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Living Better

Kids can't all be star athletes. here's how schools can welcome more students to play.

Selena Simmons-Duffin

Going into his last tennis match of the school year, high school senior Lorris Nzouakeu knew he might get knocked out in straight sets. He was scheduled for one of the first matches of the day during the regionals competition in western Maryland, against a student from another school who'd won the championship last year.

"So it wasn't really looking good at the start," he laughs. "My goal was definitely to continue rallies and maintain pace and also just have fun."

"Fun" is sometimes hard to find in high school sports. Gunning for college athletic scholarships, many students and families go all in – focusing on one sport and even one position from elementary school. It's also big business – the whole youth sports industry is worth $19 billion dollars, more than the NFL .

For a lot of kids of all ages, sports are not working for them. Less than half of kids play sports at all, and those that do only stick with it for about three years and quit by age 11 . That's a whole lot of kids missing out on some of the huge benefits of sports, including spacial awareness, physical activity, and team skills.

Increasingly sports educators, health researchers and parents are pushing back against this trend and arguing that playing sports should be for all kids.

During the last few pandemic years, physical activity fell, while obesity rates and mental health challenges grew, note Tom Farrey and Jon Solomon of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program in a 2022 handbook for reimagining school sports . At the same time, interest in sports has grown, which "presents an historic opportunity for schools to reimagine their approach to sports," they write.

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But schools can create space for more types of students in sports. One example of what this looks like in practice is Nzouakeu's high school – Tuscarora High in Frederick County, Md. This school transformed its athletics program to prioritize including kids of all ability levels in sports. It's a model for handling youth sports, argues author and athlete Linda Flanagan , who highlighted the school in her book about youth sports entitled Take Back the Game .

Here's how Tuscarora High does things – plus some guiding principles for how schools can help include more kids in the fun of sports.

Lorris Nzouakeu played tennis for three years at Tuscarora High. He appreciate that his school "gives a lot of space for people to actually engage, even if they don't believe that they're the strongest... it gives plenty of opportunity to be able to grow into the sport." Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Lorris Nzouakeu played tennis for three years at Tuscarora High. He appreciate that his school "gives a lot of space for people to actually engage, even if they don't believe that they're the strongest... it gives plenty of opportunity to be able to grow into the sport."

Offer a variety of sports to appeal to all tastes and talents

Tuscarora is a fairly big school with about 1,600 students – 40% white, a quarter Hispanic, a quarter Black. A third of students get free or reduced lunch.

Half of these students play a school sport, well above the national average of 39% participation. "That's awesome," beams Tuscarora's coordinator of athletics and facilities Chris O'Connor. "That speaks to the number of sports that we offer."

Frederick County schools, including Tuscarora, offer 17 different sports , including golf, swimming and lacrosse, and starting next year, girls flag football . It also has three unified teams, in which students with and without disabilities play together – Tuscarora's unified bocce team won Maryland's state championship this year .

Variety is key because not everyone loves playing football, basketball or baseball, notes Brian Culp , professor of health and physical activity leadership at Kennesaw State University.

"What can happen is that if you're in a school system where you, for instance, have a high amount of African-American students, and you say, 'Well, I'm going to provide basketball and I'm going to provide football,' – you've basically designed their destiny," he says. If a student isn't good at either of these sports or doesn't like it, he explains, they might feel like there's no place in sports for them.

Offering options like fencing or gymnastics can help students find what clicks. "There are things that impact what type of choices people make: Are they skiers? Are they swimmers? Are they runners?" Culp says he himself didn't play a varsity sport until his senior year, when he ran cross country.

Chris O'Connor leads athletics at Tuscarora High. He says it's important to let kids try a variety of sport. His own kids, a seventh-grader and a fourth-grader, both do three sports so "they can figure out what they like," he says. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Chris O'Connor leads athletics at Tuscarora High. He says it's important to let kids try a variety of sport. His own kids, a seventh-grader and a fourth-grader, both do three sports so "they can figure out what they like," he says.

Don't force kids – even star players – to specialize

Variety is also important for athletically gifted students to help them branch out, notes Flanagan.

"There's no end to the specializing," she says, of the trend in sports today. A parent may go beyond specializing their child in hockey, she says, to asserting: "My child's a goalie, and don't deviate from that because that's where you're going to make your mark."

She thinks this way of approaching sports robs them of the fun, while also increasing the risks of repetitive stress injuries and potentially limiting a child's identity. In her book she advises: no sports specializing before puberty.

Tuscarora's O'Connor agrees that specializing is a problem. "I think that's what's wrong with youth sports right now in America," he says. "I'm from the mindset that you should do as many different sports as possible because you don't know what you're going to like."

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Give kids of varying skill levels opportunities to play.

The school system today is geared toward channeling the top-performing young athletes toward collegiate and professional goals, says Flanagan. "If you're at a giant school and you're trying to make the basketball team, you are competing against four grades [worth of students] for five spots," she says. "So where does that leave the kid who's just like, 'Okay, I want to play, but I'm not fantastic'?

"The arms-race nature of it has really had such a terrible impact on kids who might ordinarily grow into it if they had space, they had time," she adds.

Not every family has the resources to develop kids' athletic talents when they're younger, and some kids don't discover an interest right away. For students like this, Tuscarora has low-key, non-competitive sports that students can play during the school day, explains O'Connor — and that have meets every few weeks.

"It's providing that opportunity for the student-athlete in the school day to just have some fun with the sport and be around an adult who knows something about it," he says.

Official school sports also help students who come in as beginners stick with it and get better, says Nzouakeu, the Tuscarora tennis player. He started as a sophomore, and his game has improved steadily, he says. "I know that when I play out there, I can definitely find out which skills I need to practice more and I can take that time to continue getting better."

Use school space and time creatively

School sports are often jammed in after a long day of sitting in classrooms. That's not the only way to do things, notes Flanagan.

"In Finland, after every 45 minutes, they have 15 minutes of recess," she says. "Just this idea of moving your body to clear your head – it's well-established in science that this is so essential for clear thinking and for emotional well-being, too."

She says recess isn't the only way to get physical activity during the school day – intramural and club sports can offer that same kind of outlet, if schools think creatively about space.

"Most gym and field space is not occupied all the time – field space in particular is typically for sports after school," she points out. Why not use that field during a flex period? Or get students scrimmaging in the gym?

To do this, says Culp, you need "a principal, a district that actively promotes physical movement as a part of the school day." He notes decades worth of research showing the benefits of physical activity for kids. "A physically, actively engaged child is a better learner in school," he says "Their self-esteem is high, their self-confidence is high, and their ability to actually deal with challenges in the world is better."

Tuscarora High in Frederick, Md. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

PE classes have a good ratio of teacher to student

One challenge for students who aren't confident in their sports skills is that it can be intimidating to try to join in, says Culp, especially if there are a lot of students and only one teacher or coach.

It's like being in a city waiting for a subway. "That train comes through and you're just like, 'I don't know if I want to get on that subway car because it's packed,'" he says. If there are too many other students, some kids may feel they won't get enough support from the coach.

School leadership and school boards can support physical movement, Culp says, by instituting a manageable ratio of educators to students. This can encourage students without a lot of skills (or even reluctance) to feel like they can join in.

High school senior Lorris Nzouakeu says he enjoyed improving his tennis game during high school and he'll keep playing tennis recreationally in college. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

High school senior Lorris Nzouakeu says he enjoyed improving his tennis game during high school and he'll keep playing tennis recreationally in college.

Keep things in perspective

Yes, there are benefits to sports, says Flanagan, but they are not for everyone. With children, "you can't force them to like school or like to read or when to do sports," says Flanagan. "They have to come to it on their own."

Modeling low-key outdoor play and enjoying sports is an important thing parents can do, she says. But Flanagan – who has coached cross country and track and seen the intensity some parents bring to their children's athletic endeavors – says it's important to let kids quit when they want to.

"I don't think forcing kids to play sports is a good idea," she says. "We have this distorted notion here about grit. Obviously grit is important. But I think we shouldn't make children stick with things just because it's a virtue to stick with things and who cares how miserable you are."

That includes young people who never really took to sports at all, and talented athletes who played seriously for years and then decide they've had enough.

And maybe if you give kids a choice, and let them play without having to be the best, they'll discover a life-long love of sport. Lorris Nzouakeu, who just graduated from Tuscarora High, lost his regionals tennis match 6-0, 6-0, but that didn't bother him too much. He says next year in college, he may play on an intramural tennis team, or just recreationally.

"I'd like to continue tennis in college because not only do I think of it as a great pastime, but I also think that it's something that I can just continue doing for myself," he says. "Something I can de-stress with as I continue living my life."

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Should School Sports Prioritize Participation Over Competition? What a New Report Says

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High school sports play an important role in addressing students’ physical and mental health needs, but with fewer than 2 in 5 public high school students participating, the traditional model needs to be updated to serve more of them, a report this spring from the Aspen Institute says.

The Sport for All, Play for Life high school sports report proposes eight strategies to help principals and school leaders develop their students’ social and emotional skills through sports. A product of two years of research and input from more than 60 experts, the report envisions a school sports system with opportunities for every student. Increasing participation in sports can have lifelong ramifications, given that student athletes are more likely to be active as adults. It also comes as educators scramble to boost students’ socioemotional skills and reconnect them with their schools after years of pandemic-driven isolation and educational disruption.

“The current high school sports model doesn’t really work for enough students,” Jon Solomon, the editorial director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program, said. “It’s largely based on trying to win games and scholarships, and playing for the school, and that’s still incredibly valuable and important, but there are many other students who are being left behind.”

“We believe that leaders should recognize that every student, regardless of their background or ability, has a right to play sports — and we don’t just mean a right to try out for a team,” he added.

Here are some steps school leaders can take to make school sports more accessible to their students:

Align school sports with student interests

Schools need to know what students want to participate in in order to design sport offerings that will raise participation. However, Jay Coakley, a sociologist at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, who was one of the experts the Aspen Institute consulted during its reporting process, said youth sports today are “adult-oriented.”

“The developmental interests of children and the interests of children in their own movements have been ignored,” Coakley said. “It’s adult perspectives that create the leagues and all of the things that go along with it—run the practices, set the schedules—and children have no voice and their interests are either ignored or unknown.”

“A lot of the changes that have occurred have taken the act of playing out of the hands of kids and put it into the hands of adults,” he added. “I’m not against adult guidance, but that move is not good.”

This is because, according to Coakley, adults have different definitions of fun than students do. The number one reason high school students play sports is to have fun, according to the Aspen Institute report. Nearly two-thirds of surveyed students said they engage so they can play with and make new friends.

“Those are the first things that are eliminated in organized sports,” Coakley said.

For instance, in Little League baseball, Coakley said, a coach’s goal is to identify the pitcher on the team who will prevent batters from hitting the ball, which excludes the other players from fielding the ball.

“Everybody in the stands is telling them this is a perfect game, this is what you want. Meanwhile, the other seven players don’t field the ball,” Coakley said.

To gauge student voices, the Aspen Institute report suggests schools conduct annual student interest surveys with a common set of questions on students’ sport preferences, their rationale for participating or not, and youth/adult relationships in the context of sport that they give students. These surveys should also take note of respondents’ disability status, race, ethnicity, and grade level.

Give a variety of options for play

Intramural sports and club sports led by students can offer many of the same benefits as interscholastic competition including exercise, teamwork skills, mental health benefits, and a sense of belonging. These formats, while popular on college campuses, are often under-prioritized in high schools. However, when, for example, 75 students try out for varsity basketball, 15 make the team, and only 10 get significant playing time, these alternative opportunities to play can make a difference.

One way Dan Dejager, a physical education teacher at Meraki High school in Fair Oaks, Calif., keeps his students active outside of interscholastic programs is by differentiating his instruction based on his students’ needs, interests, and ability levels.

For example, instead of teaching his students how to line dance, Dejager has his class play Just Dance, a video game where players dance in sync with a virtual character to contemporary music.

“I think if you become more physically active, and you find activities that you enjoy doing that are meaningful to you, then that physical well-being, that emotional well-being, and mental well-being will come,” Dejager said.

The Aspen Institute suggests physical education teachers and athletic directors expand course offerings or connect students to community-based programs such as bike clubs and yoga classes given that, according to their findings, more than 1 in 3 students are interested in strength training, 1 in 4 want biking, and 1 in 5 want skateboarding, yoga, and dance.

Prioritize educating students over winning games

In most high schools, sports are seen as having different goals than academics, which tend to prioritize education. Coaches often think their main job is to win championships and therefore, they can focus resources on the best athletes, sometimes at the expense of other students who also want to play and would benefit from doing so.

Terri Drain, the president of the Society of Health and Physical Educators, who taught for 34 years and coached high school field hockey, said that in order to attract kids back to sports, there needs to be “quite a mind shift.”

“We need to talk about what the goal of school sports is,” Drain said. “Is it to prepare kids for their university sporting career and measure success when our students get drafted or scholarships? Or should how we measure success be by the number of students that participate?”

As students get older, more are cut from or drop out of sports. On average, kids quit playing sports by age 11, according to a survey by the Aspen Institute and the Utah State University Families in Sports Lab.

Drain envisions a school sports system in which “every child, no matter what their ability level,” can play, “not just for the elite children on the college path.”

To combat this, administrators should ensure that all sports activities map to a school’s vision of education, according to the Aspen Institute report. This could include crafting a symbiotic mission statement specific to the athletic department and holding sports personnel accountable to it through group discussions and performance reviews.

Increase education for coaches

Coaches often play a pivotal role in shaping a student’s ideas about health and education. In fact, 1 in 3 students said they play sports because of “a coach who cares about me,” according to the Aspen Report. However, many coaches’ training stops after their initial certification, and they lack the knowledge to make sports a healthy and positive experience for students. In surveys, nearly half of all students say they play sports for their emotional well-being and mental health, yet only six states require coaches to train in human development, development psychology and organization management.

The Society of Health and Physical Educators has developed national standards for sport coaches, the first of which is to “develop and enact an athlete-centered coaching philosophy.” In other words, sport coaches prioritize opportunities for athletes’ development over winning games.

Many coaches, according to Drain, coach the way they were coached as athletes. To break that cycle, schools need to provide professional development that helps physical educators teach with physical literacy in mind and with the attitude that all children have a right to learn.

The Aspen Institute says athletic directors should actively support effective behaviors of coaches through in-house teaching, required outside trainings, and coach networking. They should also hold coaches accountable to providing a positive experience for their athletes and growing the student retention rate.

Other ways the Aspen Institute said schools can make school sports more appealing and developmentally useful include having administrators craft personalized activity plans with students, requiring athletic trainers in schools that offer collision sports, defining athletic program standards for schools, and developing partnerships with community-based organizations.

Adam Lane, the principal at Haines City High School in Polk County, Fla., said that of all the report’s suggested strategies, “the most challenging” for schools is implementing the sports that most interest students.

“The reason is the feasibility of starting up a new program from the ground up when you don’t have any of the equipment or the facilities needed for it,” Lane said.

“Something like that cannot be done in a couple months,” he continued. “One because of the financial needs of all the equipment that is needed, but two, you also have to find a facility or a place to play and the school might not have it, the community not might not have it. There’s a lot of planning that goes into that.”

The Aspen Institute has yet to follow up with schools on their implementation of the playbook’s strategies, but they plan to, according to Solomon. For now, the institute will continue to promote its strategies and highlight the work of those that are bringing the organization’s vision to life.

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How Sports Benefit A Student’s Life and Why Is It Important?

Donna paula.

• August 19, 2023

The popularity of sports in schools has been on the rise, with an increasing number of children actively participating in various athletic activities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2020, an encouraging 54.1% of children engaged in sports. This growing trend highlights the importance of fostering discussions about physical well-being in students, as sports play a vital role in promoting their overall health and development.

This article will delve into the reasons behind the surge in sports participation and the significance of prioritizing physical well-being in the lives of young learners.

Why are sports important for students’ lives?

Sports are crucial for students’ lives as they instill discipline, time management, and resilience – essential qualities for academic and professional success. Through rigorous training and commitment, students learn discipline, a valuable skill in balancing studies and extracurriculars. Managing practice sessions, competitions, and academics teaches effective time management.

Moreover, facing challenges, victories, and defeats in sports fosters resilience, preparing students to handle setbacks in their academic and future professional pursuits. These experiences build character, confidence, and teamwork, shaping well-rounded individuals capable of navigating obstacles, adapting to change, and excelling in various spheres of life.

What are the physical health benefits of sports for students?

Sports offer numerous physical health benefits for students. Regular participation improves cardiovascular health, enhances muscular strength and endurance, and promotes flexibility and coordination. Engaging in physical activities helps maintain a healthy weight , reducing the risk of obesity-related issues. It also boosts bone density, reducing the likelihood of osteoporosis later in life.

Sports contribute to better immune function , reducing the occurrence of illnesses. Additionally, students who participate in sports are more likely to adopt a physically active lifestyle, which can lead to long-term health benefits and a decreased risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

How do sports contribute to students’ mental and emotional well-being?

Beyond physical fitness, engaging in sports offers a myriad of psychological benefits that contribute to their overall mental health and emotional resilience.

Positive Impact of Sports on Mental Health and Stress Reduction

Participating in sports positively impacts students’ mental health by releasing endorphins , reducing stress hormones, and promoting a sense of achievement and self-worth. Regular physical activity in sports can alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression, improve mood, and enhance cognitive function. Furthermore, the camaraderie and social support within sports teams foster a sense of belonging and emotional well-being, empowering students to navigate life’s challenges with greater resilience and a positive outlook.

Do sports have an impact on student’s academic performance?

The relationship between sports and academic performance has been a subject of interest among educators and researchers alike. Many studies suggest that sports can positively impact students’ academic achievements , as engagement in physical activities fosters skills and traits that are transferable to the academic realm.

How sports can enhance concentration, discipline, and time management skills

Participating in sports demands focus and concentration, which can improve students’ ability to concentrate during study sessions and exams. The commitment and dedication required in sports instill discipline, enabling students to adhere to study schedules and deadlines. Moreover, managing sports practice and academic commitments cultivates practical time management skills, helping students balance their athletic pursuits and academic responsibilities. These acquired skills and traits contribute to improved academic performance and overall success in their educational journey.

What social skills and personal development opportunities do sports provide for students?

Engaging in team sports and competitive activities can foster a range of interpersonal abilities essential for building solid relationships and navigating social situations effectively.

Exploring the social benefits of sports, such as teamwork, communication, and leadership

Participating in team sports cultivates essential social skills like teamwork, where students learn to collaborate and work cohesively toward a common goal. Effective communication is honed as players interact on and off the field, fostering understanding and cooperation.

Additionally, sports present leadership opportunities, empowering students to take charge, motivate others, and guide their teammates toward success. These social attributes not only enhance the sports experience but also carry over to various aspects of student’s personal and professional lives.

Fostering interpersonal relationships and community engagement through sports

Sports provide a platform for students to build lasting friendships and bonds, creating a sense of belonging and support within their teams. As they compete against other schools or communities, students develop a broader perspective, understanding diverse viewpoints and embracing inclusivity.

