Christian Families and Youth Sports (pt. 1)

I want to release three posts on the topic:

This one (part 1) on the importance of considering how we handle youth sports.

A second part sharing some highlights from Mike Matheny’s book on the topic.

And a third post with some suggestions I would like to make to families.  So join me in reading and considering these posts.  Feel free to share comments and feedback with me on the topic.


“Three out of four American families with school-aged children have at least one playing an organized sport–a total of about 45 million kids.”¹  ESPN in some data they collected said 21.5 million kids between the ages of 6-17 play on a team sport.²  Youth sports has changed drastically in the last 30 years.  It has gone from the driveway and local park to the travel teams and paid tournaments.  Youth sports is big money.

For Christians families this is one of the greatest challenges we face today.  Kids’ involvement in sports requires hours of time, sometimes significant amounts of money, and often time away from home. Youth sports puts pressure on family in several key areas.  Because of sports, marriages are often strained as parents have to divide and conquer to get the kids to all the practices and games.  Youth sports often stands in direct competition with the church for the time and affection of kids.  Kids struggle to attend Bible class or be involved in youth group activities because of their sports commitments.  It often can harm the peace and serenity of the home, because there is little time at home for a family to be together.

Christian parents can greatly harm their example for Christ and the church when they allow youth sports to push them to act inappropriately in public.  Youth sports can bring out anger and harsh words toward coaches, officials, and even our own children.  We can be influenced to miss worship services regularly and send the wrong message to our children about what should be our top priority.

I don’t have all the answers, but I do know some of the problems.  I have seen sports break apart marriages, pull families away from the church, and cause kids to not develop their faith.  We have four children who have played sports recreational for six plus years.  I have coached numerous soccer and basketball teams.  We have played soccer, basketball, golf, and baseball.  I know what it is like to have practices on numerous nights of the week.  I have experience the emotions of being a coach and the frustration of being a parent.  It is a real challenge, because sports tug at our hearts!  There is much value in them, but they also can harm the family and endanger the souls of our family if we don’t keep them in check.

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¹ https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2014/05/03/how-parents-are-ruining-youth- sports/vbRln8qYXkrrNFJcsuvNyM/story.html

²  http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/9469252/hidden-demographics-youth-sports-espn-magazine

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