How to make Wisconsin youth sports more play-focused again

Participation in local youth sports programs can have plenty of positive benefits for children, including exercise, life lessons and healthy competition.

In her new book “More Than Play: How Law, Policy, and Politics Shape American Youth Sport,” author Dionne Koller makes the case that youth sports create value for a variety of stakeholders but also come with some negative consequences.

She told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” this is a $20 billion industry that serves as the starting point for many future professional athletes.

“We love sports in this country at all levels,” Koller said. “Everything from parents who just enjoy watching their kids perform to the Olympic and Paralympic movements, [which] get the benefit out of a pipeline of kids who become elites at a very early age.”

Fiercer competition for that successful payoff at the youth level has brought more specialization and professionalization for young athletes, which Koller said can have problematic outcomes.

She noted research showing significant burnout that has children leaving sports because it stops being fun for them. 

“Kids are encouraged to pick a sport, become really good at that sport, and then train year-round,” Koller said. “That is mentally exhausting. It is physically taxing. They end up with what the medical community has called an ‘epidemic of preventable over-training issues.’”

Koller said youth sports can also expose young athletes to varying forms of abuse, ranging from overuse injuries and developmentally inappropriate training to the most extreme examples like the sexual assault case of disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.

She pointed to a lack of regulation in the industry, with Congress and many states taking a hands-off approach to how children’s sports are administered.

“Parents are surprised that, no, for the most part, nobody else is watching,” Koller said. “It’s a very low barrier to entry to get into youth sport coaching because there’s no government entity saying, ‘Hey, we need to make sure that the people who are engaging children’s minds and bodies in sports necessarily know what they’re doing.’”

She wants to see governments put in place basic minimum safety standards, like background checks for coaches but “not micromanaging tee ball.”

At the same time, Koller would like youth sports organizations to make sure they put more emphasis on fun and fitness rather than specialization and training.

That’s one of the goals of the Oshkosh Area School District’s Recreation Department.

Director of recreation Kabel Helmbrecht told “Wisconsin Today” that the philosophy of his staff and volunteers is all about setting up kids to play and have fun with their friends.

“It’s not about the wins and losses. It’s about skill development,” Helmbrecht said. “It’s about the friendships that these kids are going to make, teaching them life skills — how to manage adversity, how to work together as a team — all of these great things that happen in youth sports.” 

Working under the umbrella of the school district gives his programs some advantages over municipal recreation divisions and other independent sports organizations.

Helmbrecht is able to organize participants by the school they attend, so they can be more comfortable playing with other students they already know.

School district resources also help them keep the cost down for parents and families, ensuring competitions are held locally, with fixed schedules and no travel.

He sends out surveys to families who participate in their youth basketball program, and he’s proud of their 93 percent satisfaction rate.

The emphasis on fun and play instead of wins and losses means their volunteer coaches, who all go through criminal background checks, don’t need to be experts on their sports. They just need to be engaged and supportive.

“The biggest thing is just being a positive role model for the kids,” Helmbrecht said. “Having fun with the kids and just being an active adult in their lives is huge.”

He also sees kids branching out into less traditional sports that may be more accessible and less competitive, like disc golf, pickleball or bowling.

Helmbrecht sees those as activities that can start in youth sports and last a lifetime, even if the child never earns a varsity letter or an Olympic medal.