Furthermore, sports events and tournaments promote community engagement, bringing together families, friends, and supporters, fostering a collective spirit and a shared passion for sports. These experiences help students appreciate the value of community involvement and contribute to their personal development as empathetic, socially conscious individuals.

How can participating in sports teach students important values and life skills?

The experiences gained in sports, such as perseverance, sportsmanship, and goal setting, play a pivotal role in shaping their character and preparing them for future challenges.

Highlighting the values and life skills learned through sports, such as perseverance, sportsmanship, and goal setting

Sports provide a fertile ground for cultivating important values and life skills. Perseverance is developed as students encounter setbacks and learn to bounce back stronger. Sportsmanship instills respect for opponents and fair play, promoting integrity and empathy. Goal setting teaches students to work with dedication and discipline, fostering a growth mindset and determination to achieve both on and off the field. These invaluable qualities prepare students for success in various aspects of life, laying a strong foundation for personal growth and achievement.

How sports contribute to character development and preparing students for future challenges

Engaging in sports not only enhances physical abilities but also plays a significant role in character development. The challenges and triumphs experienced in sports teach students resilience, teaching them to overcome obstacles with fortitude. Learning to win gracefully and accept defeat with humility nurtures sportsmanship and a sense of fair competition.

Furthermore, the camaraderie and teamwork fostered through sports build social skills and the ability to collaborate effectively. These character-building experiences equip students with the tools needed to face future challenges, instilling confidence and a positive mindset that will serve them well in their academic, professional, and personal endeavors.

How can students balance sports and education effectively?

Balancing sports and education is a common challenge faced by students, as both demand significant time and dedication. Effectively managing these commitments is crucial to ensure academic success while reaping the numerous benefits that sports offer.

Tips and strategies for students to manage their time effectively between sports and academics

• Create a schedule: Develop a well-structured timetable that includes dedicated study hours and sports practice sessions. Organizing tasks in advance helps students allocate time efficiently, preventing last-minute rushes and reducing stress.
• Prioritize tasks: Identify academic assignments and exams that require immediate attention and focus on completing them first. Learning to prioritize helps students manage their time effectively, ensuring they fulfill their academic obligations without compromising their sports commitments.
• Utilize downtime efficiently: Make use of breaks between classes or during travel to review notes or complete quick academic tasks. These pockets of time add up and allow students to stay on top of their studies even during busy sports seasons.
• Communicate with coaches and teachers: Open communication with coaches and teachers is vital. Informing them about academic commitments and sports schedules can lead to better support and flexibility when necessary.
• Set realistic goals: Establish achievable short-term and long-term goals for both academics and sports. Realistic objectives keep students motivated and focused, leading to a more balanced approach.
• Learn time management techniques: Adopt effective time management techniques, such as the Pomodoro Technique, to improve productivity during study sessions and maintain energy levels during sports activities.
• Stay organized: Keep academic materials and sports gear well-organized to save time and reduce distractions when transitioning between sports and study sessions.
• Get enough rest and nutrition: Proper rest and a balanced diet are essential for peak performance in both sports and academics. Adequate sleep and nutrition help students stay alert, focused, and perform at their best in all areas of life.
• Seek support: Reach out to peers, coaches, or academic advisors for support and advice on managing sports and education. Sharing experiences and seeking guidance can be beneficial in finding effective solutions.

The importance of maintaining a healthy balance between sports and other responsibilities

Finding an equilibrium between sports and education is vital for students’ holistic development. While sports contribute to physical fitness, teamwork, and character-building, academic success remains a crucial foundation for future opportunities and career prospects.

Striking a balance ensures that students not only excel in sports but also perform well academically, opening doors to a wider range of possibilities. Furthermore, maintaining a healthy balance teaches students valuable life skills, such as time management, discipline, and adaptability, which are transferable to various aspects of their personal and professional lives. This balance also helps students avoid burnout and excessive stress, promoting overall well-being and fostering a positive outlook toward both their educational and athletic endeavors.

Ultimately, a harmonious blend of sports and education prepares students for future challenges, equipping them with a well-rounded skill set and a strong foundation for success.

What are the long-term benefits of sports in students’ lives?

Participating in sports during their formative years can have a lasting impact on student’s lives, extending far beyond their school days. The skills and values acquired through sports play a significant role in shaping their character and influencing their personal and professional journeys.

How the skills and values acquired through sports continue to benefit students in their personal and professional lives

• Discipline and Time Management: The discipline and time management skills cultivated in sports become ingrained habits that students carry forward into adulthood. Whether it’s meeting work deadlines, balancing family responsibilities, or pursuing personal goals, the ability to manage time efficiently proves invaluable in maintaining a successful and fulfilling life.
• Resilience and Perseverance: Sports often involve facing challenges, setbacks, and failures. Learning to bounce back, stay motivated, and strive for improvement instills resilience and perseverance. These traits enable individuals to navigate the ups and downs of life, tackle obstacles with determination, and ultimately achieve their ambitions.
• Teamwork and Leadership: The teamwork and leadership experiences gained through sports carry over into various aspects of professional life. Working collaboratively, communicating effectively, and motivating others are all vital skills in a team-oriented workplace. For those in leadership positions, the ability to inspire, delegate, and make strategic decisions stems from the foundations laid in their sports endeavors.
• Stress Management and Well-being: Sports offer a healthy outlet for stress relief, promoting mental well-being. Engaging in physical activity as a lifelong practice contributes to better physical health, reducing the risk of chronic illnesses. Regular exercise releases endorphins, fostering a positive mood and overall emotional balance.
• Networking and Social Skills: Participating in sports introduces students to a diverse range of individuals, from teammates to coaches, opponents, and spectators. Building strong interpersonal relationships and networking are essential in both personal and professional life, opening doors to opportunities and connections.
• Healthy Lifestyle: The value of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, learned through sports, remains relevant throughout life. Students who develop a love for physical activity are more likely to continue engaging in exercise and recreational sports as adults, reducing the risk of health issues and promoting longevity.

Participating in sports offers a wealth of long-term benefits that extend well beyond the playing field. For students, the skills and values acquired through sports form a strong foundation for personal and professional growth, fostering resilience, discipline, and teamwork. As parents and students, embracing the opportunities sports provide can pave the way for a healthier, more fulfilling life, promoting overall well-being and a brighter future filled with countless possibilities. Embrace the power of sports, and embark on a journey of holistic development and lasting success.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do sports and fitness affect students’ life.

Sports and fitness positively impact students’ lives by promoting physical health, building discipline, enhancing teamwork, fostering mental well-being, and instilling valuable life skills.

Why sports are important in youth development?

Sports are crucial in youth development as they promote physical fitness, teamwork, discipline, resilience, and social skills, nurturing well-rounded individuals for a successful future.

What is the importance of sports development programs in schools?

Sports development programs in schools are essential as they enhance physical fitness, teach life skills, build teamwork, boost confidence, and cultivate a healthy competitive spirit, contributing to students’ overall growth and success.

How can you encourage youth to participate in sports?

Encourage youth to participate in sports by highlighting the fun, camaraderie, health benefits, and opportunities for personal growth and achievement that sports offer.

Why is physical fitness important to students, and how will it impact your academic performance?

Physical fitness is vital for students as it improves concentration, memory, and cognitive function, leading to better academic performance. Regular exercise also reduces stress, enhances mood, and boosts overall well-being, creating a positive impact on learning and achievement.

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How Sports Can Prepare You for Life

Sports are fun activities that help kids learn skills, like how to shoot a free throw or skate backwards. But what if sports could teach us more than physical skills and prepare us for life? If the environment is safe and welcoming, sports can also teach us skills that we can use in our lives— life skills ! Participating in sports can teach us about teamwork, being a leader, how to relax if we are upset, and much more! In this article, we discuss different ways that life skills can be developed through sports. We also talk about what you and your coaches can do to help you develop life skills. As you learn these skills in sports, you can use them anywhere, like at school or home. Life skills learned in sports can help you become a good person on whatever path you choose in life.

How Sports Can Prepare You For Life

Sports can be fun activities that help kids to learn different skills, like how to shoot a free throw, skate backwards, or hit a fastball. But what if sports can teach us more than physical skills? What if they can prepare us for life? Kids across the world engage in different types of organized sports, whether at school or in their communities. This makes sports an important context to help prepare kids for life. You might have heard the phrase “sports build character” before. Building positive character does not always happen by accident. It requires hard work from the kids participating, but also from their coaches and teammates.

Coaches play an important role in sports. If coaches make sports safe and welcoming, kids can have fun, learn new skills, and be part of a team or club. If coaches do not structure sports well, sports can lead to negative things, like not having fun, cheating, or bullying. In this article, we discuss how coaches can help kids learn life skills through playing sports.

What are Life Skills?

If the sports environment is safe and welcoming, sports can teach kids skills they can use in their lives— life skills ! Life skills means different things to different people. Sometimes people use words like values, assets, lessons, or character traits. In this article, we will call them life skills. Within sports, life skills can include:

• Respect : showing consideration and being kind to people (teammates, opponents, referees) and things (rules of the sport, equipment, sports facility);
• Honesty : always telling the truth to yourself and others;
• Teamwork : working together as a group to achieve a goal;
• Emotional regulation : having control over your emotions and staying calm; and
• Perseverance : always trying your best and never giving up.

You may learn about some of these skills at school, when you are working on a group project, or at home, from your parents and family. Learning life skills in many different contexts is an important part of your development. Developing life skills is a process , which means they take time and practice to develop. Sports can be one part of the process of developing life skills. Life skills can be learned, practiced, and improved upon in any sport, whether team or individual. Yet, for these skills to be called life skills, kids need to transfer these skills. Life skills transfer means that life skills learned in sports are used in other areas of your life, like at school, at home, or in other sports or activities [ 1 ].

Why is it Important to Develop Life Skills?

You may be asking yourself why developing life skills is important. Learning and practicing life skills in sports can help you be a good teammate and player, but they can also help you to be a good person outside of sports. Even if you do not become a professional athlete or play sports your whole life, you can still use life skills in other contexts. For example, learning relaxation techniques can be very helpful in sports. When stepping up to the plate for your first pitch in cricket or standing on the basketball free-throw line, you can learn different ways to relax, such as taking deep breaths or calming your mind by counting to five. Learning about relaxation techniques in sports can also help when you feel nervous or anxious at school. Before a test, you can take deep breaths to relax and calm your nerves. If you get into an argument with a friend or sibling, relaxation techniques, like deep breathing, can also help you act calmly, so you choose your words carefully and come to a peaceful solution.

How Can I Develop Life Skills in Sport?

There is a lot to focus on while playing sports—the rules, your position—without thinking about life skills. But do not worry; you do not have to go through this process on your own! As mentioned, coaches are important in helping kids develop life skills when playing sports. Life skills can be developed through sports in two different ways.

First, life skills can be developed based on how the sport is structured, including the rules, competition, and relationships developed with coaches and teammates [ 2 ]. In this implicit approach , coaches focus mainly on teaching sport-specific skills, like passing and shooting. They do not place any specific effort on discussing or practicing life skills. In cheerleading, kids can learn to communicate with their teammates during a routine. In golf, kids can learn to be respectful through the rules about respecting the course and one’s opponents. In these examples, coaches are not doing anything specific to support the development of life skills. Essentially, if coaches use this implicit approach, they leave life skills learning in sports up to chance.

Second, life skills can also be developed explicitly [ 2 ]. This explicit approach occurs when coaches take specific steps to teach kids life skills. There are different ways for coaches to teach life skills through sports. Below, we give an example of Coach Jane using an explicit approach during a handball practice or competition. This approach has five steps. First, Jane picks one life skill to teach—leadership. The theme of the entire session is to learn how to be a leader. Second, Jane works with players to define that life skill. Together, they come up with a definition of what it means to be a leader in handball, at home, and at school. Third, Jane gives players opportunities to practice being leaders during the session, including asking them to lead the warm-up or to act as the team captain. Jane provides feedback while they practice being leaders. She asks players to consider if their way of leading includes all of their teammates. Fourth, Jane finishes the session by reviewing the chosen life skill. She asks players questions like, “What activities required you to be a leader in today’s session?” and “Where else can you be a leader beyond handball?” Together, Jane and the players talk about how they can be leaders at home, at school, and even at work as they get older. The point of these discussions is for players to develop connections between their sports experiences and their lives outside of sports. Finally, Jane can provide opportunities for players to practice the life skills learned in handball in other contexts. As mentioned earlier, this is called life skills transfer. For example, to practice transferring leadership, Jane arranges for the players to lead activities at a younger team’s practice. Jane also works with the players’ teachers and parents to encourage players to practice being leaders in school, at home, or in other extracurricular activities, like mentoring a classmate who is struggling with their math homework. Overall, Coach Jane explicitly supports players’ leadership skills, within and beyond handball.

Researchers have found that using a combination of implicit and explicit approaches is most useful for kids to learn life skills in sports ( Figure 1 ) [ 4 ]. When coaches use both approaches, kids can have more opportunities to develop life skills based on how the sports environment is structured and what kinds of skills coaches choose to teach. Coach Jane supports her players’ leadership development by using the five steps outlined above (explicit approach), along with strategies like being a role model and setting clear rules about playing fairly (implicit approach). Research shows that using both approaches can help to increase kids’ awareness of how to transfer their life skills and strengthen their abilities for life skills transfer beyond sports, like at home and at school [ 5 ]. For example, if a player sees a classmate being bullied by a peer at school based on their gender identity or skin color, the player can transfer his or her leadership skills developed in sports by standing up for that classmate and leading the conversation toward kindness and inclusion rather than bullying.

• Figure 1 - We can imagine coaches who use implicit and explicit approaches as climbing a staircase.
• The first two steps represent the implicit approach, and the last two steps represent the explicit approach. Coaches need to climb the stairs in order to explicitly teach life skills. The stairs build on each other—to be on stair three, coaches need to also be using strategies from stairs one and two. This allows coaches to use a combination of implicit and explicit approaches for teaching life skills (Image credit: adapted from [ 3 ]).

So Now You Know!

In this article, we talked about ways sports and coaches can help you develop important skills that you can use in life. These life skills, like respect, leadership, and honesty, can improve your ability to perform in sports, but they also go beyond sports. What is important to remember is that YOU, as the athlete, also play an important role in this learning process. First, think about the different skills you are learning in sports. What are they? Look for important connections between your sport and your life in school or at home. Second, take initiative and use your life skills without your coach having to ask you. Stand up for a teammate who is being bullied or try to focus while waiting to receive a serve in tennis. Third, keep these skills in mind as you grow up. As you go to high school or secondary school and work your first job, there may be different life skills that are useful for you to transfer from your sports experiences. So, next time you are about to give a big class presentation, think about what you did on the court or field to help you relax and prepare. Practicing these life skills in sports and life can help you be a good athlete and a good person, on whatever path you choose in life.

Life Skills : ↑ Values, assets, or skills that help us in life. They can include respect, honesty, teamwork, emotional regulation, perseverance, and many more.

Life Skills Transfer : ↑ The process in which the life skills learned in sports are applied in other areas of a kid’s life, like at school, at home, in other sports, or in their community.

Implicit Approach : ↑ An approach to teaching life skills in which coaches focus on teaching sport-specific skills, without placing any specific effort on teaching life skills or providing time to practice life skills.

Explicit Approach : ↑ An approach to teaching life skills that occurs when coaches take specific steps to teach kids life skills.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

[1] ↑ Gould, D., and Carson, S. 2008. Life skills development through sport: Current status and future directions. Int. Rev. Sport Exerc. Psychol. 1:58–78. doi: 10.1080/17509840701834573

[2] ↑ Turnnidge, J., Côté, J., and Hancock, D. J. 2014. Positive youth development from sport to life: Explicit or implicit transfer? Quest 66:203–217. doi: 10.1080/00336297.2013.867275

[3] ↑ Bean, C., Kramers, S., Forneris, T., and Camiré, M. 2018. The implicit/explicit continuum of life skills development and transfer. Quest . 70:456–470. doi: 10.1080/00336297.2018.1451348

[4] ↑ Holt, N., Neely, K. C., Slater, L. G., Camiré, M., Côté, J., Fraser-Thomas, J., et al. 2017. A grounded theory of positive youth development through sport based on results from a qualitative meta-study. Int. Rev. Sport Exerc. Psychol. 10:1–49. doi: 10.1080/1750984X.2016.1180704

[5] ↑ Bean, C., and Forneris, T. 2016. Examining the importance of intentionally structuring the youth sport context to facilitate positive youth development. J. Appl. Sport Psychol. 28:410–425. doi: 10.1080/10413200.2016.1164764

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The Benefits of Being a Multi-Sport Athlete for Kids

March 21, 2024

With a young athlete who excels at a particular sport, there often is temptation to commit to that sport only, which sometimes means training and participating year round.

But young athletes benefit physically and mentally by participating in different sports in different seasons, with time off for rest.

Playing different sports makes for a more well-rounded athlete and also reduces risk of psychological stress, burn-out and overuse injuries, says University Hospitals orthopedic surgeon Jacob Calcei, MD .

Dr. Calcei says specializing in one sport doesn’t necessarily enhance performance in that sport, or lead to athletic scholarships.

“A lot of the best athletes in pro sports and at the college level played multiple sports in high school,” Dr. Calcei says. “Diversifying makes you a better, more well-rounded athlete, and makes you better at your primary sport.”

Risk of Overuse Injuries

Increased training and competition associated with sports specialization at an early age is a major concern. Young athletes need time off so their bodies can recover, but they often don’t get it.

“Athletes at the highest level get an off-season to rest and recover, and it’s important that our young athletes have time to rest and recover as well,” Dr. Calcei says.

A 2020 study in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine found that athletes between 7 and 18 years old, particularly female athletes, are at higher risk for overuse injuries if they specialize in a single sport. Injury risk corresponded with hours spent training and performing.

Overuse injuries can impact bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments. The risk of these injuries can be decreased by diversifying sports and allowing proper rest and recovery, Dr. Calcei says. Sports specialization is especially risky in children younger than high school age, whose bones are still developing.

“Once you’re at the high school level it’s safer, but it still leads to increased risk of injuries and it doesn’t necessarily benefit athletic performance.”

Another study in 2019 noted that injury risk depends on the type of sport and level of specialization. Kids participating in Individual sports such as gymnastics and tennis are more likely to be highly specialized at younger ages than kids in team sports. The individual sports require higher levels of training and likely carry higher risk of overuse injuries.

But team sports such as baseball also feature early specialization, which has led to a rash of elbow and shoulder injuries from excessive throwing, Dr. Calcei says.

A rise in baseball overuse injuries led to the Ohio High School Athletic Association in 2017 to regulate pitch counts (125 pitches a day maximum) and days off between pitching appearances.

Risk of Burn Out

In the long run, rather than leading to scholarships and pro sports, intensive specialization drives a lot of young people to quit.

“We love sports and they play a big role in a young person’s life,” Dr. Calcei says. “But you don’t want kids to lose the joy. Making sports fun, something they enjoy and want to keep doing is important. Making it a chore is not fun, and it poses physical, mental and emotional risks.”

