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As more youth sports professionalize, efforts around U.S. try to keep kids from burning out – The Press Democrat
ESCONDIDO — Like many mothers in Southern California, Paula Gartin put her twin son and daughter, Mikey and Maddy, into youth sports leagues as soon as they were old enough. For years, they loved playing soccer, baseball and other sports, getting exercise and making friends.
But by their early teens, the competition got stiffer, the coaches became more demanding, injuries intervened and their travel teams demanded that they focus on only one sport. Shuttling to weekend tournaments turned into a chore. Sports became less enjoyable.
Maddy dropped soccer because she didn’t like the coach and took up volleyball. Mikey played club soccer and baseball as a youngster, then chose baseball before he suffered a knee injury in his first football practice during the baseball offseason. By 15, he had stopped playing team sports.
Both are now in college and more focused on academics.
“I feel like there is so much judgment around youth sports. If you’re not participating in sports, you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing as a kid,” Gartin said. “There’s this expectation you should be involved, that it’s something you should be doing. You feel you have to push your kids. There’s pressure on them.”
Youth sports can have a positive effect on children’s self-esteem and confidence and teach them discipline and social skills. But a growing body of recent research has shown how coaches and parents can heap pressure on children, how heavy workloads can lead to burnout and fractured relationships with family members and friends, and how overuse injuries can stem from playing single sports.
A report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2024 showed how overuse injuries and overtraining can lead to burnout in young athletes. The report cited pressure by parents and coaches as additional risk factors. Another study, in the Journal of Sport Social Issues, highlighted how giving priority to a win-at-all-costs culture can stunt a young athlete’s personal development and well-being. Researchers at the University of Hawaii found that abusive and intrusive behavior by parents can add to stress on athletes.
Mental health is a vast topic, from clinical issues like depression and suicidal thoughts to anxiety and psychological abuse. There is now a broad movement to increase training for coaches so they can identify signs and symptoms of mental health conditions, said Vince Minjares, a program manager in the Aspen Institute’s Sports Society Program. Since 2020, seven states have begun requiring coaches to receive mental health training, he said.
Domineering coaches and parents have been around for generations. But their pressure has been amplified by the professionalization of youth sports. A growing number of sports leagues are being run as profit-driven businesses to meet demand from parents who urge their children to play at earlier ages to try to improve their chances of playing college or pro sports. According to a survey by the Aspen Institute, 11.4% of parents believe that their children can play professionally.
“There’s this push to specialize earlier and earlier,” said Meredith Whitley, a professor at Adelphi University who studies youth sports. “But at what cost? For those young people, you’re seeing burnout happen earlier because of injuries, overuse and mental fatigue.”
The additional stress is one reason more children are dropping out. The share of school-age children playing sports fell to 53.8% in 2022, from 58.4% in 2017, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health. While more than 60 million adolescents play sports, up to 70% of them drop out by age 13.
While groups like the Aspen Institute focus on long-standing issues of access and cost in youth sports, combating mental health problems in young athletes is an emerging area. In recent years, professional athletes like Naomi Osaka and Michael Phelps have shined a light on the issue. But parents who want to teach their children the positive parts of playing sports are finding that some of the worst aspects of being a young athlete are hard to avoid.
That was apparent to the parents who took their sons to hear Travis Snider speak at Driveline Academy in Kent, Washington, one Sunday last spring. Snider was a baseball phenom growing up near Seattle and was taken by the Toronto Blue Jays in the first round of the 2006 MLB draft.
But he finished eight unremarkable seasons as an outfielder and played his last major league game at 27. While attempting a comeback in the minor leagues, he worked with a life coach to help him make sense of why his early promise fizzled. He unearthed childhood traumas and unrealistic expectations on the field.
In a playoff game as an 11-year-old, he had had a panic attack on the mound and was removed from the game.
Though he reached the highest level of his sport, Snider felt as if distorted priorities turned baseball into a burden, something he wanted to help others avoid.
Last year, he started a company, 3A Athletics, to help children, parents and coaches develop healthier approaches to sports that include separating professional aspirations from the reality that most young athletes just want to get some exercise and make friends.
“We as a culture really blended the two into the same experience, which is really toxic for kids as they’re going through the early stages of identity formation,” Snider said. “You have a lot of parents who are sports fans that want to watch youth sports the same way they watch pro sports without recognizing, ‘Hey, the thing I love the most is out there running around on the field.’”
He added, “We’ve got to take a step back and detach from what has become normalized and what kind of vortex we get sucked into.”
