for their own development.”
Dreams are formed in youth sports, but so is happiness. A prominent "Take Back Sports" ambassador is Stephen Curry, whose Eat. Learn. Play Foundation in Oakland, California, supports local kids with meals, reading resources and opportunities to play sports.
Martinez points out that Curry played football as kid. It drew him into sports and ultimately helped him to become a more well-rounded basketball player.
Our job as sports parents when our kids are young is to engage them in activities they love. Specialization – and travel sports, for that matter – can come later.
“That's what ESPN is trying to push back at,” Dinich says. “And it's an important pushback. Just because you invest literally thousands of dollars in this club sport doesn't guarantee that your kid's going to get a college scholarship, let alone a spot in the high school roster. We've been very candid with our middle son: 'Hey, do the best you can with trying out for the soccer team. You might not make it, and that's OK. And if you don't, then we'll figure it out.'
“What are you there for to begin with? It goes back to having fun, being healthy, and you can get that at the community level. And quite honestly, I don't understand how this model of youth sports is sustainable for parents.”
ESPN also sees an opportunity for coaches to be more intentional. According to "Project Play," more than 85% of youth athletes say their coach’s role is to develop their life skills. Just half agreed that their coach’s role is to win.
Youth coaches are often volunteer parents or family members who haven’t received a lot of training. ESPN has teamed with the Positive Coaching Alliance and the National Recreation and Park Association as part of the "Million Coaches Challenge" (MCC) to provide training and spur positive youth development.
According to Coach Beyond, a program launched as part of the MCC to train coaches across the country, one in five young people are struggling with a mental health issue, while one in four children have experienced at least one or more adverse childhood experiences (such as divorce or loss or incarceration of a loved one).
Coaches need to be more equipped.
'You don't want your kid peaking at 12': How to start improving your child's youth sports experience
First, ask yourself this question: Why are you doing it?
“Is it because you feel pressure to do it? Is it because your kid really wants to?” Dinich says. “What we have to be so careful of is burnout, and not having fun, and having the kids quit. Be in tune to what they're telling you and listen to your kids, because you do want them to continue to play as long as they can. And I think that specialization is OK at a certain point if that's what you want to do. Everyone has to make that decision. But you don't want your kid peaking at 12 years old.”
She says she checks in with her sons, even at 12 and older, about whether they enjoyed themselves at practice, along with how they were a good teammate that day.
“And if it wasn't fun, then why not?” she says. “What happened? What could be better? And what can you do next time?”
Take advantage of the time you have on the car ride home. If you’re doing travel sports, use the distance, Dinich suggests, to casually talk to your kid one on one, about sports or other topics.
Parents should always keep the big picture in mind. Embrace what you’re doing but understand that maybe in some cases it’s best for the health of the family to miss that tournament once in a while.
“I feel like there's so much good in the world and there's so much good that comes from youth sports,” Kerri Walsh Jennings, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in beach volleyball, told USA TODAY Sports.
She’s one of more than 20 athlete ambassadors brought in to be part of the effort.
“However,” she says, “I think there's a shadow side that's taken over to a certain extent, and I feel like (we need to) just encourage a conversation of, ‘Hey, there's so much good here, but the negative side is really hurting and affecting our kids.’ What are the shifts we can do to kind of manage the hardship?’ I think that gives parents permission to see the system differently. And it gives them agency within a really tough system.
“It feels like it doesn't allow for pushback or for a difference of perspective. But I don't want to just accept that and have parents accept that. I think no matter how intense your 13-year-old is and how elite they are, I feel like even if it's too much because of the scheduling and because it's 365, I feel like in the system that exists, you can still make it a great experience for your child, but you have to read that as a parent.
“I feel like the more fun these kids have, the longer they'll play, the more likelihood that they'll take this physicality and this joy of competition and of being with their friends playing games into their adulthood. I think when adults are playing games, it makes for a better society. So my hope is just that we can get out of our own way, advocate for our kids, which is different for every single family. And since it's really hard to change the system in one fell swoop, what are the things we can do within each of our own homes to make it the best situation for our children?”
Next week: How a beach volleyball legend is pushing back at youth sports’ status quo
Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He played baseball in high school, rowed in college and spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents to a college and high school baseball player. His Coach Steve column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why aren’t more kids playing sports? ESPN devotes $5M to get them back