Playing different sports also has social benefits. Kids bond with a more diverse groups of peers, experience different coaches and learn to play different roles on a team.

Related Links

The pediatric sports medicine experts  at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s are dedicated to treating athletes of any age – from toddlers to adolescents and young adults.

Tags: Pediatric sports medicine , Jacob G. Calcei, MD

Articles on Sports

Displaying 1 - 20 of 503 articles.

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40 years ago, the Supreme Court broke the NCAA’s lock on TV revenue, reshaping college sports to this day

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Sporting change: How an elite swim club in Western Canada is addressing bullying

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Violence prevention can transform Canadian hockey culture — but only if implemented properly

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Lamar Jackson is the NFL’s MVP. He’s also the NFL’s most valuable negotiator.

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Could flag football one day leapfrog tackle football in popularity?

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Children’s high-impact sports can be abuse – experts explain why

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Students with disabilities often left on the sidelines when it comes to school sports

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Norman Jewison’s ‘Rollerball’ depicted a world in which corporations controlled all information – is this dystopian vision becoming reality?

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Suffering in silence: Men’s and boys’ mental health are still overlooked in sport

Michael Kehler , University of Calgary and Gabriel Knott-Fayle , University of Calgary

Sleep can give athletes an edge over competitors − but few recognize how fundamental sleep is to performance

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Youth sport: positive and negative impact on young athletes

Donna l merkel.

Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital, Main Line Health System, Exton, PA, USA

Organized youth sports are highly popular for youth and their families, with approximately 45 million children and adolescent participants in the US. Seventy five percent of American families with school-aged children have at least one child participating in organized sports. On the surface, it appears that US children are healthy and happy as they engage in this traditional pastime, and families report higher levels of satisfaction if their children participate. However, statistics demonstrate a childhood obesity epidemic, with one of three children now being overweight, with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle for most children and teenagers. Increasing sports-related injuries, with 2.6 million emergency room visits a year for those aged 5–24 years, a 70%–80% attrition rate by the time a child is 15 years of age, and programs overemphasizing winning are problems encountered in youth sport. The challenges faced by adults who are involved in youth sports, from parents, to coaches, to sports medicine providers, are multiple, complex, and varied across ethnic cultures, gender, communities, and socioeconomic levels. It appears that an emphasis on fun while establishing a balance between physical fitness, psychologic well-being, and lifelong lessons for a healthy and active lifestyle are paramount for success.

Introduction

The popularity of youth sports continues to rise, with an estimated 45 million child and adolescent participants in the US. 1 , 2 Seventy-five percent of US families with school-aged children have at least one child who participates in organized sports. 3 , 4 Unfortunately, the framework which provides guidelines, rules, and regulations for youth sports has been established with very little scientific evidence. 5 Even basic commonsense parameters for sports safety are not implemented or followed. Vague descriptions of age of participants, hours and structure of practice, and rules for competition vary between sports. Less than 20 percent of the 2–4 million “little league” coaches and less than 8% of high school coaches have received formal training. 6 Each year approximately 35% of young athletes quit participation in sport, and whether an athlete returns to participation at a later date is unknown. 7 , 8 Sports attrition rates are the highest during the transitional years of adolescence, when outside influences have the most impact. By the time children are 15 years of age, 70%–80% are no longer engaged in sport. 1 , 8

According to physical, psychological, and cognitive development, a child should be at least 6 years of age before participating in organized team sport, such as soccer and baseball. 7 Further, an accurate assessment of each child’s individual sports readiness should be performed to assist in determining if a child is prepared to enroll and at which level of competition the child can successfully participate. A mismatch in sports readiness and skill development can lead to anxiety, stress, and ultimately attrition for the young athlete. 7 , 8 For the very young “athlete”, the goals of participation are to be active, have fun, and to have a positive sport experience through learning and practice of fundamental skills. 9 , 10 An introduction to a variety of activities has been shown to be both physically and psychologically beneficial for the youngster. 7 Sports satisfaction surveys reveal that “having fun” is the main reason that most children like to participate in sports; however, the parents perception of why their children like to play sports is to “win”. 5 , 6 , 10 , 11 The Institution for the Study of Youth Sports looked at the importance of winning from the child’s perspective, and found that it varied with gender and age, but for the majority of younger children, fairness, participation, and development of skills ranked above winning. 12 It appears that this disconnect amongst young athletes and adults may contribute to stress and unhappiness on the part of the child. Perhaps the adult interpretation of “little league” or “pee wee” sports as a mini-version of adult sports competition has led those who are involved in governing these activities down the wrong path, where winning overrides the fundamentals of youth sports, an outline of which is provided in Table 1 . Implementation of some of the coaching tactics that were designed for college and professional athletes, such as hard physical practices for punishment, only the best get to play, running up the score, and overplaying celebratory wins has contributed to a negative atmosphere in youth sports.

Fundamentals of youth sports

Although the state of affairs of youth sports in the US may be alarming, the alternative of a sedentary lifestyle and childhood obesity is a price we cannot afford. Over the past three decades, the incidence of obesity in children has tripled, with one of every three children being affected. 13 – 15 Significantly higher rates are noted in the African-American and Hispanic communities. 13 – 15 This current health problem in the US has long-term health consequences, including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, asthma, musculoskeletal dysfunction, and pain. 13 – 15 The evolutionary changes in our society over the last 30 years, ie, technology, increasing crime rates, two income households, the national financial crisis, isolated suburban neighborhoods, and fast food, has facilitated a sedentary lifestyle with the consumption of high caloric foods. This imbalance of calories consumed and energy expenditure has contributed to an increased body mass index and obesity in our society. 16 The decline in physical activity has been attributed to increased use of car transport to and from school, an abundance of time spent in front of screens, and limited access to recess, physical education, and after-school programs. 5 , 13 , 17 Time spent outdoors engaging in traditional pickup games of “kick the can”, “dodge ball”, “kick ball”, and “stick ball” are replaced with an average of 7.5 hours per day of screen time for children aged 8–18 years. 5 , 13

This paper examines the positive and negative aspects of youth sports in the US. Controversial topics, such as early specialization, identification of elite players, influence of trained and untrained coaches, increasing injury rates, and moral issues of character and sportsmanship are discussed. It is clearly apparent upon investigation of the strengths and weaknesses of youth sports that resolutions promoting a better, safer, and healthier future for all US children lies in partnership of involved adults, from parents, who lay the foundation of moral principles, to politicians, who support legislation and funding for positive sports initiatives.

Positive impact

The perceived and objective benefits of participation in sports for children and adolescents are numerous and span multiple domains, including physical, physiological, and social development. First and foremost, participation in sports fosters vigorous physical activity and energy expenditure. In 1999, the Centers for Disease Control reported that only 50% of youth engaged in regular exercise, illustrating the need for school and community organizations to promote and facilitate physical activity. 14 In a more recent study by Troiano et al, only 42% of elementary school children undertook the recommended daily amount of physical activity, and only 8% of adolescents met this goal. 18 Research has shown that childhood obesity is a good predictor of adult obesity, 5 , 19 and it is estimated that one third of children born in the years 2000 and beyond will encounter diabetes at some point in their lives. 13 Organized sports have been shown to assist in breaking the vicious cycle of inactivity and unhealthy lifestyle by improving caloric expenditure, increasing time spent away from entertainment media, and minimizing unnecessary snacking. The chaotic lifestyles of working parents have facilitated an increase in consumption of “meals on the go”, which are often higher in calories, fats, and sugars. The average American now consumes 31% more calories, 56% more fat, and 14% more sugar than in previous years. 13

Organized sports comply with Michelle Obama’s initiative “Let’s Move!” to combat childhood obesity by fulfilling the recommended physical activity requirements for children of 60 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 6 of 8 weeks. 13 , 14 In addition to promoting movement, youth sports provide a venue for learning, practicing, and developing gross motor skills. 7 , 17 Successful acquisition of a motor skill at a young age improves the likelihood of future participation in that activity in adulthood. 17 In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control reported a positive correlation between students who participated in high levels of physical activity and improved academic achievement, decreased risk of heart disease and diabetes, improved weight control, and less psychologic dysfunction. 20 Conversely, children who are obese often experience a diminished quality of life, learning difficulties, decreased self-confidence, and social discrimination. 13 , 20 , 21 In a longitudinal study which looked at activity levels in the same children at 9 years of age and then again at 15 years of age, adolescent girls fell short of the recommended daily 60 minutes of activity at an earlier age than did boys. 5 Both genders showed a decrease in physical activity as they transitioned into adolescence. 5 Rates of participation in sports for suburban youth appear to be similar between boys and girls; however, urban and rural girls show significantly less activity than boys of similar residential status. 21 – 23 Further, girls of color from a variety of ethnic backgrounds report lower levels of activity compared with Caucasian girls and boys of the same age. 23 Often the reality of living in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods contributes to inactivity, with more limited access to organized sport programs and facilities. 21 – 23

In addition to influencing physical health and warding off the negative consequences of obesity, youth participation in sports can also impact other high-risk health-related behaviors for boys and girls. A 2000 study reported by Pate et al investigated the relationship between participation in sports and health-related behaviors in US youth. Both male and female athletes were more likely to eat fruit and vegetables, and less likely to engage in smoking and illicit drug-taking. 22 The frequency of binge drinking remained consistent between athletes and nonathletes of both genders. 22 Male athletes were also less likely than their nonathletic counterparts to sniff glue or carry a weapon. 22 Not all risky behaviors performed by adolescents were curbed with participation in sports, however, the majority of teenagers who participated in sports appeared to be less interested in taking health risks than nonathletes. The amount and type of risky behaviors engaged in by adolescent athletes and nonathletes have been shown to vary according to gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. 22

In 2009, The Woman’s Sports Foundation published an updated version of “Her Life Depends on It”, an evidence-based research project stressing the important role that physical activity and sports play in the lives of girls and women. 23 This report underscores the advantages in terms of health and well-being experienced by physically active girls. Promoting exercise in young females is crucial because the majority of girls do not undertake the recommended level of daily physical activity. 23 Positive health benefits for physically active young girls include a reduced risk for developing breast cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, and obesity in the future. 23 Further, rates of teenage pregnancy, unprotected sexual intercourse, smoking, drug use, and suicide decrease with increasing physical activity and participation in sports. 22 , 23 Girls who participate in sports are less likely to be depressed, more likely to reach higher academic goals, and more likely to demonstrate improved self-confidence and body image. 21 , 23 , 24

A reduction in suicidal thoughts and tendencies has been demonstrated for both teenage boys and girls who engage in sport. 22 – 24 The Centers for Disease Control reports suicide as the third leading cause of death in adolescents, and advocates participation in sport for its positive psychologic benefits. 24 Data from the Centers for Disease Control 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey demonstrated that frequent vigorous activity reduces the risk of feelings of hopelessness and suicidal tendencies in both males and females. 24 In addition to the physical benefits of exercise, the social support and acceptance that being part of a team can provide contribute to the success of sport in reducing the risk of suicide. 24 Student athletes who report a strong social support system appear to be more resilient in terms of the negative processes that push teenagers toward suicide. The influence of friendship and peer interactions cannot be underestimated for the female athlete. 24 When the relationship between participation in sport, extracurricular activities, and social well-being was examined, students who engaged in sport demonstrated more psychosocial benefits compared with those who were active in after-school programs not related to sport. 24 , 25 Three different studies involving adolescents in 2003 found that those who participated in extracurricular activities, including sports, demonstrated improved skills in goal setting, time management, emotional control, leadership, wisdom, social intelligence, cooperation, and self-exploration. 5 , 26 , 27 Teenagers who participate in team sports are happier, have increased self-esteem, and are less anxious, with a decreased risk of suicidal behavior. 24 , 28

Psychologic outcomes for community-based programs are successful if physical activity is combined with positive social constructs. 5 , 20 When youth sports coaches were instructed in coach effectiveness training, an enhanced sporting experience was reported by most athletes. 29 – 31 These coaches improved player satisfaction, motivation, self-esteem, compliance, and attrition rates through positive reinforcement and teaching. 29 , 30

Negative impact

There is an inherent risk of injury for athletes of all ages when participating in sport. During periods of increased growth velocity and closure of the growth plates in adolescence, young athletes are vulnerable to a variety of traumatic and overuse injuries. 5 , 32 – 35 With increased youth participation in sports, an increase in sports-related injuries has been observed, with 2.6 million emergency room visits each year for those aged 5–24 years. 1 , 36 Due to the rapid expansion of bones while growing and slowly elongating muscles, tension develops across the growth plates, the apophyses, and the joints. 4 , 32 This increase in tensile forces can place the aforementioned structures at risk of injury. Depending on the stage of physical growth, children and adolescents often injure anatomic structures that are different from those injured in adults. Children’s bones are weaker than their ligaments and tendons, therefore they are at an increased risk for fractures throughout the bone and growth plate. 32 – 35

During the adolescent years, some athletes may experience a decrease in flexibility, coordination, and balance, which not only increases the risk of injury, but also impacts sports performance, placing more stress, anxiety, and social pressure on the young athlete. 5 , 32 Although children are generally more resilient and heal faster than adults (except in the case of concussion), special consideration of the immature skeleton is necessary for developing appropriate exercise volumes during practice, competition, and rehabilitation to avoid overuse injuries. A hasty return to sport with incomplete rehabilitation can result in chronic pain, dysfunction, increased time away from sport, and repeated injury to the same or different body parts.

As participation in youth sports continues to rise, a direct impact on injury rates, medical costs, family burden, and time away from sport is observed. Accurate and comprehensive data on sporting injuries in the young athlete have been difficult to obtain because of inconsistent definitions of sports injury, under-reporting of injuries by parents and athletes, and lack of professional oversight in record-keeping. In addition to the physical consequences of injury, the psychosocial disturbances of mood swings, depression, and disconnection from the peer group are problematic and often require professional management. 5 The National Center for Sports Safety reports that 3.5 million children aged 14 years and younger receive medical care for sports-related injuries each year, and of all the sports-related injuries that are cared for in the emergency room, two thirds involve injuries to children. 3 It is estimated that two billion dollars are spent in the US health care system each year on the management of sports injuries. 1

Although not all injuries can be prevented, it appears that the youth sport culture is falling short in minimizing both traumatic and overuse injuries in children. Parents, coaches, sports medicine professionals, and organizers are all culpable. Despite the fact that 67% of injuries occur during practice session, many parents enforce fewer safety precautions during these times than during competition. 5 At least half of all injuries sustained by young athletes result from overuse. As with adult injuries, overuse injuries in the young athlete are the result of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors are those which are physiologic and often nonmodifiable, whereas extrinsic factors can be altered by outside influences. Adults involved in youth sports have an important role in influencing extrinsic factors, which can lead to injury reduction or exacerbation. Injury reduction strategies are shown in Table 2 . For instance, current research on heat-related illnesses encountered by young athletes shows that prevention strategies and education can play an important role in the reduction of this serious injury. 43 , 44 Recent scientific studies refute the earlier notion that young athletes are at an inherently increased risk of heat illness because of their immature physiologic systems. The current literature identifies a number of causes, which include general state of health, dehydration, and environmental temperature and humidity as reasons for heat-related illness in the young athlete. 37 , 38 The National Athletic Trainer’s Association reported 50 fatalities due to sports injuries in young athletes in 2010. 37 Despite multiple bills presented to state legislation in the last few years to prevent serious injuries, ie, cardiac arrest, heat illness, and concussion, less than 10% have been passed into law. 37 In an attempt to reduce the rising incidence of concussion in young athletes, 33 states require education for coaches, parents, athletes, and school personnel in the recognition, management, and prevention of concussion in youth sports. 4 , 39 In 2012, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education published its “Shape of the Nation Report”, illustrating the role of both federal and state government in developing regulations regarding recess and physical education for grades K through 12. 40 Currently, there are no federal regulations regarding implementation of recess and physical education in the US school system. Seventy-five percent of the States mandate schools provide physical education in the elementary, middle, and high school curricula; however, only 12% of states include frequency and duration requirements throughout all grade levels. 40 More than 80% of states require physical education at some time during grades K through 12. The report identifies differences in specific regulations on implementation of physical education between individual states. 31

Injury reduction strategies

Abbreviations: CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation; AED, automated external defibrillation.

Over the last two decades, a notable rise in specialization has occurred in youth sports. More young athletes are choosing a single sport to participate in all year round at younger ages, with infrequent breaks and rest. This continued participation concentrated on one sport is believed to increase the risk of sport-related injuries, peer isolation, burnout, psychosocial problems, and attrition. 5 , 41 , 42 Further, some antisocial behaviors involving negative peer interaction and lack of cooperation skills may lead to social isolation caused by early sports specialization. 41 , 42 Despite numerous studies showing that athletic performance at an early age is unreliable in predicting future ability to perform successfully in a chosen sport, many parents encourage their children to specialize. 41 , 42 Pressure for early specialization to maximize athletic skills for future social, financial, and educational rewards is generated by parents, coaches, neighbors, society, and colleges. Unfortunately, the reality is that 98% of young athletes will never reach the highest level in sport. 42 , 43 Trying to identify young athletes who are genuinely talented is very difficult and unrealistic, given the degree to which children change in their physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive domains from childhood to young adulthood. 41 , 42 The earlier a young athlete is identified as having talent, the more uncertain is the prediction of future success. 41 , 42 Ericsson’s studies of deliberate practice emphasize that at least 10,000 hours of dedicated practice is necessary to achieve excellence in a skill. 44 He further believes that an individual is not born an expert, but expertise is developed over time. 44 In the literature on identification of talent, a key component in achieving long-term success is an athlete’s internal development regarding love of the sport which provides sustainability for the endless hours of practice, instruction, and competition necessary to become an elite player. 42 Motivation to participate and endure the highs and lows is more indicative of a promising future than skill or sport readiness at an early age. 42 Studies that have looked at organized sports programs in the Soviet Union show athletic advantages stemming from diversification not specialization. 45 Because of concerns about the health and well-being of young athletes, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend specialization in sports before the age of 12–13 years, 39 , 41 and encourages 1–2 days off a week, two months of recovery each year, participation in only one team per season, and limiting changes in training volume to 10% per week. 39 , 41

In addition to sports specialization impacting the young athlete, the financial burden impacting parents and the family is also significant. Some families sacrifice vacations, savings, and normal family structure to support the athlete’s sporting endeavors. Many parents feel excellence in sports will pay for future college expenses; however, the majority of athletes will not receive enough money to cover the cost of today’s tuition. 46 Less than 4% of high school athletes who participate in boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer, football, and basketball play for a division I or division II school. 6 , 47 Only one of 100 high school athletes will receive a division I athletic scholarship. 47 The average scholarship awarded in 2003–2004 for a division I or II school was $10,409, which covered about half the cost of a state school and 20% of the cost of private school attendance. 46 Most often, the financial investment in private lessons or coaches, sports camps, participation in elite teams, showcase tournaments, and travel expenses over the middle and high school years exceeds the value of the college scholarship. 46 Even more unrealistic is anticipating that a young athlete who demonstrates elite skill potential will achieve professional or Olympic status. It is estimated that one in 6000 high school football players will play in the National Football League, and that only 2–3 in 10,000 high school basketball players will play for the National Basketball Association. 47 In addition, less than 20% of junior elite athletes and 0.2% of high school athletes will achieve elite status in adulthood. 41

The above examples are the extreme costs of youth sports; however, even participation at a basic level for physical activity and fun can be a financial hardship for some families. Basic costs include uniforms, equipment, league fees, travel expenses, and footwear. 46 Urban youth have additional expenses, with neighborhood fields and recreational centers being absent or not maintained, and both sport and safety equipment being outdated or damaged. A decrease in governmental funding for youth after-school programs has limited accessibility and feasibility for sports participation in lower socioeconomic areas. 46 Dwindling financial resources also contribute to attrition in sports. 5 , 46 Fortunately, a few nonprofit organizations are emerging in inner cities to provide positive opportunities for at-risk youth.

