There are certainly positives to this as well as many negatives. And we are seeing the negatives today, like never before.
“Youth sports are a massive business.
There are +’s & -’s to this.
It’s how we get our kids higher quality coaching & resources.
The problem is when adults put themselves over the betterment of the kids & exploit their families for their own personal gain.
Integrity matters.”
-Ray Zingler on X
At the end of 2022, the global market for youth sports was estimated at $37.5 Billion Dollars. Yes, that’s Billions with a B.
It’s much higher than that today and is on pace to be around $45B by 2030.
That’s a lot of cheese.
And while you can like or dislike the fact that youth sports is a MASSIVE business, you can’t argue that because they are a business, this comes with access to higher quality coaching, instruction, and resources for our kids.
As much as I appreciate a great volunteer, there is no way a volunteer can provide our kids with the quality coaching a paid coach can, when we’re talking scale.
The (ever growing) problem with youth sports being a business is that when business exists, greed accompanies it.
And we are seeing that nasty greed today, like we’ve never seen before.
We are seeing irresponsible adults who lack integrity, exploit kids and their family’s for their own personal gain.
These individuals are leading kids and their parents to believe that more is better.
To not have off-season’s.
To play in every tournament.
To go to every showcase.
To buy their lessons.
No time off.
More. More. More.
Why are they doing this?
Because they can.
They know that parents will do anything for their kids and if the money is there to be made, they don’t mind forgoing what is actually best for the kids, to collect those dollars.
And the sad part is that many (naïve) parents think that because Coach Joe is so nice, that he always has good intentions.
Sleazy car salesman are nice, too.
Youth sports can be a business all day long.
Again, I think they should be.
But it doesn’t mean that adults on the + side of the spectrum should forgo integrity and ethics to make those few extra bucks.
There is plenty to be made doing things the right way.
You know they don’t need to play in that extra tournament.
You know you’re only pushing that showcase because you get a kickback.
You know they don’t need a 3rd lesson this week, either.
Tell them what they really need.
Not what you really want.
It’ll serve them best and come back to you.