Driveline Academy, an elite training facility filled with batting cages, speed guns, sensors and framed jerseys of pro players, might be the kind of vortex Snider would want people to avoid. But Deven Morgan, director of youth baseball at Driveline, hired 3A Athletics to help parents and young athletes put their sport in context.
“It’s part of a stack of tools we can deploy to our families and kids to help them understand that there is a structural way that you can understand this stuff and relate to your kid,” he said.
“We are going to get more out of this entire endeavor if we approach this thing from a lens of positivity.”
During his one-hour seminar, Snider and his partner, Seth Taylor, told the six sets of parents and sons how to navigate the mental roadblocks that come from competitive sports. Snider showed the group a journal he kept during the 2014 season that helped him overcome some of his fears, and encouraged the ballplayers to do the same.
“It’s not just about writing the bad stuff,” he said. “The whole goal is to start to open up about this stuff.”
Taylor took the group through a series of mental exercises, including visualization and relaxation techniques, to help players confront their fears and parents to understand their role as a support system.
His message seemed to get through to Amy Worrell-Kneller, who had brought her 14-year-old son, Wyatt, to the session.
“Generally, there’s always a few parents who are the ones who seem to be hanging on too tight, and the kids take that on,” she said. “At this age, they’re social creatures, but it starts with the parents.”
Coaches play a role, too. The Catholic Youth Organization in the Diocese of Cleveland has been trying to ratchet down the pressure on young athletes. At a training session in August, about 120 football, soccer, volleyball and cross-country coaches met for three hours to learn how to create “safe spaces” for children.
“Kids start to drop out by 12, 13 because it’s not fun and parents can make it not fun,” said Drew Vilinsky, the trainer. “Kids are tired and distracted before they get to practice, and have a limited amount of time, so don’t let it get stale.”
Coaches were told, among other things, to let children lead stretches and other tasks to promote confidence. Track coaches should use whistles, not starting guns, and withhold times from young runners during races.
“We’re trying not to overwhelm a kid with anxiety,” said Lisa Ryder, a track and cross-country coach for runners through eighth grade. “CYO is not going to get your kid to be LeBron.”
The Mercer County CYO basketball leagues have had some interesting games leading into to the Christmas break.
In a hotly-contested game between St. Raphael’s and St. Paul’s in the Boys’ Varsity Division as St. Raphael’s used 17 points from Dominic O’Rourke to earn the 42-36 victory.
St. Paul’s loves those close games as it edged St. Ann’s 32-29 as Demetria Bouroutis led the way with 14 points.
Evan Rogers led the way for St. Gregory’s Blue with 16 points as it doubled up St. Paul’s 50-25 and St. Ann’s took care of St. James White, 43-19 behind Chandler Brown’s 14 points.
Brown was on target when St. Ann’s stopped St. Paul’s 34-23 as he netted 21 points.
St. James White got a win over St. Gregory’s White, 34-13 as James McFarlane poured in 12 points.
Gianni Coopla led St. John’s to a pair of wins as he had 22 points in the 37-21 victory. Over Our Lady of Sorrows and Coopla stayed hot with 21 points in St. John’s 45-13 win over St. Gregory’s White.
The Boy’s JV Division saw St. Raphael’s Gold defeated St. Raphael’s Blue 23-10 as Dylan Cacciabadel had seven points.
St. Ann’s got the best of St. Raphael’s Blue with a 20-13 win as Hank Little had nine points.
In another of those in-house battles, St. Gregory’s Blue took St. Gregory’s Gary, 40-9 as Vincenzo Dimorino scored 12 points.
The struggles continued for St. Raphael’s Blue as St. Paul’s behind Matthew Vannozzi’s 16 points took a 25-17 win.
Grayson Griffis tallied 12 points in leading St. Raphael’s Gold to a 30-16 win over St. Paul’s in the Boy’s Freshman Division and in a St. Gregory’s battle it was the Blue getting 10 points from Antonio Barone to take a 30-8 decision over the White.
St. Gregory’s Blue used Quinn Nemeth’s six points to get past St. Raphael’s Gold, 22-12 and Luke Edwards had six points in St. Paul’s 9-6 win over St. Gregory’s White.
St. Ann’s defeated St. Raphael’s 7-4 as Gabriel Topley and Jackson Coe each had two points.
The Girls’ Varsity Division saw Noel Davis score 15 points to lead St. Paul’s to a 34-30 win over St. Raphael’s.
Linzy Ditta had a great game with 12 points as St. Raphael’s topped St. Paul’s 33-24.