For children who do have access to organized sport, the majority of them being Caucasian from suburban neighborhoods, the influential role of the youth sports coach cannot be overestimated. 5 , 46 At times, the athlete spends more hours a week in the presence of a coach then interacting with the family so, by default, the coach becomes a model for behavior. In one study, both parents and athletes rated the majority of youth coaches as only good, with 25% reported as less than good. 6 Regulations regarding the requirements for coaching a youth sports team are almost nonexistent and vary widely across states, municipalities, and type of sport. The level of experience among youth coaches ranges from a volunteer parent, who perhaps has no experience with the sport, to paid coaches of elite teams. Most coaches are untrained in the strengthening and conditioning principles necessary for the young athlete, emergency management of sports injuries, or in basic first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and automated external defibrillation, which results in an increase in the rate and severity of injuries for participants. The concept of educational requirements for coaches was met with resistance because the materials proposed were viewed as unreliable, ineffective, and lacking in comprehensiveness. 5 Thirty percent of youth report negative actions of coaches and parents as their reason for quitting sport. 8 Athletes have even reported being called names, insulted, and shouted at by coaches. 6 Other negative coaching behaviors observed by athletes included cheating and fighting with parents, referees, and other coaches. Some athletes also felt pressured to play while injured. 6

Other reasons cited for sports attrition linked to coaching behavior included favoritism, poor teaching skills, and increased pressure to win, all of which created a negative atmosphere and decreased the fun of playing sport. 5 A direct correlation is noted between a positive or negative sporting experience and attrition rate. Participation in sport is widely believed to improve moral character, sportsmanship, and ability to collaborate towards a common goal. However, these secondary gains in sports participation cannot be assumed and must be facilitated by positive role modeling on the part of parents and coaches. Accordingly, facilitation of a negative sports environment by adults who are directly or indirectly involved in supervision of youth programs results in negative social behavior.

Parents, in addition to coaches, can create high levels of stress and anxiety for the young athlete. 48 – 50 A parent can inadvertently set a child up for failure by establishing unrealistic goals for performance and winning by forcing a young athlete to participate in sports beyond their readiness and interest. 5 , 7 A child who is unable to perform as expected by parents and coaches may lose confidence and seek alternative avenues for fun. Problem parents who behave inappropriately by putting too much emphasis on winning, having impractical expectations, and criticizing or pampering their children are encountered frequently by high school coaches. 11 These parental pressures may contribute to a negative sports experience for the maturing athlete. 11 Unfortunately, conflict between parents and coaches is observed all too often in sports culture.

With less than 20% of high school students involved in sport, reducing attrition rates for those engaged in youth sport is important. Combating sports-related injuries, high-pressure environments, and negative behavior on the part of both parents and coaches appears to be an initial viable intervention to mitigate problems in youth sport. Table 3 compares the positive and negative aspects of youth sports for young athletes and their families.

Impact of youth sports

Future prospects

Changing the future of youth sports for the better needs a collaborative effort between parents, coaches, teachers, health professionals, community leaders, and politicians. As a society, we need to change the philosophy of youth sport from a negative environment to a positive one in which most children can thrive, benefit from, and sustain their participation in sport. Organized sports participation needs to be available to all youth, regardless of gender, neighborhood, or socioeconomic status. Youth sports should emphasize fun, and maximize physical, psychological, and social development for its participants. Policies and guidelines which establish the framework for youth sports should be implemented based on scientific knowledge. 5 Because the role of federal, state, and local government in establishing safe and inclusive activity programs is minimal, establishing some formal type of education regarding positive coaching skills, general physical training, injury reduction, and first aid should be encouraged. State and federal legislation can assist in improving safety in sport for young athletes by providing an appropriate framework for participation in youth sports. 4 Programs that teach and model improved moral character while providing physical activity are necessary. Proposed changes to improve youth sports are suggested in Table 4 . Fostering programs that help to establish positive and healthy values for youth sports, such as the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports and Character Counts, is important. 5 , 51 The six pillars of character, ie, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship can be modeled by all adults who interact with children in sports. 51 These pillars can be the building blocks for establishing sportsmanship and cooperation in the youth sports community. A reference list of organizations promoting a positive youth sports environment is provided in Table 5 .

Future of youth sports: proposed changes for positive results

Organizations promoting a positive youth sports environment

Implementation of a pre-participation physical evaluation (PPE) to assist in reducing injuries, athlete education, and identification of more serious health problems may be beneficial in keeping athletes safer while participating in sports. 52 The governing bodies of the American Academy of Family Practice, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Sports Medicine, American Medical Society of Sports Medicine, American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine, and the American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine have collaborated, produced, and endorsed new PPE guidelines for the promotion of health and safety in school sports programs. 52 The PPE is a screening tool that identifies potentially serious health conditions in the young athlete requiring further investigation prior to participation in sport. Currently, every state uses some type of PPE for school-based sports programs, but specific evaluation components are not standardized. 52 Differences exist between the level of professionals performing the tests, types of heart screenings, and content of the examination. 52 In general, the PPE should be sensitive, accurate, and affordable to administer. The National Federation of State High School Associations considers the PPE to be a prerequisite for participation in sport, but does not have the authority to mandate its implementation. 52 Requirements for a PPE in youth sport are inconsistent and almost nonexistent. Despite participation in vigorous sporting and recreational activities, the young athlete undergoes little if any physical examination except for wellness visits. Medical societies endorsing the PPE guidelines acknowledge its limitations, but do agree that, when performed consistently by a qualified health practitioner, it is a valuable tool for identifying athletes at risk. 52 The benefits of the PPE include introducing the athlete to the health care system, early identification and treatment of health-related problems, and education regarding injury prevention, nutrition, hydration, and unhealthy teenage behavior. Facilitation and encouragement of safe participation in sport is the goal of the PPE. 52

Sports and recreation should be a fundamental part of children’s lives, despite troubling signs in the youth sports culture. Sport provides a medium for physical activity, developing friendships, and learning developmental skills across all domains. In the current environment of childhood obesity, fostering activity is vital to children’s health and well-being. The multiple health benefits for children of all ages who participate in vigorous physical activity are well documented. Organized youth sports, when focused on fundamentals, facilitate physical activity while providing enjoyment for the young athlete. Fostering a positive youth sports experience is the accumulation of multiple factors, ie, matching the child’s readiness with the demands of the sport, positive behavior from coaches and parents, realistic goal setting, and appropriate methods in place for injury reduction and management. Reducing sports attrition is necessary for sustaining sports participation and facilitating physical activity into adulthood. The challenges faced by US adults who recognize the need to facilitate change in the youth sport culture are significant, complex, and varied across ethnic cultures, gender, communities, and socioeconomic levels. It appears that an emphasis on having fun while establishing a balance between physical fitness, psychologic well-being, and lifelong lessons for a healthy and active lifestyle are paramount for success.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge Ryan Alegro, Joshua Davidson, Lauren Haines, Caroline Hughes, and Krista Selcher for their assistance with this work. Special thanks is also extended to Joe Molony for his expertise and technical assistance.

The author reports no conflict of interest in this work.

Biden Title IX rules on trans athletes set for election-year delay

Proposed regulations would outlaw state bans on transgender athletes but allow some targeted restrictions.

The Biden administration is preparing to finalize sweeping rules in coming weeks governing how sex discrimination is addressed in schools, including new protections for transgender students. But officials plan to put off a companion regulation outlining the rights of trans athletes, according to people familiar with administration planning.

Athletics is among the thorniest issues confronting supporters of transgender rights, including those in the Biden administration. Polling shows that clear majorities of Americans, including a sizable slice of Democrats, oppose allowing transgender athletes to compete on girls’ and women’s teams. Twenty-five states have statewide bans on their participation, with proponents arguing that trans women have a biological advantage over other participants.

The Biden administration’s proposed regulation, published in April 2023 , took a nuanced approach. It would outlaw blanket state bans but gives schools a road map for how they can bar transgender girls from competing in certain circumstances, particularly in competitive sports.

Nonetheless, issuing such a rule risks injecting the issue into an election year in which President Biden faces a close contest with former president Donald Trump , who has promised to ban trans women from women’s sports if reelected.

“Folks close to Biden have made the political decision to not move on the athletics [regulation] pre-election,” said one person familiar with the administration’s thinking. “It seems to be too much of a hot topic.”

A second person reported having received the same message from the administration. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Administration officials did not dispute that the sports rule would be put off but declined to comment on specific timing or any possible political motivations.

A senior Education Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, noted that the main sex discrimination regulation was issued nine months before the sports proposal and is now in the final stage of review at the White House Office of Management and Budget. He said the department “is still reviewing” the sports regulation and emphasized that it received 150,000 public comments, “which by law must be carefully considered.”

“The Biden-Harris administration is committed to ensuring all students are guaranteed an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex,” the department official said in an email.

The sports regulation is part of a wide-ranging rulemaking underway on schools’ obligations under Title IX, which bans discrimination on the basis of sex in colleges, universities and K-12 schools that receive federal funding. The main, far more sweeping rule, expected soon, will cover other issues governed by Title IX, including schools’ obligations to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

That main Title IX regulation, proposed in June 2022, also says that the law’s prohibition on sex discrimination includes discrimination based on gender identity as well as sexual orientation. The administration has already said this is how it interprets Title IX, but this is the first time that would be codified into a regulation, which would give it additional force.

As proposed, it would compel schools to let transgender students use bathrooms that align with their gender identity, ban bullying based on their gender identity and ensure students are addressed by the pronouns they use. Schools that fail to follow these rules would be subject to investigations and risk losing federal funding.

But in 2022, with midterm elections looming, the administration cleaved the question of sports from the main regulation and promised to address that in a separate proposal. Last May, the Education Department said both would be released in October — a deadline that came and went without action.

In February, the main Title IX regulation moved to the final stage of review at the White House, while the sports regulation remains under consideration at the Education Department.

The proposed sports regulation, which was published in April 2023, attempted to strike a balance between the rights of transgender students and concerns that other athletes would face unfair competition. While not allowing blanket bans on transgender competitors, it would allow schools to implement narrower restrictions after considering factors such as the sport involved, the age of the students and the level of competitiveness. Schools would also be required to show that the decision relates to an important educational objective and minimizes harm to others.

Advocacy groups have pushed the administration to finalize both rules. They argued that given the state laws now in effect, the two regulations need to be issued together and soon. And while some transgender advocates have complained that the sports rule would still allow for discrimination, most are pushing for it to be completed to provide more protection than currently exists.

“Especially in the midst of this aggressive attack on transgender and gender expansive youth, the administration cannot employ a piecemeal approach when protecting LGBTQI+ students,” said a letter to Biden this month signed by more than 80 advocacy groups focused on women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and abortion access.

While Republicans in statehouses have enacted bans on transgender sports, the GOP-run House has worked to pass federal legislation on the issue. Last April, the House approved a national ban on transgender women competing on girls’ and women’s teams; the measure has not been taken up in the Democratic-controlled Senate. A bill barring trans women from Olympic teams cleared the House Judiciary Committee this month on a party-line vote. Republicans made their case in part by highlighting objections from some athletes to the presence of trans competitors.

“The reality is anti-trans lawmakers are expanding the scope of their attack every day,” said Caius Willingham, senior policy advocate at the National Center for Transgender Equality.

But while he favors finalizing the rules quickly, others said the Biden strategy makes sense politically.

“There are people who would say this is not a fight we need to have before this pivotal election,” said Ben Becker, senior vice president at Precision Strategies, who has worked with LGBTQ+ groups. “This is an issue that Republicans have weaponized. For us to just follow them down that rabbit hole, fighting on their terms — that’s never going to be good.”

Conservative opponents say both regulations should be withdrawn because Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination “on the basis of sex” should not be read to include gender identity.

In a meeting last month with officials at the Office of Management and Budget who oversee the final step in the regulatory process, the conservative group Defense of Freedom Institute argued that even if the sports regulation is held back, the main Title IX regulation will require equal treatment in sports because the new rules redefine sex discrimination to include gender identity.

The proposed regulation would “require educational institutions to allow biological males who identify as female to compete in women’s and girls’ athletics,” the group argued in a memo presented at the meeting. The group added that state laws passed to “protect the rights of biological girls and women” will provoke investigations by the Education Department.

The main Title IX regulation would replace one now in place that was written during the Trump administration, which emphasized rights of the accused for schools considering sexual harassment allegations. For instance, it required court-style hearings to adjudicate complaints and gave the accused the right to cross-examine accusers. As a candidate in 2020, Biden signaled he would replace the regulation, and early in his term, he directed the Education Department to begin the laborious process of reviewing and ultimately writing a new set of rules.

Under the proposed Biden version, neither court-like hearings nor cross-examinations would be required. The proposal also broadens the definition of sexual harassment to include all unwelcome sex-based conduct that created a hostile environment by limiting or denying a person’s ability to participate in school. The definition on the books now — from the Trump-era rule — required that the harassment be severe and pervasive.

The Biden version would also include protections against discrimination related to pregnancy. With abortion rights a major political issue, it’s possible that those protections may be enhanced or at least emphasized, one person familiar with the planning said.

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Guest Essay

College Sports Are a Treasure. Don’t Turn Them Into the Minor Leagues.

By John I. Jenkins and Jack Swarbrick

Father Jenkins is the president of the University of Notre Dame, where Mr. Swarbrick is director of athletics .

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In a teary locker room this month, after the Notre Dame men’s basketball team ended its season with a close loss in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, the coach spoke not about lost opportunities on the court, but rather about the six master’s degrees (in addition to undergraduate degrees) that members of the team had earned, the lifelong friendships they had formed, and the invaluable lessons they had learned about leadership, teamwork and growing through adversity. The locker room is a classroom where the lesson that athletics can and should be part of a university’s educational mission is lived every day. Even Knute Rockne said that college athletics should be secondary to academics.

The nation is now immersed in the thrill of the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament. (Our women’s team plays Maryland on Saturday.) But beyond the excitement, college athletics is in crisis.

It faces threats on a number of fronts: the growing patchwork of contradictory and confusing state laws regulating it, the specter of crippling lawsuits, the profusion of dubious name, image and likeness deals through which to funnel money to recruits, the misguided attempts to classify student-athletes as employees. Underlying all that is the widespread belief that college athletics is simply a lucrative business disguised as a branch of educational institutions.

We call on universities to reaffirm that student-athletes are students first and to ensure that their athletic programs serve the schools’ broader educational mission, not the other way around. We call on the N.C.A.A. and athletic conferences to set policies that support that goal. And we urge Congress to protect the N.C.A.A.’s ability to regulate the competition for new players to ensure it remains fair and above board.

How did we get here? The history of the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament is illustrative. It began in 1939 with eight teams and no television. It was so popular that it doubled to 16 teams in 1951, to 32 teams in 1975, and to 64 teams in 1985, then added a “play in” opening round in 2001 that was expanded in 2011. Television coverage grew with the tournament; CBS and Turner pay hundreds of millions of dollars a year (soon to be $1 billion a year ) for the right to broadcast the games. As the tournament’s popularity increased, so did the value of a winning team — and the salaries of successful coaches.

The perception has grown in recent years that student-athletes, whose talent and hard work create so much revenue for schools and even coaches, get nothing in return. Echoing public opinion, courts have struck down longstanding N.C.A.A. regulations that barred student-athletes from profiting from their image and likeness. That has resulted in further antitrust suits against the N.C.A.A. and athletic conferences.

We have been vocal in our conviction that student-athletes should be allowed to capture the value of the use of their name, image and likeness (N.I.L.) — in other words, profit from their celebrity — for one simple reason: Other students are allowed to. If a college student is a talented artist or musician no one begrudges him the chance to make money from his skills. And athletes should as far as possible have the opportunities other students enjoy.

Unfortunately, the new N.I.L. rules have proven to be easy to abuse. To avoid the N.C.A.A. prohibition against directly paying athletic recruits, many schools funnel money to recruits under the guise of a supposed third-party licensing deal — regardless of whether a player’s name, image and likeness have any market value whatsoever. We must establish and enforce regulations that allow legitimate transactions while barring those that are recruiting enticements or pay-for-play.

The claim that student-athletes otherwise get nothing from a multibillion-dollar college sports industry is false — and the misperception behind it goes to the heart of what is at stake.

If a talented high school player heads straight to the minor leagues, he earns a paycheck. If he goes instead to college, he can earn something far more valuable: a degree. Economists estimate a college degree is typically worth about $1 million in enhanced earning power in a lifetime. At our institution, 99 percent of student-athletes who stay for at least four years get a diploma. Because less than 2 percent of all our student-athletes will play in their sport professionally, such a benefit is useful indeed.

At Notre Dame, revenue from football and men’s basketball goes to support 24 other varsity sports, including, most important, women’s sports — most of which did not exist on college campuses before 1972.

Since the advent of Title IX 50 years ago, no development in college athletics has been more significant than the rise of women’s sports. While many female athletes have benefited from N.I.L. deals, those who press for giving a higher percentage of revenue to football and men’s basketball players should understand that such a decision could endanger women’s athletics. At Notre Dame, that encompasses more than 300 female student-athletes, all of whom work just as hard as their male counterparts to compete at the highest levels in their sport and in the classroom.

Overseeing N.I.L. transactions is just the beginning. To enhance the educational experience and overall health and well-being of our student-athletes, the N.C.A.A. should also set a limit on how many days away from campus a team can require. Part of a college education is the interaction with others in the classroom, the dining hall and the dorms. Student-athletes deserve that experience, too.

The N.C.A.A. or the athletic conferences should create a national medical trust fund to benefit all student-athletes who are injured while playing, regardless of sport, school size or standing. And finally, we should set a policy so that players who leave school to go pro have the option to return — with the same financial grants they had the first time around. At Notre Dame, we have done this for many student-athletes, including the Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis , who returned last spring to complete his degree 28 years after leaving to play professionally.

Congress, too, must act to resolve conflicting state regulations, clarify that our athletes are students, not employees, and give the N.C.A.A. the ability to enact and enforce rules for fair recruiting and compensation.

Professional athletics must play a role, too. Though baseball and hockey allow players to go pro right after high school, the N.B.A. age requirement for draft eligibility forces most of the highly talented players to attend one year of college. The N.F.L. offers no alternative to intercollegiate football until a player has been out of high school for at least three years. Both policies push talented young players to enroll in college regardless of whether they have any interest in the educational experience it offers.

