By Catriona Maria | Wealth of Geeks
Children who engage in team or individual sports into adolescence exhibit better working memory, higher academic performance at the end of school, and higher odds of going on to college — by some measures, almost double that of students who drop out of sports.
A groundbreaking study by University of Sydney researchers found the positive link between participation in youth sports and improved academic results. It suggests the benefits of becoming a student-athlete extend beyond the playing field and into the classroom.
This long-term study is the first of its kind. It used data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) to track the sports participation of over 4,000 kids aged 4 to 13. Researchers then contrasted those results against their academic performance, from childhood to their twenty-first birthday.
New Insights Into Sports Influence
First published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, these findings show that long-term student-athletes achieve better grades and scores on standardized tests, are less absent from class, and are likelier to attend college.
Study leader Dr. Katherine Owen, a biostatistician at the University of Sydney, believes this research highlights the importance of keeping kids healthy by staying involved in youth sports until graduation.
“We know all too well the link between educational attainment and improved health status. This study suggests that making sport more of a priority in school could be one way to influence this,” explained Owen in an interview with the University of Sydney media team.
“To achieve that we also need to see sports adapt and become more flexible and inclusive to allow more children to play the way that they want to, whether it’s just for fun or social reasons.”
Does it Matter What Kind of Sport a Child Practices?
According to Owen and her team, the academic benefits gained from youth sports differed depending on whether a kid played an individual or team sport. Children who play individual sports, such as swimming, riding, or tennis, scored better on standardized national literacy tests and end-of-school exams than their team player counterparts.
“We suspect this may be because individual sports tend to encourage responsibility, self-reliance, goal setting, and a higher level of preparation,” Owen explains. “On a psychological level, many of these skills also carry over into preparation for school exams.”
Team sports provide an alternative range of advantages. Because team sports require quick thinking, collaboration, and strategic decision-making under pressure, kids who practice sports like soccer and basketball score higher on attention and working memory evaluations. They also have lower absenteeism rates. Most importantly, they are more likely to earn their high school diploma.
“This is in line with other research that shows team sports develop important social and mental skills in children and teens. It provides opportunities to work together, which often fosters a sense of belonging,” observed Dr. Owen.
Academic performance also varied depending on the school subject. On average, researchers found that youth sports participation positively affected math and science grades more than English and language results.
“It is possible that skills developed through sport, such as problem-solving and perseverance, can be transferred to classroom learning, and possibly more so to mathematics where problem-solving and perseverance are commonly used,” researchers theorize.
Further study is needed to determine the link between youth sports and academic results. Next on the agenda is learning how specific sports affect grades and whether factors such as the frequency and intensity of practices are also influential.
“Ongoing studies will be important to flesh this out and to help us understand how we can tailor educational environments to foster and promote sports participation in a way that might improve young people’s physical activity levels, health, and educational success,” concludes Dr. Owen.
How Many Kids Play Sports in the United States?
According to the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), approximately 26.8 million children in the United States participated in youth sports in 2022. A nearly equal amount — 22.9 million — did not. These numbers represent an unprecedented decline in youth sports involvement, a decrease caused by the total disruption of COVID-19.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, the NSCH reported that the percentage of kids aged 6 to 17 in sports dropped from 58.4% in 2017 to 53.8% in only five years.
This trend echoes findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In its Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the CDC revealed that the percentage of high school students not playing on at least one sports team soared to a record high of 50.9% in 2021.
Student-athletes often start young: 55.7% of children aged 6 to 11 played a sport in 2022, whereas only 52.1% of 12 to 17-year-olds did so. Compared to the 59% of teenagers who played a sport in 2017, the decreased participation rates are most evident in high schoolers.
There is a nearly ten-point difference in the amount of male and female student-athletes: 58.1% of boys participate in sports, compared to 49.4% of girls.
Youth sports participation varies among ethnic groups. Almost two-thirds of non-Hispanic White students play sports, the most of any racial group. The lowest participation rates are among Hispanic children, followed by the Black population.
However, the most significant divergence in participation rates lies along socioeconomic lines. Only 33.3% of the lowest-income children are involved in youth sports, whereas 71.3% of kids in the highest-income bracket are student-athletes.
Why Are Fewer Kids Playing Sports?
The overall benefits of youth sports participation are extensively documented and well advertised. In 2019, the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition Science Board published a report detailing how playing sports can improve physical condition and mental health.
Despite this, the rate of participation in youth sports continues to decline. In its 2019 National Youth Strategy, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services identified the main factors keeping kids from playing sports. For most families, the major obstacles are lack of access to facilities and programs, lack of interest or knowledge, time constraints, competing demands, and the monetary cost of participation.
Youth sports are not cheap. The average price tag for playing one sport is $883 a year per child, with travel being the costliest expense. According to the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative, the most expensive sports are among the most popular. Soccer will set a family back $1,188, with basketball and baseball not that far behind.
Critics blame the pay-to-play model for the exorbitant cost of playing a sport. Private academies, clubs, and tutors dominate youth sports, from baseball to soccer. Detractors allege that kids are being “priced out” of these extracurricular activities by a system that favors more affluent families.
In a recent column for the New York Times, parenting expert and journalist Jessica Grouse argues in favor of “a concerted effort from parents, local governments and, hopefully, private businesses” to even the playing field and improve opportunities for lower-income students.
“We should make that effort because all children deserve an opportunity to get exercise, develop a lifelong love of physical activity, and experience on-field competition,” Grouse writes.
“If we don’t provide better access to play at younger ages, kids will be less healthy as adults. The well-being of our population is something we should all care about, whether we have kids or not.”
This article was produced by Media Decision and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