Joselyn Grant tallied nine points as St. Raphael’s notched a 25-9 win over St. Gregory’s White in the Girls’ JV Division.
Addison Woods scored seven points as St. Gregory’s Blue got passed St. Paul’s 15-8.
Over in the Girl’s Freshman Division, it was St. Gregory’s White using six points from Hazel Stuehaen to get past St. Paul’s, 12-4.
Listen to this articleTHE BLUEPRINT:
- A more than $175 million youth sports complex is proposed for Big Bend.
- The Breck Athletic Complex will include baseball, soccer, lacrosse fields and a 155,000-square-foot indoor facility.
- The developer requested rezoning 42 acres to facilitate construction.
- A public hearing is set for Jan. 29.
A youth sports complex worth more than $170 million is in play for Big Bend.
The village of Big Bend Plan Commission considered a proposal to turn farmland into a multiphase, mixed-use recreation and hospitality development in Waukesha County. The Breck Athletic Complex will include six turf baseball fields, seven full-size soccer fields, futsal and lacrosse fields, and an indoor turf facility spanning 155,000 square feet for baseball, soccer and lacrosse training, plans showed.
Eric Weishaar, founder and president of Breckenridge Landscape, presented the development to village officials in November 2025. I & S Group, Inc. provided design services.
Kraus-Anderson, the project construction manager, estimated the total construction cost will range between $175 and $225 million, according to a letter from I & S Group. Two major factors that will influence the final cost are a proposed retail area and anticipated upgrades to State Highway 164, plans showed.
The architecture will have a “Colorado Mountain Town” influence throughout eight stages of development, plans showed. Amenities include concessions, restrooms, playgrounds, fitness trails and landscaped plazas. Additional uses include a craft bar and restaurant, banquet hall, hotel, gas station and future retail spaces for visitors and residents.
The development team has requested rezoning 42 acres at the northeast corner of Skyline Avenue and State Highway 164, an agenda showed. The parcel is around 150 acres, but at least 40% of it will be used for green and open space, plans showed.
Located in the far north side of Big Bend, the development is south of homes and open land in the village of Waukesha and west and north of homes in the village of Vernon, plans showed.
Some residents in Big Bend and Vernon spoke up with concerns about the aesthetic of the 70-foot proposed building, potential light pollution and traffic, local outlets reported. The village has a population of nearly 1,500, according to the U.S. Census Bureau; the planned Breck Athletic Complex will provide around 1,500 parking spaces.
There were no residential units included in the development plans.
The village of Big Bend Board of Trustees and Plan Commission will hold a joint public hearing on Jan. 29 to discuss the rezoning.
Jan. 2, 2026, 11:26 a.m. CT
A youth sports facility planned for Brown Deer has taken a step forward with the developer buying the project site for $3.2 million.
Brown Deer Development Partners LLC, an affiliate of Cobalt Partners LLC, bought the site on North Arbon Drive, south of West Brown Deer Road, on Dec. 30.
That’s according to a deed posted online by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. The mostly vacant site was sold by Brown Deer Master P1 LLC, an affiliate of Royal Capital Group Ltd.
On January 13, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a landmark case about laws in Idaho and West Virginia restricting access to youth sports according to biological sex. (Here is my defense of the use of the term “biological sex” for anyone who does not care for it.) I read a new book coming out this month, Fair Game: Trans Athletes and the Future of Sports, which argues for what I would characterize as a radical inclusiveness for transgender athletes.
The book casts doubt on the power of testosterone on determining competitiveness in sports. It insists that sex is not binary. And it goes so far as to suggest that there shouldn’t even be sex segregation in sports at all. Here is a quote from the book that distills its central claims:
The prevailing cultural narrative that trans athletes pose a threat to cis athletes is harmful to trans athletes. There is no evidence that they are dangerous or hostile to their cis team-mates. The policies restricting trans athletes in the name of protecting cis athletes stem from the same sexist logic that created sex segregation in sports to begin with. They assume that cis women are weaker than cis men, that trans women have the same biological makeup as cis men, and that trans men have the same biological makeup as cis women, and so, trans men aren’t worth worrying about when they compete in men’s sports. Let’s have a better conversation about safety in sports that leads to more safety in sports for everyone.
I spoke with the book’s authors, Ellie Roscher, a writer and former college athlete, and Dr. Anna Baeth, a critical feminist scholar and cultural studies practitioner of sport who is the director of research at Athlete Ally. I hope you’ll give a listen to the video and share it.
Here are a few show notes:
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