To ensure that players arrive at college only after making an informed choice — and a real commitment to learning — we urge the N.F.L. to establish a minor league alternative for young players. Similarly, we hope that the N.B.A. and its Players’ Union, in accord with the 2018 Commission on College Basketball, use the upcoming contract negotiations to eliminate the “one and done” rule and allow 18-year-olds to proceed directly to the league.

College athletics is a treasured national institution. Professionalizing teams, treating athletes more as employees than as students and weakening the vital connection with the educational mission of their colleges will rob college athletics of its special character. Gradually it will be seen as merely a version of the professional minor leagues. More important, that approach will not serve the vast majority of young men and women who pursue a college degree and grow personally while they play the sport they love. We can support them and preserve the institution that serves them.

John I. Jenkins has been president of the University of Notre Dame since 2005. Jack B. Swarbrick is a vice president and the director of athletics at Notre Dame.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Hundreds show support at volleyball tournament held in honor of LCHS student killed in crash

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Borderland's volleyball community celebrated the life of one of their own Saturday.

14-year-old Samantha Bursum was killed in a crash while on her way to a volleyball tournament in Midland, Texas. She was a freshman at Las Cruces High School.

A volleyball club held the "Pink Out for Sam Tournament" in her honor Saturday. Organizers said over 30 teams signed up, and all funds raised will be donated to the Bursum family.

"As a club, as an organization, we needed to make a difference," said Andrea Guthrie, a club coach and activity director. "We as parents, too, at that tournament, we were very heavy hearted and we kept thinking that could have been us. That could have been anybody."

Those that knew Bursum described her at kind, respectful, and passionate. They said she's gone too soon.

"It definitely taught us a lesson. We definitely learned times valuable. You don't have much of it, so take every day as it comes and go out and do your best every day," said Savannah Monroe, a volleyball coach for one of the clubs.

Jump to comments ↓

Kerry Mannix

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Decision-making on injury prevention and rehabilitation in professional football – a coach, medical staff, and player perspective.

George Minoso 2024-03-14T15:51:16-05:00 March 22nd, 2024 | General , Research , Sport Training , Sports Management |

Authors: Christiana E. Hilmer 1

1 Department of Economics, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

Corresponding Author:

Christiana Hilmer, PhD 5500 Campanile Drive San Diego, CA 92182-4485 [email protected] 619-301-9388

Christiana E. Hilmer, PhD, is a Professor of Economics at San Diego State University in San Diego, CA. Her research interests include the economics of sports, applied econometrics, labor economics, and resource and environmental economics.

An analysis of the factors impacting win percentage and change in win percentage in women’s Division 1 college lacrosse

What factors in women’s NCAA Division 1 college lacrosse led to an increase in win percentage in a single season and a change in win percentage across two consecutive seasons? Do these factors differ between teams at the top and the bottom ends of the win distributions? Using data from the 2023 and 2022 lacrosse seasons, we find that goals, assists, unassisted goals, and participation in the NCAA Championship tournament have a positive impact on win percentage, while opponent’s goals and if the team was new in 2023 have a negative impact on win percentage. The most crucial factor that explains the change in win percentage between the 2022 and 2023 lacrosse seasons is an improvement in the change in total shots ratio, while changes in attacking efficiency and defending efficiency are also important, all together explaining 58% of the variation. Teams at the bottom of the distributions have similar characteristics for both win percentage and change in win percentage as those teams in the middle and the top of the distributions, although there are some slight differences in the magnitudes of the statistically significant variables. These results suggest that lacrosse players and coaches should focus on obtaining additional goals and assists while concurrently minimizing the opponent’s goals to increase win percentage and changes in win percentage.

Keywords : distributional impacts, quantile regression, women’s college lacrosse

INTRODUCTION

Since the advent of sabermetrics pioneered by Bill James and the popularity of Lewis’s (5) Moneyball, the use of statistics to analyze sports has exploded in popularity. Reep and Benjamin (7) applied statistical analysis to team-wide factors in soccer where they investigated how the passing skill and position of a player on the field impacts goals. When analyzing a team’s performance, it is essential to determine which factors lead to a team’s success. Most research in this field has focused on professional sports. Busca et al. (1) examine eleven high-stakes international soccer tournaments to determine where a penalty kick is most likely to be struck. Pelechrinis and Winston (6) develop a framework that is comprised of publicly available data to determine the expected contribution of an individual professional soccer player to the probability of his team winning the game. Alberti et. al. (1) examine goal-scoring patterns in four different professional soccer leagues and find that the majority of goals are scored in the second half of the game with the most goals being scored in the last fifteen minutes of play. Castellano et. al. (3) analyze professional soccer match statistics to determine which factors impact winning, drawing, and losing a game and find that shots, shots on goal, and ball possession are important on the offensive end of the field, while total shots received and shots on target received are important on the defensive end of the field. A notable departure from research that focuses on professional soccer is Joslyn et al. (4), who examines the factors that improve the change in win percentage in men’s Division 1 (D1) college soccer. They find that improving shots, attacking, and defending positively impact the change in win percentage between two consecutive seasons.

This research utilizes the tools found in the team-focused literature from soccer and extends it to lacrosse. Soccer and lacrosse have many similarities, especially regarding possession, assists, goals, and defense. There are also marked differences between the two sports in addition to the obvious one: in soccer the ball is kicked while in lacrosse the ball is played with a net attached to a stick. Lacrosse is a higher-scoring game due to the presence of a 90-second shot clock and defending a women’s lacrosse player is more difficult in lacrosse than it is in soccer. One reason for this is that in lacrosse it is a foul to “move into the path of an opponent without giving the opponent a chance to stop or change direction, and causing contact” (page 51, 2022 and 2023 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Rules Book (6)), while there is no such rule in soccer. Another reason is due to a rule in women’s lacrosse called shooting space (page 54, NCAA 2022 and 2023 Women’s Lacrosse Rules Book (6)), which states that “with any part of one’s body, guarding the goal outside or inside the goal circle so as to obstruct the free space to goal, between the ball and the goal circle, which denies the attack the opportunity to shoot safely and encourages shooting at a player” while soccer does not have a comparable rule. According to NCAA Statistics (7), the average number of goals per game scored in D1 women’s college lacrosse in 2023 was 12, while the average number of goals per game scored in D1 women’s college soccer in 2023 was 1.39. Another notable difference between lacrosse and soccer is that the offside rules are very different. The offsides rule in lacrosse states that there must be at least five defenders behind their defensive restraining line and at least four offensive players behind their offensive restraining line (page 61, NCAA 2022 and 2023 Women’s Lacrosse Rules Book (6)). The offsides rule in soccer is much less stringent and it states that when in the opponent’s half of the field “the player is not closer to the opponent’s end line than at least two opponents” (page 52, NCAA 2022 and 2023 Soccer Rules Book (7)). These disparities between lacrosse and soccer may result in differences in which factors impact win percentages and changes in win percentages.

This research examines which factors lead to an increase in win percentage and change in win percentage for women’s Division 1 college lacrosse teams. We also seek to determine if these factors differ among teams in the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles for win percentage and the change in win percentage. Using data from the 2023 women’s D1 college lacrosse season, we explain 86% of the variation in win percentage. Goals, unassisted goals, and participation in the NCAA Championship tournament have a statistically significant positive impact on win percentage, while opponent’s goals and if the team was new in 2023 have a statistically significant negative impact on win percentage. The most crucial factor explaining the change in win percentage between the 2022 and 2023 lacrosse seasons is an improvement in the change in total shots ratio, while changes in attacking efficiency and defending efficiency are also statistically significant, all together explaining 58% of the variation. The variables that explain both win percentage in a single season and the change in win percentage between seasons are similar between the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles. This suggests that teams at the bottom of the distributions should focus on the same factors as those at the top when they seek to improve during a season and between seasons.

Data Source Win percentage was collected from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) archives for the 2023 and 2022 seasons. A win was awarded one point while a loss was awarded zero points. Offensive and defensive statistics for the 2023 and 2022 seasons were collected from each University’s women’s lacrosse website housed in the season’s cumulative statistics. It is important to note that these data are provided by individual institutions and therefore the statistical findings of this research is dependent on the accuracy of the information provided by each school. In addition to winning percentage, data was collected on goals, assists, shots, opponent’s goals, opponent’s shots, unassisted goals, ground balls, turnovers, caused turnovers, draw controls, whether the team was new to NCAA D1 lacrosse in the 2023 season, and if the team made the NCAA Championship tournament in 2023. Of the 126 D1 women’s lacrosse teams, 123 had information on every variable listed above.

Variables and Distributions

This analysis aims to determine what factors impact a single season winning percentage and which factors impact the change in win percentage across two consecutive seasons. Figure 1 is a histogram of win percentage for the 2023 women’s lacrosse season. The average win percentage was close to 50% at 48.27%; the minimum win percentage was 0 for the two teams that lost every game during the season, while the maximum win percentage was from a team that won 95.65% of their games. The team with the second-highest win percentage won the 2023 NCAA National Championship tournament.

Summary statistics for the 2023 D1 women’s lacrosse 2023 season are found in table 1. The average number of goals and opponent’s goals nearly offset each other at 211 and 210, respectively. There was an average of 495 shots with a large standard deviation of 105. Below half the goals were aided by an average of 92 assists, while over half of the goals resulted from an average of 119 unassisted goals. There were nearly twice as many turnovers as there were caused turnovers, 7% or a total of 8 teams were new D1 lacrosse teams in 2023, and 24% of the D1 lacrosse teams made the NCAA end-of-season tournament.

Figure 2 contains a histogram of win percentage change, which is constructed by taking the win percentage in the 2023 lacrosse season and subtracting the win percentage in the 2022 lacrosse season. There are fewer observations in the change in win percentage because the seven teams who were new in the 2023 season did not have any statistics for the 2022 season. On average, most teams had a similar win percentage in 2023 as they did in 2022, with an average change in the win percentage of .16. The team with the lowest change in win percentage between the two seasons of -51.47 had a win percentage of 75% in 2022, dropping to 24% in 2023. At the other end of the spectrum, the team with the highest change in win percentage won 12% of their games in 2022 and improved to winning 50% of their games in 2023.

Following Joyce et al. (4), we construct three measures of team success to explain the change in winning percentage: total shots ratio, attaching scoring efficiency, and defending scoring efficiency. The first measure, total shots ratio, is constructed as

The total shots ratio in both 2022 and 2023 is .5, which means, on average, teams are matching their opponent’s shots with their own shots with a range in values from .23 to .7 in 2023 and .3 to .63 in 2022.  This finding for lacrosse compares favorably to what Joyce et al. (4) found for D1 college soccer, where the total shots ratio ranged from .24 to .69 in D1 men’s soccer.

            The second measure of team success is attacking scoring efficiently or goals to shots ratio.

The average attaching scoring efficiency for 2023 and 2022 was .42. This measure had a relatively smaller variability than the total shots ratio, with a minimum of around .3 for both years and a maximum of .5 in 2023 to .58 in 2023. This maximum means that the teams with the highest attacking scoring efficiency earn an average of one goal for every two shots. Being able to convert shots into goals is an essential aspect of winning games. Lacrosse teams are much more likely to convert shots into goals, as Joyce et al. (4) found an average attacking scoring efficiency of .1 or 1 goal for every ten shots in D1 men’s soccer.

The third measure of team success is the defending scoring efficiency, which is contracted as

This final measure determines if teams can prevent opponents from turning shots into goals. The average values for defending scoring efficiency are slightly higher than attaching scoring efficiency, with an average of .43 in 2023 and .44 in 2022. The variability is higher for defending scoring efficiency than attacking scoring efficiency, with a minimum of .31 in 2023 and .34 in 2022 and a maximum of .66 in 2023 and .77 in 2022. Teams that are better at preventing shots from being converted into goals typically have a higher win percentage.

Regression Model The first step in our regression analysis is to empirically estimate the degree to which offensive and defensive statistics impact the win percentage for the 2023 lacrosse season. The win percentage regression model takes the form:

            The second part of the analysis follows Joyce et. al. (4) to determine what factors impact the change in win percentage between the 2023 and 2022 lacrosse seasons.  The regression model is as follows

where ε_i is the error term and i is the individual women’s lacrosse team. As with the individual season analysis, this model is estimated using ordinary linear regression and quantile regression at the 50th, 25th, and 75th percentiles.

Table 3 contains the results for the estimation of equation (4) from the 2023 lacrosse season with robust standard errors in parentheses. Looking first at the results from the ordinary least squares model, 86% of the variation in win percentage is explained by the 11 independent variables. Turning to the variables that are statistically significant, each additional goal results in an increase of .18 in win percentage, while each opponent’s goal results in a decrease of .2 in win percentage, with goals and opponent’s goals nearly offsetting each other. On average, one additional unassisted goal results in an increase of .13 in win percentage. Being a new D1 women’s lacrosse team in 2023 results in a 9 point marginally statistically significant decrease in win percentage relative to teams that have been in the league in previous years. This result suggests that new D1 teams have a difficult time navigating their first year likely due to players and coaches lacking experience and chemistry, making obtaining wins more difficult. Women’s lacrosse teams who participated in the 2023 NCAA Championship Tournament have a statistically significant almost 5 point higher win percentage than those who did not participate in the tournament. This finding is not surprising given that the two ways to get a team into the tournament are to either receive an automatic bid by winning their conference tournament or earn an at-large bid by having a compelling enough record during the regular season and conference playoffs.

The last three columns of table 3 contain quantile regression results at the 50th, 25th, and 75th percentiles of the win percentage distribution. Opponent’s goals are the only statistically significant factor to explain wins across all three percentiles. The magnitude of opponent’s goals is largest at the 25th percentile at -.24 and is -.20 for both the 50th and 75th percentile. Teams at the 25th and 50th percentiles of the win percentage distribution that participates in the NCAA end-of-season tournament has a statistically significant 7 point and 6 point higher win percentage, respectively, relative to those who did not participate, while this variable is not statistically significant at the 75th percentile. This may be because most, 73%, of the tournament participants come from the teams at the top 25% of the win percentage distribution, while most teams at the middle and bottom of the distribution did not participate in the tournament. Aside from this difference, the results are similar between the models at the three points in the win percentage distribution.

Table 4 contains the second part of the regression analysis which estimates equation (5) that attempts to determine what factors impact the change in win percentage between the 2023 and 2022 seasons. The variables contained in this analysis mimic those in Joyce et. al. (4) for men’s D1 college soccer. Looking at the OLS results, teams that had a one unit increase in the change in total shots ratio between the two seasons had a 2.4 increase in the change in win percentage. Teams with a 1 unit increase in the change in attacking efficiency had a 1 unit increase in the change in win percentage, and teams with a one unit increase in the change in defending efficiency decreased the change in win percentage by 1.2 points. The statistical significance between these lacrosse results and those found for soccer by Joslyn et al. (4) are identical, suggesting that even though there are many differences between the two sports, the same factors are important in explaining the change in win percentage between consecutive years. Comparing magnitudes between the two applications is not possible because the estimation methods differed. The statistical significance of the variables included in the quantile regression evaluated at the 50th, 25th, and 75th percentiles were the same as in the OLS regression. The quantile regression performed at the 25th percentile of the change in win percentage had the highest impact for the change in total shots ratio and the change in attacking efficiency, while the change in defending efficiency had the smallest impact. The change in total shots ratio and the change in attacking efficiency had the smallest impact for those teams at the 75th percentile, while the change in defending efficiency had the largest impact for those teams at the 50th percentile. These results suggest that the factors that impact the change in win percentage are similar across teams at the bottom and the top of the change in win percentage distribution, although the marginal impacts differed slightly between the percentiles.

It is not surprising that additional goals led to an increase in win percentage and an increase in opponent’s goals led to a decrease in win percentage. However, it was unanticipated that many of the other offensive and defensive statistics included in the regression were not statistically significant. It is likely that these other factors either lead to the team’s ability to score goals, such as shots, ground balls, and caused turnovers, or lead to the opponent’s goals, such as turnovers. One drawback of this research is that it does not investigate how these other factors impact goals and opponent’s goals. One adage in lacrosse is “win the draw, win the game.” Even though draw controls are not statistically significant in explaining win percentage, there was no information contained in the box scores on how many goals were obtained when the team won the draw control or how many goals were conceded when the team lost the draw control. More detailed information would be needed to investigate this relationship further. Other factors that likely explain win percentage and changes in win percentage such as team chemistry, the presence of a star player, the experience of the players and the coaches, and how different game management strategies, such as the usage of substitutes and quickness of play, are not included because they are difficult to measure, not included in the box scores, or both.

For a lacrosse coach or lacrosse player who is looking to improve win percentage between seasons, it is comforting to note that focusing on improving the changes in total shots ratio, attacking scoring efficiency, and becoming better at defending by decreasing the opponent’s goal-to-shot ratio will lead to an increase in the change in win percentage. One major drawback of this research is that it does not point to the factors that cause improvements in these variables and how they feed into additional goals or fewer conceded goals.

CONCLUSIONS

This study is the first to analyze which factors impact win percentage and changes in win percentage for NCAA D1 women’s lacrosse. The regression results suggest that goals, unassisted goals, and those who competed in the NCAA tournament had a positive impact on win percentage, while opponent’s goals and teams that were new in 2023 had a negative impact on win percentage. These factors were similar across the distribution of win percentage at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles. Changes in win percentage between the 2023 and 2022 seasons are positively impacted by the change in the total shots ratio and attacking scoring efficiency and negatively impacted by the change in defending scoring efficiency. Even though there are many differences between lacrosse and soccer, the findings of this research and those of Joyce et. al. (4) that focus on college soccer suggest that the factors that explain changes in win percentage are similar between the two sports. These results also suggest that the statistics that explain win percentage and change in win percentage are similar between teams at the bottom, at the middle, and at the top of the distributions.

Applications In Sport

Women’s lacrosse programs at the collegiate level as well as at the national level can use these results to determine which factors to focus on when attempting to improve their win percentage within a specific year or over the course of several years. This research suggests that teams should emphasize their efforts in practice and in games on factors that increase goals as well as those factors that prevent goals. The lack of empirical analysis at the collegiate level, especially for women’s sports, can be rectified using available data. Additional publicly available information would make individual game analysis more informative such as how winning a draw control impacts goals as well as how focusing on specific factors such as caused turnovers or increasing assists increases goals and therefore positively impacts a team’s chances of winning.

