High-pressure youth athletics are destroying young athletes rather than helping raise them.
As social media becomes increasingly popular and connects more athletes from different levels, unnecessary pressure can arise for youth athletes to overtrain, specialize, and base their self worth in their performance. Eventually, these habits all culminate in burnout and quitting sports, ridding youth of the opportunity to develop the life skills and good habits that organized sports develop.
On social media, videos of child prodigies are highly popular. In fact, some individuals choose to make entire accounts that cover athletes who could be “the next (insert elite athlete from the young athlete’s sport)”. While it is inspiring to see a young athlete performing at a high level, these accounts create pressure for “non-prodigy” athletes and lead to the misconception that progress is guaranteed.
When seemingly average young athletes consume media discussing the 12-year-old incarnation of Lamar Jackson, they may feel like they are behind. It is no surprise that this feeling of inadequacy happens as the developmental gap between adolescent athletes is huge. For example, it is common for two teen athletes of the same age to be at completely different stages in their growth and hormonal development. Athletes are further discouraged by the seemingly high volume of “prodigy” athletes that can be found on social media. This is a result of the expansion of social media and the fact that algorithms show people content catered to their specific interests. Algorithms create the perfect climate for the youth athlete to be shown endless videos of people excelling at the sport they take interest in, and eventually the athlete is bound to be shown content covering elite outliers around their age.
Athletes can become overwhelmed by the idea that there are people of their same age group that are worlds better than them, and they may start to feel discouraged. To close this gap, youth athletes may choose to invest in the sport they take the most interest in early, which is harmful for their development later in their athletic careers.
Content promoting youth prodigies can also have the opposite effect, completely downplaying the necessity of hard work for those already considered elite. The way social media advertises prodigies makes it seem like there is no feasible way that the young athlete couldn’t succeed. It paints progress as a guarantee rather than a possibility. It associates athletic success at a young age with later success. However, none of these generalizations accurately represents how progress happens. One study examined 38,000 elite “junior” athletes and 23,000 elite “senior” athletes. The study found that 89% of U17/18 athletes who competed at an international (the most “elite”) level were unable to reach an equal level of competition as seniors, and 82% of senior athletes competing at an international level never competed at an international level as juniors. This shows that successful young athletes may not find success at the professional level, and successful professional athletes may not have been successful as youth athletes. This message, however, is not communicated on social media.
Social media’s misrepresentation of how athletes progress robs young athletes of lessons that can be learned from sports. When a young athlete is discouraged by those better than them and pressured to the point that youth sports seem like work instead of fun, they may quit. Obviously, since the athlete no longer participates in sport, they no longer learn what sport has to offer. On the other side of the spectrum, while some child prodigies also fall victim to burnout, they can also come to the conclusion that success is guaranteed for them, regardless of their efforts. This creates a lack of drive to work hard, one of the most valuable lessons taught by sport.
In essence, it is clear that social media has a negative impact on youth sports. Unfortunately, social media won’t be going away anytime soon, but this does not mean that young athletics cannot improve. Young athletes should always trust their own processes and understand that comparing themselves to others generally will not help them and doesn’t tell the full story. Parents should ensure that they empower their young athletes to play multiple sports and avoid unnecessary pressure. After all, it is important to remember that true discipline and drive come from the athlete themselves, not from external factors.
