Youth Sports Facts

  • There are over 48 million kids from the ages of five through high school playing sports nationwide in recreation leagues, club teams and all the way up to interscholastic sports.

  • 73 percent of these kids quit their childhood sport by the age of thirteen because they simply are not having fun anymore.

  • The number of overweight kids has mushroomed and children age six through 11 have increased their weight 300 percent over the past 25 years.

  • More than 75 percent of U.S. children are not active at least 20 minutes per day.

  • When speaking of injuries, the highest percentage of injuries in players five to fourteen are led by gymnastics, followed by skating mishaps, baseball, soccer and football. 

  • Less than 10 percent of the two and a half million volunteer coaches in the United States have had any type of coaching education, which makes me wonder what the other 90 percent are doing.