• (1) Alberti, G., Iaia, F. M., Arcelli, E., Cavaggioni, L., Rampinini, E. (2013). Goal scoring patterns in major European soccer leagues. Sport Sciences for Heath, 9(3), 151-153.
• (2) Buscà, B., Hileno, R., Nadal, B., & Serna, J. (2022). Prediction of the penalty kick direction in men’s soccer. International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 22(4), 571–582.
• (3) Castellano, J., Casamichana, D., Penas, C. (2012). The use of match statistics that discriminate between successful and unsuccessful soccer teams, Journal of Hunan Kinetics, 31, 137-147.
• (4) Joslyn, M.R., Joslyn, N. J. & Joslyn, M. R. (2017). What delivers an improved season in men’s college soccer? The relative effects of shots, attacking and defending scoring efficiency on year-to-year change in season win percentage. The Sport Journal, 24, 1-12.
• (5) Lewis, M. (2004). Moneyball: The art of winning an unfair game. WW Norton & Company.
• (6) NCAA 2022 and 2023 Women’s Lacrosse Rule Book. https://www.usalacrosse.com/sites/default/files/documents/Rules/WLC23.pdf
• (7) NCAA 2022 and 2022 Soccer Rules Book. https://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/SO23.pdf
• (8) NCAA Statistics, Women’s Lacrosse and Women’s Soccer http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/conference_trends
• (9) Pelechrinis, K., & Winston, W. (2021). A Skellam regression model for quantifying positional value in soccer. Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 17(3), 187–201.
• (10) Reep, C., & Benjamin, B. (1968). Skill and chance in association football. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General), 131(4), 581-585.
• (11) Waldmann E. (2018). Quantile regression: A short story on how and why. Statistical Modelling. 18(3-4): 203-218.

Can there be two speeds in a clean peloton? Performance strategies in modern road cycling

George Minoso 2024-02-22T11:24:51-06:00 February 23rd, 2024 | Research , Sport Education , Sport Training , Sports Coaching , Sports Health & Fitness , Sports Medicine , Sports Nutrition |

Authors: Karsten Øvretveit 1

1 K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing,

K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, PB 8905, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway [email protected]

Karsten Øvretveit, MSc3, is a physiologist and PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). His research areas include genetic disease risk, physical performance, motivational dynamics, and human nutrition.

In the history of professional cycling, riders have always sought competitive advantages. Throughout 20th century, many relied on performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) which gave rise to a phenomenon called “two-speed cycling”. Throughout its modern era, professional cycling has seen anti-doping efforts repeatedly intensify on the heels of several large doping scandals. Over the past decade, the sport appears to have transitioned away from large-scale systematic doping and towards novel, legal performance-enhancing strategies, facilitated by a close relationship with scientific, technological, and engineering communities. The tools and technologies available to assess the demands of the sport, the capabilities of the riders, and the role of environmental factors such as wind resistance, altitude, and heat are more refined and comprehensive than ever. Teams and riders are now able to leverage these to improve training, recovery, equipment, race tactics and more, often from a very early age. This review explores several key developments in road cycling and their implications for the modern professional peloton.

Key Words: professional cycling; performance-enhancing drugs; marginal gains; performance analysis

The main pack of riders navigating the road in a cycling race, known as the peloton, comprises a wide range of physiological, anthropometrical, technical, and strategical attributes. The role of each rider in a given race is typically based on strengths, weaknesses, and objectives, and can be modified by injuries, fitness level, personal goals, and unexpected in-race developments. The concept of “cycling at two speeds”, cyclisme à deux vitesses, has historically been used to distinguish between chemically enhanced riders and those who ride clean (134). However, despite increasingly stringent doping controls in professional cycling along with a clear shift in doping culture, the concept of two-speed cycling remains. Given the well-documented benefits of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), there is an expectation that the intensification of anti-doping measures in professional cycling leads to more homogeneous performance levels in the peloton by reducing the number of artificially enhanced riders. Although this may be a reasonable assumption, it discounts the many substantial advances made in training, nutrition, technology, and strategy, as well as the growing talent pool of potential professionals and the early age at which they begin to seriously structure their training, racing, and recovery. These factors can differ greatly between teams and individual riders and thus help maintain the two-speed phenomenon. This review provides a brief history of the PED culture and use in professional cycling, followed by an examination of some of the key developments in the sport that has helped preserve the two-speed phenomenon in a peloton riding within an increasingly strict anti-doping framework.

The performance-enhanced past of the peloton

Drugs have been used to enhance athletic performance for millennia, stretching back to at least the ancient Olympic Games (16). Cycling as a profession emerged among working-class men who likened endurance sports to physically demanding jobs where the use of drugs to aid performance was considered the right thing to do (58). Indeed, doping has been pervasive in professional cycling for over 150 years, throughout most of which it was either legal or not subject to testing (34). For decades, riders doped to simply be able to do the job – faire le métier (33). Then, athlete health became a concern and a major driving force to regulate, if not outright ban the use of certain substances. Drug testing in the Tour de France (TdF), the most prestigious event on the race calendar, began in 1966. Despite this, amphetamines, cortisone, and steroids remained widespread in the professional peloton. It was also around this time that rumors about the use of blood transfusions in athletes began (60). The year after Raymond Poulidor underwent the first drug test in the TdF, Tom Simpson collapsed on the ascent of Mount Ventoux and later passed away due to an unfortunate combination of alcohol, amphetamines, intense heat, and extreme physical exertion. Although this event brought more attention to the use of stimulants and other drugs in cycling and in sports in general (69), doping would persist for decades to follow. Based on interviews with riders on a professional cycling team at the turn of the millennium, psychiatrist Jean-Christophe Seznec (115) asserted that professional cyclists are not only prone to develop an addiction to PEDs, but also recreational drugs, noting the importance of explicitly acknowledging this risk in order to mitigate it.

When professional cycling entered the 90s, the banned yet at that time undetectable erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) arrived in the peloton (101), and performances hit a new level. Increasing circulating erythropoietin (EPO) by illegal means has been perceived by some riders and coaches to give an estimated performance boost, without the term “performance” being strictly defined, of 3% to 20% (31, 100, 134, 138). Interestingly, despite its popularity in the peloton, the research literature on the effects of ESAs such as rHuEPO on endurance performance is equivocal. Its effects on hematological values like hemoglobin concentration ([Hb]) and clinical measurements of power and maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2max) are well-established, but the real-world benefits are not always clear (116, 123).

There are several aspects of professional cycling that are difficult to account for in experimental studies on exogenous EPO, such as the extremely high fitness level of a peaked professional cyclist and the physiological impact of training and racing on parameters such as Hb . A recent randomized controlled trial found no apparent benefit of EPO on relevant performance markers has sometimes been cited to shed doubt on the true effects of the drug (47). However, this study was done in cyclists with an average V̇O2max of 55.6 mL/kg/min, which is substantially lower than their professional counterparts (124). By his own account, former professional Michael Rasmussen saw his hematocrit (Hct) drop from 41% to 36% following the 2002 Giro d’Italia (98), illustrating how blood composition can be severely perturbed by training and racing. Similar values have been observed in other professionals following participation in Grand Tours (17, 89). Using Rasmussen as an example, using rHuEPO to bring this up to 49%, just below the old 50% limit, would represent a relative Hct increase of 36% and result in improved ability to maintain a much higher intensity in training and racing, and consequently greater exercise-induced adaptations.

Throughout the 90s, Grand Tour riders with supraphysiological Hct would traverse France, Italy, and Spain at impressive speeds until it all seemingly came to an end in 1998. Three days before the start of the 85th edition of the TdF, a Festina team car carrying various PEDs was stopped by customs agents at the French-Belgian border. This event marked the start of what later became known as the Festina affair, a major catalyst in cycling’s transition to a cleaner sport. The wake of this scandal saw an increasing number of calls to action against doping, including by the driver of the Festina car (132), with claims of the sport dying unless drastic action is taken. Subsequent large-scale doping cases such as Operación Puerto and the contents of the USADA’s Reasoned Decision Report (10) served as reminders that PEDs were still present in the peloton and strengthened the resolve of those fighting for a cleaner sport. Although riders are often blamed for the pervasive drug use in cycling, most entered a sport with a lack of top-down anti-doping efforts, leaving them with the difficult choice of either conforming to the culture or competing on unequal terms. One of the most crucial steps towards a cleaner sport is a change in culture among teams and riders. Much, if not most, of the credit should go to the riders themselves, many of which have actively pushed against the use of PEDs for years (46, 50, 59, 85, 130). Today, most doping cases in cycling are among semi-professional riders, whereas the number of riders testing positive at the highest level is approaching zero (88).

Although absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, fewer doping cases at the highest level of cycling suggests that overt, systematic drug use is a thing of the past. Given professional cycling’s checkered history, it would be naïve to think that doping has been eliminated entirely, but the sport does appear to have evolved beyond doping being perceived as all but necessary to gain entry into the professional peloton. Generational shifts not only among riders, but also among governing bodies and team leadership have contributed to an overall firmer stance against doping, removing potentially significant contributors to anti-doping violations (6). There is also indications that the post-Armstrong generation, especially those who started their careers young, are less likely to use PEDs (5), although the evidence is equivocal (64). Additionally, anti-doping technology continues to improve, with recent advances such as gene expression analysis being able to extend the detection window of blood manipulations (28, 133).

Conceptual approaches to legal performance development

It could be argued that the extraordinary performances regularly being on display by the current generation of riders suggest that the dismantling of systematic doping practices has led to progression rather than regression of the sport of cycling. The transition away from prevalent PED use has forced teams and riders to seek out other areas of improvement, some with barely measurable effects, to keep up. Although seeking improvements in many areas is not a new phenomenon in professional cycling, it has received increasing attention over the past decade with the success of Team Sky, now INEOS Grenadiers, and team director, Dave Brailsford, who called this concept “marginal gains”. Brailsford and his team set out to win the TdF within five years with a clean British rider (29). To achieve this, he brought with him the approach he used as a performance director for British Cycling, which had led to considerable success in track cycling. Team Sky was established on the back of British dominance in the Laoshan velodrome during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where they took home seven gold medals. As he transitioned from the track to the road, Brailsford brought the idea that compiling enough marginal gains could provide a greater performance advantage than PEDs (87).

Although the marginal gain concept came to prominence with Team Sky during one of professional cycling’s most recent avowed shift from banned to legal performance-enhancing strategies, it has been practiced by cyclists since at least the mid-1900s. Italian Fausto Coppi, who rode to multiple victories in the TdF and Giro d’Italia, as well as in one-day classics throughout the 40s and early 50s, was an early adopter of novel diet and training approaches. After World War II, the sport of cycling was anything but advanced and Coppi set out to change that. He worked with Bianchi to develop bikes and other equipment; he adapted his diet to better fuel his riding – not only its contents, but also the timing and amount; and he explored strategies for how to best race as a team (37). Some of these developments would later influence other greats, such as Eddie Merckx, who, among other things, was obsessed with proper bike fit (38). Current director of the French national team, Cyrille Guimard, has also long been known for his application of cutting-edge technology and training methods. One of his former riders, Laurent Fignon, described him as being “right up-to-date. He had files for everything. He was interested in all the lates training methods. Where his protégés were concerned, he would look at the very last detail and even the slightest defect would be corrected. He knew how to ensure everyone had the very best equipment that was on the market: made-to-measure bikes, the newest gadgets.” (32, p. 56).

  The notion that modern riders can surpass past performances solely through legal performance strategies rests on the assumption that these strategies, particularly when combined, are highly effective. Furthermore, a larger pool of athletes and an earlier onset of structured athletic development might amplify these effects. The following section explores the degree of improvement that can be made in the areas of training, nutrition, and technology.

There is not a single anthropometric or physiological characteristic that is completely uniform across high-level cyclists (65, 111). Those with elite potential tend to have stand-out absolute measurements of aerobic fitness and power, but these are attributes that can also be found in cyclists of lower caliber. Elite riders also possess very high power-to-weigh ratios, typically expressed as watts per kilogram (W/kg). An emerging concept that may also distinguish riders of different caliber is durability, i.e., the point and degree of physiological decline during extended exercise (66, 79, 80). Laboratory measurements of key performance determinants such as power-to-weigh ratio, V̇O 2max , cycling economy, critical power, and peak power output provide a detailed physiological profile of each individual rider but cannot accurately predict real-life performance.

Training Strategies

Aided by technology, experience, and insights from a growing body of research, training is more refined, structured, and supervised than before, with most, if not all, training sessions serving a specific purpose. Each rider typically follows an individualized training plan that is carried out under comprehensive monitoring of variables such as heart rate, power output, climate, and terrain. These data, along with laboratory measurements, race outcomes, and even psychological variables, are used to adjust volume, frequency, intensity, and/or modality throughout the season. This allows each rider to absorb as much recoverable training volume as possible to optimize physiological adaptations and peak repeatedly for competition while avoiding overtraining. Whereas virtually every single pedal stroke of the modern rider is quantified and analyzed to guide training, racing, and recovery, riders of the past relied more on “feel”, often opting for subjective rather than objective measurements of output. During the 1987 TdF, Laurent Fignon declared his legs to be “functioning again, more or less”, but did not see the value in monitoring his heart rate, explaining that “I lost my temper with those blasted pulse monitors: I handed mine back so that it wouldn’t tell me anything anymore” (32, p. 182).

Although W/kg is often favored as an indicator of riding capacity and a way to quantify cycling performances, a large V̇O 2max has long been considered a basic requirement of entry into the professional peloton. Values reported for GC contenders are generally comparable between generations, with the lowest value found in the most dominant TdF rider of all time, albeit with an asterisk ( table 1 ). There are a few caveats to these numbers, such as the validity of the actual measurement, most of which are not described in the research literature but rather in media. Moreover, oxygen uptake does not increase in proportion to body mass and scaling V̇O 2max to whole body mass is thus not appropriate when comparing athletes of different body sizes (71). Although some of these values may be exacerbated by PED use, both the baseline level and plasticity of V̇O 2max are under considerable genetic influence (15, 86, 135), and WorldTour levels can be reached without doping in those with sufficient genetic predisposition and appropriate stimulus.

Interestingly, there seems to be a physiological trade-off between efficiency and power, where adaptations towards the latter may attenuate the former (72, 113). This phenomenon was observed in Norwegian cyclist, Oskar Svendsen, who once had the highest V̇O2max ever recorded. Svendsen showed promise early by becoming junior time trial champion with less than three years of training and placing high in Tour de l’Avenir. However, despite an incredible V̇O2max of 96.7 ml/kg/min at 18 years of age, Svendsen never became a WorldTour rider. Although his early retirement at age 20 left his potential at the elite level largely unexplored, the reduction in cycling economy he experienced with increased training load could have been resolved as he matured as a rider, as cyclists appear to become more efficient over the span of their careers with little change in V̇O2max (112). If he remained active, Svendsen may eventually have been able to exploit his incredible baseline to reach the proverbial second speed in the modern peloton without chemical assistance. These insights into Svendsen’s physiological profile not only reveal some of the physiological complexities involved in high-level endurance performance, but also serve as an example of the scientific resources available to modern teams and riders that allows for a level of detail in the assessment and follow-up of athletes never seen before at that level of the sport.

Among the many training-related advances in the modern era is a more systematic approach to altitude training. Altitude-mediated erythropoiesis has long been recognized as an exposure that can produce adaptations that improves performance at sea level, as well as acclimatize athletes to sustain performance in hypobaric conditions. There are several ways to approach altitude training and care should be taken to avoid carrying the detrimental effects of prolonged hypoxic exposure, such as reduced cardiac output (Q̇) due to hypovolemia (117), into competition. Today, professional cycling teams rely on both experience as well as past and emerging research to use altitude as an important preparatory measure in various parts of the season. As the individual responses to hypoxic conditions can vary greatly (93), a large hematological response following real or simulated altitude exposure is an important attribute in modern riders. If done properly, altitude training can induce comparable hematological changes to rHuEPO use (table 2), making it a crucial performance-enhancing strategy in the modern peloton. Increasing [Hb] not only improves V̇O2max by improving the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood (43), it also enables sustained work at a higher fraction of maximal capacity (40) and faster V̇O2 kinetics (18), which can be hugely influential in a peloton with limited interindividual difference in V̇O2max.

A more recent strategy to legally induce hematological adaptations is heat acclimation. Prolonged exposure to heat is associated with both increased plasma volume, which can improve stroke volume and consequently Q̇ and V̇O2max, as well as an expansion of total hemoglobin mass (Hbmass) (91). In fact, light exercise in a heated environment five times per week has been shown to increase Hbmass by 3% – 11% in endurance athletes (90, 103, 107). Due to the logistical challenges and cost related to with altitude camp designs such as live high-train low, heat acclimation training may offer a more accessible strategy for riders and teams with less resources, or an additional stimulus to regular stays at altitude. The mechanistic similarities between synthetic and natural causes of erythropoiesis makes it physiologically possible to harness the benefits of EPO without doping. Voet (132) recounts that pre-scandal Festina riders did not even bring EPO to altitude camps because it was going to be “useless”. Describing his first stay at altitude, formerly enhanced rider, Thomas Dekker, wrote that “[t]he altitude works its magic: the thin air jolts my body into producing extra red blood cells and the Swiss Tour is the first race in ages where I can stay with the pace on the climbs” (25, p. 135), expressing relief that he could hang with the peloton without PEDs. Michele Ferrari, Lance Armstrong’s coach during the height of his career, argues that the effects of EPO on hemoglobin concentration can be achieved through proper altitude training alone (31).

Every rider in the professional peloton possesses rare abilities as cyclists. Given that the sport selects for individuals with above average baseline values of [Hb] and Hct, it may not take much stimulus to maintain a high level. However, compared to simply administering rHuEPO, strategies such as altitude training and heat acclimation are more complex undertakings, partly because of potential drawbacks with that must be accounted for, such as transiently reduced Q̇ and altered dietary requirements. The financial cost associated with prolonged exposure to altitude and/or heat for a professional team is also a considerable barrier, as the finances of teams can differ greatly. In some cases, PED use might simply just be more practical than legal strategies, and not necessarily more powerful.

Improving oxygen delivery and utilization have been main training targets for cyclists throughout most of its history, while resistance training (RT) has been largely neglected. As the impact of both power output and oxygen consumption on cycling performance is intrinsically related to rider weight, maintaining a low body mass has been, and still is, imperative. However, RT with an emphasis on neural adaptations can substantially improve force-generating capacity and reduce the oxygen cost of exercise in athletes without adding unnecessary bulk (51-53, 140). It also helps maintain bone mineral density, which elite cyclists are prone to lose (48, 110). A recent study found that RT with traditional movements and individualized load improved bone mineral density and endurance performance in professional cyclists (126). Moreover, it appeared to improve strength, power, and body composition to a greater degree than short sprint training, a more traditional power training modality for cyclists, supporting the role of structured RT as a part of a professional cyclists overall training program. Indeed, evidence for the benefit of RT on cycling performance has been mounting over the past years (table 3) (62, 102, 104-106, 108, 109, 120, 131, 141). This has contributed to changing the way RT is perceived and applied in the.

