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The high-pressure commercialization of the youth sports pipeline knows no bounds.

The Future of Youth Sports

Costs are skyrocketing, rankings are an obsession, and every contest is a judgment on some kid’s future. Lost is the spirit of playing for now. Every year, parents pull their kids out of sports in protest. And every year, even more new families step forward, willing to play the game.

The more parents spent, the more the kids seemed to feel the pressure of doing well for Mom and Dad.

Dr. Travis Dorsch

Utah State University professor and former NFL player who conducted a study showing that the more parents pay for club sports, the more the kids perceive it as pressure.

But there is hope. Aided by data-gathering platforms, governing bodies at the local, regional and national levels can crack down on exploitation of eager athletes and their ambitious parents. Performance-sensor data tracking will inject desperately needed realism, laying bare the snake oil dreams sold by youth sports profiteers.

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