Why Youth Sports in America Are in Decline

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the last five years, high school sports participation has fallen for the first time on record. The number of boys playing high school sports today is lower than in any year since 2007. While travel leagues are thriving, local leagues are flailing—for football, soccer, baseball, basketball ... you name it. And this is happening, of course, in a decade when young people are spending less time in the physical world, less time with their friends, less time moving around, and more time sitting hunched over a phone. So what’s going on, and what should we do? Today’s guests are Jason Gay, sports columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and Tom Farrey, the executive director of the Aspen Institute's Sports and Society Program. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. You can find us on TikTok at www.tiktok.com/@plainenglish_ Host: Derek Thompson Guests: Jason Gay and Tom Farrey Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Sean Fennessy, one of the hosts of the Prestige TV podcast.
0:04.7	HBO's Barry is back for a fourth and final season, and that means I'll be back recapping
0:09.9	the show with co-creator and star, Bill Hader, to dive deep on the themes, scenes, and
0:14.4	major moments in the series.
0:16.2	Bill will provide insight into how every episode is made and why it's ending.
0:19.8	New Prestige TV Barry recaps will go live every Sunday night when the episode ends, so make
0:24.0	sure you're subscribed to the Prestige TV podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
0:30.6	Today's episode is about youth sports and what the decline of youth sports in America
0:37.6	says about America.
0:40.7	So when I was in high school, I played tennis and I played soccer.
0:45.4	When it came to my soccer career, honestly, the less said about it, the better.
0:49.6	With tennis, I would say I achieved the status of being fine, like just above okay.
0:56.6	I was short, I am pretty short, five, eight, Jewish, musical theater kid.
1:00.6	That was me, not exactly your prototypical athletic specimen, but I understood basic
1:05.1	strategy in tennis and I won a lot of singles games with the JB team.
1:08.8	It was always a slight shot to the backhand side, get them to the net, then passing shot
1:14.9	with the forehand or a lob over their back, their backhand side, that they'll run back and
1:20.2	do like that sort of go backhand volley, that was my bread and butter.
1:23.5	Looking back on those high school sports days, even though I was never particularly gifted
1:27.5	at any individual sport, I really do think that my experience playing sports in high school
1:34.0	was a core part of my education.
1:36.8	Sports channeled my competitiveness.
	...

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