An elite physiology is easier to perturb than improve. At the highest level of cycling, large adaptations to training are unlikely to occur in the short term. The full, natural potential of a rider can only be reached via the cumulative effects of proper training and recovery, both of which are highly dependent on proper fueling. Nutrition, body composition, and supplementation

In Jørgen Leth’s classic documentary, “A Sunday in Hell”, Roger De Vlaeminck can be seen consuming a plate of meat with his team before setting out to defend his multiple Paris–Roubaix victories from the previous years in the 1976 edition, with the narrator explaining that “a rare steak is a good breakfast for what lies ahead” (67). This is in stark contrast to the low-residue diet often consumed by riders in the modern peloton (39). A low-residue diet is characterized by a very low fiber content, which can reduce rider weight and consequently improve race performance (36). This diet is usually combined with a very high carbohydrate intake throughout a race to ensure constant glucose availability, and the reduced satiety that can be associated with low-residue diets may even help a rider maintain energy intake during a race. The exact amount differs between riders, with numbers around 100 g of carbohydrate per hour being a rough estimate that may be exceeded considerably on hard days. The recognition of the added performance benefit of increased carbohydrate intake has given rise to the concept of gut training for athletes (56, 78). Racing hard for hours on end for multiple consecutive days with limited glucose availability is guaranteed to hamper performance compared to a well-fueled athlete; as red blood cells do not convert to adenosine triphosphate; blood doping cannot replace bioenergetic fuel.

There are some examples of riders that leveraged nutrition to increase their performance throughout history, such as Fausto Coppi (37), but in the modern era, all riders pay attention and have access to both nutritionists and chefs, both of which are roles that have become integral parts of professional teams. Riders also have access to more knowledge and tools, such as food apps powered by machine learning (121). The days of training hard during the day following by alcohol consumption in the evening and racing on the weekends are gone, but were reportedly common until fairly recently (25, 54). The culmination of evidence- and experience-based diets in professional cycling has led to better fueling strategies and lower body mass in the peloton and perhaps especially among the best riders.

Although described as “thin as rakes” (132, p. 63), the riders of the 90s were heavy by today’s standard. Laurent Fignon (32) explains that the importance of power-to-weight ratio did not become known among the riders before the mid-80s and that he, until that point, paid little attention to diet. Looking at the top 10 finishers of the TdF for the past four decades, starting with the latest edition, suggest that it is becoming more and more of a requirement for the overall GC placing (table 4). Notably, between 1992 and 2022, the average BMI of the top 10 decreased by 8.1%. This trend seems to generally hold across all Grand Tours for the past decades (118).

Supplements such as creatine and beta-alanine have been shown to improve endurance performance, including in cycling (7, 12, 21, 49, 127, 128). Creatine was introduced to the peloton in the mid-90s but was very expensive at the time. Riders who had access to it could consume up to 30 g the day before a long time trial or a mountain stage in hopes of a performance boost (132). Creatine and beta-alanine are now both affordable and widely used, alongside other supplements such as caffeine, electrolytes, nitrates, various vitamins, and minerals, as well as macronutrient supplements such as protein and carbohydrate.

In recent years, a lot of attention has been devoted to exogenous ketones. It is a contentious supplement that has been embraced some of the strongest teams while being recommended against by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC). Ketones, or ketone bodies, are acetyl-CoA-derived metabolites that are produced by the liver under conditions with reduced glucose availability, such as low-carbohydrate diets, fasting, and during or after hard exercise. Ketone bodies such as β-hydroxybutyrate can spare glycogen by inhibiting glycolysis and acting as an alternative fuel in oxidative phosphorylation, which in turn can improve endurance (19). As with the research on other legal and illegal enhancement strategies, the degree to which exogenous ketones translates to improved exercise performance remains to be fully elucidated (24, 92, 94, 96, 125, 139). Although there may be potential drawbacks with isolated ketone supplementation (82), in conjunction with sodium bicarbonate, which is a weak base that has been used for some time in endurance sports (45), ketone supplementation has been shown to improve power output towards the end of a race simulation by 5% (95), although this effect may be unreliable and warrants further study (97).

Much of the hype surrounding some of the proposed effect of ketones as an energy substrate appears unwarranted, but emerging evidence suggest that it may have intriguing properties as a signaling molecule. A few years ago, it was shown that infusion of ketone bodies increased circulating EPO levels in healthy adults (63). The impact of ketones on EPO is supported by the observation that adherence to a ketogenic diet can increase [Hb] and Hct by ~3%, with the caveat this effect is within the biological variation of these markers (83). Recently, Evans et al. (30) found that ingestion of ketone monoester after cycling exercise increased serum EPO concentration, providing further evidence that it may be the signaling effects rather than nutritional value of ketone supplements confers the greatest performance benefit for professional cyclists.

Technology and equipment Science tends to be reductionistic by necessity, whereas a cycling race is much more open-ended. There is, however, a certain cycling event that is performed in highly controlled conditions and relies heavily on technological advances that can serves as a good example of marginal gains in modern road cycling: the hour record. In 1972, Eddy Merckx, perhaps the greatest cyclist of all time, rode a distance of 49.431 km to set a new hour record for the first time since the 1950s. Twelve years later, Francesco Moser breached 50 km with an effort totaling 51.151 km, aided by disc wheels and a skin suit. The following years would see various innovative approaches by riders such as Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman, until the UCI decided to revise the rules in 1994 and again in 2014 (table 5). To set his records, Boardman worked closely with Brailsford’s predecessor in British Cycling, Peter Keen, and then later with Brailsford himself after his retirement, on what would be the beginning of British riders’ marginal gains on the track and later in the peloton (14).

From Voigt’s first attempt to Ganna’s latest, the modern hour record has been improved by over 11%. Although Ganna is a multiple World Time Trial champion and likely one of the most suitable riders to attempt the record, the last person to hold the record before him was Daniel Bigham, the only rider on the list that was never a WorldTour rider. Although an accomplished cyclist in his own right, Bigham’s record is a prime example of how far and fast you can get by maximizing the margins, with his record being set at an average power output approximately 100 watts less than Wiggins. Bigham himself puts his performance down to 50% physiology and 50% equipment (137). One of the main aspects Bigham exploited was aerodynamics; his coefficient of aerodynamic drag (CdA) was ~0.15, which is considerably below what is commonly seen in cyclists, including professionals (41).

Aerodynamics is not only relevant when riding fast around a velodrome for an hour, but also one of the most important things to consider when trying to ride fast on a bike in general. At a riding speed of about 54 km/h, close to the average on a flat TdF stage, approximately 90% of the total resistance is aerodynamic resistance (13, 44). Most of the resistance is caused by the rider himself, with common estimates ranging from 60-82% (74), and the rest by other factors such as equipment (22, 73, 77). The importance of minimizing CdA underlies much of the development of modern bike frames, wheels, handlebars, helmets, clothing, and more. In recent years, there has been less emphasis from manufacturers on getting their bikes down to the UCI weight limit of 6.8 kg in favor of more aerodynamic optimizations. This approach is supported by findings showing that simply opting for aerodynamic rather than light wheels will reduce climbing time on 3% – 6% grade hills (57). Steeper hills favor lighter wheels and WorldTour riders often make specific selections of wheelset, gear ratio, and even frameset based on race or stage profile. Some teams take it a step further, such as Jumbo-Visma, who use a portable aero sensor to measure exact wind conditions on race day and make equipment selections accordingly (81).

Since the inception of professional cycling there have been numerous technological advances and there is still a steady flow of innovations reaching the peloton. Some of these become widely adopted, such as aero-optimized gear; some are providing new alternatives without replacing old ones, such as tubeless tires (riders still use a variety of tubed, tubeless, and tubular tires); and others are replacing without immediately improving a function, such as disc brakes. Technology has also enabled more extensive monitoring of athletes, both on and more recently off the bike. For instance, several teams are now measuring body temperature and hydration status, and by analyzing the individual sodium composition sweat, can select the appropriate supplementary amount of sodium for each rider. During very hot days, riders are often seen wearing cooling gear to keep body temperature down. This can not only keep the riders comfortable, but may also benefit their performance in the race by lowering thermal strain (75).

Although professional cycling continues to benefit from science, technology, and engineering, the UCI have rules and regulations in place that ensures that cycling does not, for better or worse, stray too far away from its origins. Although these are subject to change based on new developments, they sometimes can become more restrictive, such as the recent ban on handlebars narrower than 350mm. Riders with the ability and resources to combine effective performance strategies from training, nutrition, recovery, and technology – perhaps especially strategies with small effects that are more likely to be ignored by others – may find themselves able to ride at a different speed than the rest of the peloton.

Merging the margins

Imagine a gifted and durable athlete with an exceptional ability to consume oxygen across all intensity domains, maintain a low body mass, effectively utilize lactate, absorb and recover from a high training load without injury or illness, handle training and race nutrition, thermoregulate in various climates, and respond well to altitude and heat exposure finding his or her way into cycling early in life. Suppose this young cyclist learns to maintain an aerodynamic position on the bike, pedal with an efficient cadence, move seamlessly through the peloton, avoid accidents, calmly handle the pressure of competition, and execute winning moves. Professional cycling selects for individuals with supraphysiological potential from environments that have allowed this potential to be expressed. Then, it awards those who have made it to the starting line and are able make as many performance determinants as possible come together on race day.

Increased professionalism at the highest level of the sport trickles down to the amateur and junior ranks, exposing up-and-coming cyclists to favorable conditions at an earlier age, leading to greater improvements in physiology, psychology, and race craft. Some riders may show incredible promise in some aspects of racing and struggle with others. Oskar Svendsen, V̇O2max world record holder, undoubtedly had one of the greatest physiological potentials ever seen in a rider. However, he admittedly also had technical and tactical challenges: “Cycling is a monotonous sport, yet so complex and driven by tactics that you won’t win races unless you deliver on all those qualities. I came into the sport with good physical qualities, but I struggled most with the tactics and patterns. I did learn a lot in my senior years on Team Joker though, even if I still had a long way to go. Descending down hills was also something I struggled a lot with, and it sapped much of my energy in races.” (99) Svendsen’s career serves as an example of how cycling is not only a physiological sport, but also technical, tactical, and psychological. Recently retired rider, Richie Porte, described former TdF GC winners Chris Froome and Tadej Pogačar as “psychological beasts” and noted that cycling has become increasingly scientific, which does not suit all riders (35). Modern riders are more methodical, data driven, and regimented than before. This reduces the human element of the sport, to the dismay of those claiming that this will increase predictability. Some researchers in the field have also warned against measuring just for the sake of measuring, and advise that rider data should serve a specific purpose (55).

The widely established routine of constant fueling during training and racing not only acutely increase work capacity but also improves subsequent recovery by preventing the rider from becoming completely depleted. This is in stark contrast to the days when reaching for your bottle during a hard training ride, even if it only contained water, was considered a weakness. Paul Köchli, former coach of riders such as Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond, once said that the art of cycling is to do the right thing at the right moment (27). This is true not only in the context of a race, but indeed for the professional cyclist’s career as a whole. The effects of proper training, nutrition, and recovery accumulate not only throughout a season, but a whole career, benefitting those who consistently do the right things from early on.

Conclusion and future perspectives

In some ways, modern approaches to improving cycling performance represent a first principles approach to cycling and a fundamental challenge of conventions, within the rules and regulations of UCI. It seems to have restored some of the faith in the sport that was once lost with various doping scandals. Given the measurable impacts of legal performance-enhancing strategies, many of which were previously unknown or overlooked, it could be argued that combining these effects can bring a clean rider’s performance close to, or even surpass, that of an enhanced cyclist, assuming a gifted baseline and sufficient degree of adaptability.

Suggesting that it is possible to win at the highest level in cycling without the use of PEDs is not the same as claiming that the sport is completely clean. As others have pointed out, periods that have previously been perceived as clean have later been shown to be anything but (26). This paper covers some of the key legal advances in road cycling that has contributed to elite performances in the modern peloton, while at the same time acknowledging that illegal strategies may still be present.

Much of what was once considered “marginal gains” have now become common in all professional cycling teams. This represents a shift from a culture of doping to a culture of exhaustive continuous improvement, a lot of which is kept under wraps and some that may even be considered a grey area. Effective anti-doping measures contribute to a more level playing field, but not entirely level. The teams with the most resources often get the most talented riders, allowing them to combine the greatest potential with the best strategies. And even still, there are some who favor optimizing riders and their equipment for weight rather than aerodynamics, ignoring the latter to the extent that it becomes a considerable detriment. In an era of professional cycling where individual performances are influenced by a multitude of human and nonhuman factors, which in combination can have profound effects, the existence of two-speed cycling in a clean peloton is not only logical – it should be expected.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The author would like to thank Dr. Endre T. Nesse and Dr. Fabio G. Laginestra for their comments and feedback on the manuscript.

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The Real Cause of Losing Sports Officials

George Minoso 2024-02-15T12:01:06-06:00 February 16th, 2024 | Contemporary Sports Issues , General , Sports Coaching , Sports Management , Sports Studies |

Authors: Matthew J Williams D.S.M., M.B.A. M.S.

Department of Education, The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Wise, VA, USA

Dr. Matthew Williams The University of Virginia’s College at Wise 2001 Greenbriar Drive Bristol, VA 24202

Matthew J. Williams D.S.M., M.B.A., M.S., is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise. His areas of research interest include NASCAR, COVID-19, college athletics, professional sports, and sport management issues..

Recreational Sports, Junior Highschool Sports, and Highschool Sports are witnessing across all types of sports a decline in sports officials. Athletic directors in all three levels have seen a steadily declined in sports officials in the last twenty years. But since the COVID-19 Pandemic, the lack of sports officials has increased so rapidly that it could eventually become a nationwide crisis. The pandemic may have caused the decline of sports officials but it was not the only cause. The age of the sports officials has played a role in the decline of the sport’s officials. But the true main cause of losing sports officials has been the lack of respect for the sport’s officials through the behavior of players, coaches, family members, and sports fans.

Keywords Sports Officials, Players, Coaches, Fans, COVID-19 Pandemic, Respect.

Introduction

Recreational Sports, Junior High School Sports, and High School Sports are all witnessing a lack of sports officials all across the United States. There are so many theories out there on why we are losing sports officials so rapidly. If you have attended a sporting event lately and looked at the sports officials, a constant trend you will witness is the sports officials’ increasing ages and the lack of sports officials that are able to cover the sporting events. The repercussions of the lack of sports officials are already being felt. What is the true reason we are losing sports officials? Did COVID-19 Pandemic play a role in the loss of sports officials, the current age of sports officials, or the constant verbal abuse or threats to sports officials?

Even before the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic Virus, it was apparent to recreational athletic directors, and athletic directors at both junior high and high school that they were already seeing a steady decline in sports officials across the United States over the past decade. The scarcity of officials is a long-running problem in high school sports. (6) From the 2018-19 school year to 2021-22, 32 of 38 states reporting statistics have seen registration numbers of officials drop, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations data. (1) Over the last decade, there has been a steady decline in the amount of referees available. In 2018, the Michigan High School Athletic Association reported that amount of referees available dropped from 12,400 to around 10,000 over the previous decade. (11)

The start of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the spring of 2020 forced a majority of recreational sports, junior high and high school sports across the United States to cease operations and shut down all games until further notice. This action of shutting down all games caused some officials to walk away from officiating. Simply because there were no games for the sports officials to work. As a result of the shutdown, officials had a chance to evaluate if they wanted to return to officiating. So many sports officials did not return to officiate games because of numerous reasons in the fall of 2020 or the spring of 2021. The Alabama High School Athletic Association is working hard to recruit and retain officials in all sports after losing more than 1,000 after the COVID-19 shutdown in the spring of 2020. (2) Washington said the association lost more than 1,100 officials after the COVID-19 shutdown. (2)

In the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021, some of the COVID-19 Pandemic restrictions were lifted and sports returned to somewhat normalcy. However, some officials decided not to return to officiating simply because of their age. There is a concern by some the impact of COVID-19 might hasten the retirement of older officials. (8)

The average age of the sports official was between 45 and 60 and it played a major role in the sports officials’ decision either to continue to be sports officials or not to be a sports official. Officials tend to be near or beyond retirement age the median age for a football referee is 56, according to the National Association of Sports Officials survey. (6) 77% of current officials are over the age of 45, with slightly more than half over the age of 55. (12)

The average age of the sports officials was at least 45 or older during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The COVID-19 Pandemic forced some older sports officials to choose not to return to officiating because simply of the underlying healthcare issues from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Some officials chose not to work during the pandemic because of health/safety concerns, and some of them chose not to return at all. (17) “In talking to some of the state directors, many of these losses are people who were probably on the brink of retirement, and then COVID kind of forced the issue,” explains Dana Pappas, NFHS director of officiating services. (15) The pandemic has also pushed a growing number of referees out, with officials leaving out of fear of getting sick. (16)

During the fall of 2021, some governors across the United States mandated that state employees must be fully vaccinated to prevent and/or limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This mandate forced many officials to choose whether to get the COVID-19 vaccination or not get the COVID-19 vaccination. If the sport’s official chose not to take the COVID-19 vaccination due to fears of the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccination or for religious beliefs, they would be banned from officiating junior high school and/or high school games. This mandate forced many officials to stop officiating resulting in a smaller pool of available officials to officiate games. “We already have a shortage of officials, not just in football but other sports,” Weber said”. “That (vaccine requirement) will reduce our numbers, based on what we’re hearing from our officials.” (3) The COVID-19 Pandemic resulted in some officials deciding not to return to officiating, creating an already smaller pool of available officials to officiate games. COVID-19 accelerated the problem, without question. (9)

Today’s parents are more invested financially than ever in their children’s sports careers. Parents are financially supporting their children’s sports careers through travel teams, summer leagues, specialized camps, personal training, and individual lessons. In the hopes that their child will either be drafted into professional sports or earn a college scholarship. Parents being so financially invested has caused an explosion of verbal abuse or threats toward officials from parents. Parents want the best outcomes for their children and are not afraid to voice their opinion to officials either by verbal abuse or threatening officials. Barrett theorized that the rise of travel teams in baseball —not to mention AAU teams in basketball and specialized camps for young football players — has caused parents to feel much more invested in their kids’ athletic careers, both financially and emotionally. (9) The parents feel more emboldened now than ever and are not afraid to voice their opinion verbally toward officials due to the fact they are so financially invested in their children’s sports careers. The parents feel strongly that they deserve the best officials to call the games because they have invested so much financially. “Parents have this sense of entitlement,” Barrett said. “They’re paying so much money, they think they should have better umpires.” (9) “These parents have this mentality of. ‘We pay all this money and travel all this way we expect the best, and referees can’t make mistakes.’ It’s based on society saying it’s okay to yell at people in public if they’re not giving you what they want. It’s asinine.” (13) “The problem is that, as parents spend more time and money on children’s sports, families are “coming to these sporting events with professional-level expectations,” said Jerry Reynolds, a professor of social work at Ball State University who studies the dynamics of youth sports and parent behavior. (7)

Aggressive behavior of abuse toward officials from coaches, players, parents, and fans started well before the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020. “Before COVID, I felt like this behavior was reaching its peak,” Barlow said. (13) The aggressive behavior toward officials did not stop after the COVID-19 Pandemic was over. But some feel that the abuse of officials has increased resulting in the loss of more officials. Society of today has now become a custom of unruly behavior toward officials, players, and fans. The old saying, I paid my general admission ticket, gives me the right to berate an official, an opposing player, or a coach. This mentality has allowed more aggressiveness toward officials. Parents, coaches, and fans are increasingly aggressive toward officials. (4) People have had seemingly free license to scream, taunt and hurl insults at sporting events — acting out in ways they never would at work, the grocery store, or the dentists office. (14)

Officials have had enough of this type of abusive behavior, which is a major reason why we are losing officials so quickly. No official wants to be verbally abused, harassed, or threatened. Such unruly behavior is the driving force, referees say, behind a nationwide shortage of youth sports officials. (7) We have had the problem of losing officials because of the lack of respect toward officials from parents, family members, and fans well before the COVID-19 Pandemic. The shortfall has persisted for years, as rowdy parents, coaches, and players have created a toxic environment that has driven referees away and hampered the recruitment of new ones, referees say. (7)

The coaches, athletes, parents, family members, and fans of today no longer value or demand sportsmanlike behavior. We now accept unsportsmanlike behavior. Which consists of disrespect or lack of respect for officials through verbal abuse, threats, or harassment. Because we are accepting and allowing this type of behavior from coaches, athletes, parents family members, and fans. This is one of the main reasons why we are losing so many sports officials. “The un-sportsman like conduct of coaches, as well as some parents put people off and they don’t want to come back, they don’t want to return. They get yelled at during their days at work,” added Gittelson. (5) The shortage of officials in high school – and middle school – sports has been a growing concern for several years – in large part due to unsportsmanlike behavior by parents and other adult fans. (10)

Conclusions

The lack of sports officials is becoming a critical situation that recreational athletic directors, junior high school, and high school athletic directors will be facing in the coming years. Some sports officials are deciding to retire because of their age or knowing that their bodies can no longer keep pace with the speed of the game that they are officiating. This is creating a smaller pool of officials from the standpoint that the average age of the sport’s official is at least 45.

The COVID-19 pandemic did play somewhat of a role in reducing of sports officials that we are in right now. The pandemic brought health scares and mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations to some sports officials resulting in these officials making the decision to not return to officiating. But the real cause of the shortage of sports officials is simply the respect that is not given to the sports official by coaches, parents, family members, and fans. The behavior from coaches, parents, family members, and fans of yelling at sports officials, questioning sports officials’ calls, threats of violence towards sports officials, cursing at sports events, and even battery towards sports officials is out of control. No sports official wants to deal with this type of behavior at all nor should this type of behavior be allowed. This is the main reason why we are seeing the pool of sports officials becoming smaller. State legislation, superintendents of schools, principals of schools, and county commissioners need to address this issue of out-of-control behavior toward sports officials. If they do not, we will witness games being canceled, cancellation of seasons, and drastic pay increases that will be demanded by sports officials for the abuse.

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BOOK REVIEW: Organizational Behavior in Sport Management: An Applied Approach to Understanding People and Groups

George Minoso 2024-02-07T08:36:27-06:00 February 9th, 2024 | Book Reveiws , Sports Management |

Authors: Chenghao Ma

School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China

Chenghao Ma 2001 Longxiang Blvd., Shenzhen, China 518172 [email protected]

Chenghao Ma is now at the School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.

Barnhill, C. R., Smith N. L., & Oja, B. D. (2021). Organizational behavior in sport management: An applied approach to understanding people and groups. Palgrave Macmillan.

Analysis of Factors Influencing the College Choice Decisions of NCAA Division I International Student-Athletes

George Minoso 2024-02-02T07:45:38-06:00 February 2nd, 2024 | Research , Sports Coaching , Sports Management |

Authors: Bryan Romsa 1 , Katelyn Romsa 2 , Jon Lim 3 , and Agatha Ampaire 4

1 Associate Professor of Sport Management, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD. USA 2 Associate Professor of Counseling and Human Development, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD. USA 3 Associate Professor of Sport Management, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN. USA 4 Career Education Coordinator, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD. USA.

Jon Lim, EdD Associate Professor, Sports Management Minnesota State University, Mankato 1400 Highland Center Mankato, MN 56001 Phone:507-389-5231 [email protected]

Bryan Romsa, EdD is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD. His research interests include recruitment and retention of NCAA student-athletes and sport exit planning of NCAA student-athletes.

Katelyn Romsa, EdD is an Associate Professor of Counseling and Human Development with an emphasis on the Administration of Student Affairs at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD. Her research interests include recruitment and retention of college students and supervision models to maximize student success.

Jon Lim, EdD is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at Minnesota State University in Mankato, MN. His research interests include technology use in education and college choice decisions of NCAA athletes.

Agatha Ampaire, PhD is the Career Education Coordinator at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD.

To examine the factors influencing the college choice decisions of NCAA Division I International Student-Athletes, one on one in-depth interviews were conducted with eight international student-athletes ( n =8) representing different countries, at a Division 1 university in the Midwest region of the USA. Interview questions were developed using the Student-Athlete College Choice Profile Survey (SACCPS) and were formulated to maximize the depth and breadth of interviewee responses. Results indicated that the head coach, availability of the academic major, and the availability of scholarships were the top reasons for choice of school. Seven of the participants did not visit the school prior to their decision but heavily relied on the coach, other international athletes, and internet searches. Taking time to build relationships with and provide information to international student-athletes maybe paramount to their recruitment.

Key Words: college athletics, coaching, recruiting,

There is a general increase in the number of international student-athletes who participate in intercollegiate sports in the USA (Abbey-Pinegar, 2010; Chepyator-Thomson et al., 2016). This is partly because of the increased competitiveness of college athletics and the rising stakes; winning has become very important for schools (Weston, 2006). Recruiting and training of high caliber international athletes is seen as fundamental to the success of sports teams (Falcous & Maguire, 2005). Recruiting internationally is particularly important for smaller mid-major NCAA schools because they are more likely to be out competed for domestic talent by top tier institutions. International student-athletes are recruited using a variety of methods, prominent among the methods being professional contacts within the country of origin, and recruitment at international events, which leads to competition for the elite international students. Most of international student-athletes come from specific countries, hence the terminology ‘talent pipeline’ has been used to describe the sourcing of the athletes (Pierce et al., 2010). Additionally, recently there has been a recent reduction (Zong & Batalova, 2018) in the general number of international students who are choosing to come to the USA which could impact the available pool of international student-athletes. Therefore, understanding factors that influence international student-athletes’ school choice is important, and athletics can be a tool in attracting and retaining international students.

To gain a holistic understanding of international students’ college choice, we examined the literature on reasons why international student-athletes chose to come to the USA, and their experiences and adjustment to their new environment. The reasons why the athletes are interested in coming to the USA may influence the school options and opportunities available to them, while experiences of other international athletes could be an influential factor in choice of school.

Reasons International Student-Athletes Come to the USA

Researchers have classified the reasons that international students give for leaving their home countries into Push and Pull factors. Push factors are undesirable conditions in their country which force the students to seek greener pastures elsewhere, while Pull factors are the attributes of another country which the students find attractive (Chepyator-Thomson et al., 2016; Lee, 2010; Li & Bray, 2007). Many international student-athletes are willing to leave their home country for better opportunities and better economic prospects offered by the USA, to experience a different culture, to obtain an education while also improving their athleticism (Love & Kim, 2011). However, before the Push and Pull factors come into play, the recruiters have to be aware of the student-athlete’s abilities or the student has to be aware of the opportunities available, thus familiarity with the USA system and other social ties such as recommendation from friends or former international athletes plays an important role (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2002).

Adjustment to College and Experiences of International Student-Athletes

Chepyator-Thomson et al. (2016) found that most basketball players were recruited from English speaking countries. Pierce et al. (2011) posited that student-athletes from culturally similar countries to the USA were less likely to experience cultural shock and to adjust readily than other international student-athletes. International student-athletes may also struggle to commit to their teams if they are worried about their academic performance so as not to lose their athletic standing and scholarships (Sato et al., 2011). Additionally, international student- athletes may experience discrimination from teammates and often find it difficult to fit in because of cultural differences (Sato et al., 2018). They may also experience stress as a result of a combination of factors (Arturo, 2014). However, in a study of international student-athlete satisfaction, the athletes expressed overall satisfaction with the dimensions measuring satisfaction, including academic support services, personal treatment, team social contribution and medical support (Trendafilova et al., 2010).

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors influencing the college choice decisions of NCAA Division I International Student-Athletes. Some researchers such as Judson et al. (2005) and Kankey and Quarterman (2007) have studied the college choices of international student-athletes, however, in a comprehensive review of extant literature, Pauline (2010) noted that most of the studies on school choice by student-athletes utilized questionnaires. The present study seeks to expand the understanding of  International student-athletes’ university choice by utilizing in-depth interviews to elicit more detailed information and provide explanation that cannot be captured using questionnaires.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The conceptual framework for this investigation was guided by a decision-making model developed by Hossler and Gallagher (1987). Hossler and Gallagher’s model is composed of three stages that individuals progress through during the college selection process (predisposition, search, and choice). During the predisposition stage, the athlete decides what path they want to pursue, in this case, they decide if they would like to play within or outside their home country. The search stage is when students weigh their options, they may contact universities of interest, or they evaluate offers they may have received from recruiters. In the choice stage the student has decided to pursue specific options, the student may submit applications to select universities and start working on the immigration process. Interviewers utilized this framework to explain the factors influencing the college choice decisions of international student-athletes.

Participants

The participants of this study included eight international student-athletes (6 women and 2 men) who were 18 years or older and participated in golf ( n =3) and swimming ( n =5) from a FCS Mid-Major Division I, land-grant institution in the Upper Midwest. Participants included 2 freshman, 1 sophomore, 4 juniors, and 1 senior. Purposive sampling was used to select the international student-athletes from the sports with the highest representation of international student-athletes on the roster, which were swimming and golf, respectively. A brief description of these participants is listed in Table 1.

Research Design

This research study utilized a qualitative, phenomenological design to allow for a deeper understanding of the real-life experiences of international student-athletes to explore the factors influencing their college choice when coming to the USA. A phenomenological study was chosen to describe the meaning of the lived experiences for the several individuals who shared a similar concept or phenomenon (Creswell, 2018; Patton, 2015).

Interview Questions

Twenty interview questions were developed using the Student-Athlete College Choice Profile Survey (SACCPS). The interview questions were formulated to maximize the depth and breadth of interviewee responses (Patton, 2015). Student-athletes were purposively chosen to represent the proportion of international student-athletes at the school (i.e. students were chosen from the sports with the highest representation of international student-athletes, which were swimming and golf respectively).

The interviews were conducted using a semi-structed format (Gall et al. 2007). Core questions were the same across participants, but the interviewer varied additional questions depending on responses. Reflective listening and minimal encouragers were used to maximize participant responses and increase the depth of interview content. Allowing slight variations to accommodate the appropriate context and flow of the interview, the interview questions included. Student’s major, country of origin, if the student had athletic opportunities at other institutions what were the reasons that the student selected to attend at this particular institution, and if the student had transferred, what were reasons for transferring to the institution were examined. Also explored were the impacts on the student’s decision of several factors; the head coach and coaching staff, location of the school, the student’s family, the athletic facilities, the degree programs available, the campus visit, the size and location of the university and community, campus life outside of athletics, the academic support services for athletes, the opportunity to compete, knowledge of other international student-athletes, and availability of scholarships. We sought to address three main research questions: (a) Which factor that had the biggest influence on your college choice decision? (b) What advice would you give an international student-athlete trying to decide which institution to compete for in the USA? (c) What do you wish you would have considered before making your college choice decision.

Data Collection

 Data was collected from International student-athletes at a mid-major, NCAA Division I university in the Upper Midwest. Collaboration with the athletic department was used to recruit participants. The principal investigator of this study has developed an ongoing relationship with the athletic department (e.g., coaches, athletic director, administration). From this relationship, the principal investigator has become more knowledgeable and passionate about the choice of student-athlete populations, leading to this research project. Establishing trust and building a strong connection with athletics was instrumental in receiving permission and support from the coaching staff who assisted with recruiting participants. Participants were informed that the study was voluntary and that their withdrawal from the study at any time was allowed as there were no known risks or direct benefits for participating in this study.

The interview participants were briefed about the objective and procedures of the study and assured of anonymity as well as their right to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. The interviews which lasted 30-45 minutes were conducted in person in a one-on-one setting in a private room and were digitally recorded using audio only. Field notes were also taken during the interviews. Participants were recruited through purposive convenience sampling by the researchers via telephone call, email, text, or in-person. Additionally, the researchers collaborated with the Athletics department at the institution (administrators, coaches, student-athletes) to recruit participants.

Data Analysis

In order to avoid research bias in this study and to ascertain the quality and rigor of the data analysis, the researchers of this study conducted an inductive analysis to understand and identify general patterns, or categories (Patton, 2015). All audio files were transcribed verbatim thematic analysis was used by the researchers to analyze the data. Open coding (Maxwell, 2013) was first achieved by segmenting the data into meaningful expressions or themes based on participant responses. They identified key phrases used by participants in their responses to the open-ended questions. Once themes were identified, analytic triangulation took place where the principal investigator, worked with two peer debriefers to enhance the accuracy of the findings (Creswell, 2018). Each peer debriefer individually identified key phrases and themes that emerged from data. Then each peer debriefer shared their findings with the principle investigator whereby they collectively discussed and identified the themes and their meaning. This process added trustworthiness to the findings and prevented researcher bias by allowing the researchers the opportunity to critically evaluate their themes and make minor modifications to them as they jointly determined was appropriate (Ritchie et al., 2013). Member checking was used to validate interviews by sharing a brief summary of the interview with the research participants (Singer, 2008).

Responses were examined, interpreted, and analyzed from eight male and female, international student-athletes ( n =8) representing different countries, at a mid-size Division 1 university in the Midwest region of the USA to examine the factors influencing their college choice decision. Two major themes were found (a) the role of the institution and (b) the role of athletics. Each theme is categorized into extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Extrinsic factors meaning external, coming or operating from the institution or athletics. Intrinsic factors meaning internal, belonging or lying from within the student-athlete.

Role of Institution

Extrinsic factors

Prioritizing academics was paramount from all eight the participants in the study. All students interviewed knew the academic major they wanted to pursue in college, which made this institution attractive given that it offered their major of their interest. One participant did not take an offer from a different university because their desired major was not available. The academic majors represented by the participants in the study included Biotechnology, Business Economics, Exercise Science (Pre-athletic training), Hospitality management with minors in Management leadership and French, Sport and Recreation Management.

Scholarship offerings was important in the college choice decision to seven of the participants in the study, with some stating that it influenced them the most. One participant stated that without the scholarship they would not be able to afford to come to the USA for school and athletics. They said, “that was the biggest factor I think because from where I’m from at least our exchange rate is very bad. So, for me it was actually just all about the money basically….. it was one of my highest offers so that was a big thing and also that the tuition in general was a little lower than most other schools.” Another participant stated, “Other schools offered me a scholarship, but this institution offered me the biggest…….So for me, the scholarship was something I really needed.” Similarly stated, “Other schools were all quite similar in degree and the swimming program. So, when the end of May came around the scholarship made a big difference. If I could get more money I would go to that school.”

Touring the institution and athletic program through internet searches mattered to seven of the participants, who did not visit the school prior to their decision. Only one participant had a campus visit. Having the coach verbalize what they saw on the internet mattered to one of the participants. They mentioned, “I didn’t come to visit. The coach showed me everything by internet, but I didn’t come to visit at all. I just came straight from my first semester. I got here like 5 days before start school and then like a small window before that. I trusted him [the coach].” The location of the school was not a major factor in the student’s college choice. Some of the students did not know much about the location and size while others looked it up.

Intrinsic factors

Academic support mattered to seven of the eight participants. Access to academic support services was an important factor in their choice consideration. One participant stated, “It was important for me to like be able to get help in math which the academic advisor told me right away that they had math tutors and everything.” Another participant similarly stated, “I really liked the fact that like my academics would be supported a lot on top of athletics.”

All eight participants knew other international student-athletes from their home country who came or were going to college in the USA. This knowledge influenced the students’ decision to play in the USA but not necessarily to come to this institution. One participant stated, “A lot of my friends are here…..they have talked and said a lot of good things about stadiums.” Another participant said, “There are a lot of Dutch swimmers that go to the U.S. I knew a few of the people on the Dutch team and that they made like really big progress.” This participant also emphasize how social media has helped spread the world. “Just looking at their social media pages like all the fun things they do. It’s just so different from college at home.”

The influence of campus life was not a top factor but was considered from a residential life perspective. Two of the participants mentioned how their living situation mattered. One participant said, “I looked at the dorms.” Another student said, “I liked that the housing required two years of on campus housing and that it’s easy to get around and everything.” Two participants admitted that even after coming to the campus, they did not look up activities outside of athletics but acknowledged that it would be important later on during their academic and athletic career at the institution.

Role of Athletics

All eight participants mentioned that the coach influenced their college choice decision. One participant stated, “I thought like my connection with the coach here was stronger than the others.” Another participant stated, I had a good feeling with coach…. He just made me more confident about coming here.”

Most of the students did not get to tour the campus, they based their opinion of the athletic facilities on what they were told by the coaches or what they were able to see online. The athletic facility did not influence the Swimmer’s decision, but the presence of an indoor facility positively influenced the three Golfers in the study. One participant said, “Because you got indoor facility like the one here where you have 24-hour access to it and you’ve got a top class pitching green up there and you got all the technology you’ve got other got all the hitting bays. It was as a no brainer basically you know.”

The opportunity to compete mattered to five of the participants. Most of the students had the understanding that they were going to be able to compete and this knowledge factored into their college choice decision. The majority students seemed to have the attitude that competing is what their coming to the USA was about. One stated, “It was very important. I enjoy practice but competing is the main thing that keeps me going.” Another said, “I was told that I would be able to compete a lot….. I didn’t really want to come all this way and have to be left behind when I train every day so that played quite a big part.” Another participant said, “I’ve always wanted to play at the top level. And you know when you play against those schools playing, you are playing as the best players in the world, so you want to see how you compare to them.” “Knowing that you can come to a D-one school compete with the best schools in the country especially at tournaments we play which the top 50 countries. Top 50 programs in the country. That’s how you get better compete with the best one and we’re competing with you guys are playing the next few years. So that made me for sure choose this institution.”

Feeling a sense of belongingness with the team was important to seven the participants. This included aligning with the team’s coaching philosophy and values and/or having a strong connection with the coach and team. Fitting in with the team was important. “Felt like it would be a good fit because the swimming program had what I wanted and with my teammates having the same times [schedule] as me.” Another participant said, “I thought like my connection with the head coach here was stronger than the others. I had a good feeling with the coach…. He just made me more confident about coming here.” Another participant appreciated the friendliness from the coaches, “I found some of the other colleges I spoke to the coaches were a bit harsh. The coaches here were friendly and they more open to hearing what I wanted to contribute to the team and do for the team compared to the other universities. They kind of had their idea of what they wanted me to do and some of that was like.” Another participant similarly said, “The coaches were a lot more open to hearing my side of what I want to do and what I’m looking for.

Speaking highly of the program mattered, too. “They [the coaches] also spoke very well about the program. They gave me a good idea. And they kind of made it sound like everything that I wanted.” Having a similar vision was important. One participant shared, “I’ve talked to. 10 plus coaches and he’s so driven so desired like. There’s one thing that he wants. He’ll go get it even if it’s a team or no team he’ll get the best out of the players.” Caring for the whole student was also mentioned. “Obviously you want to be on a team where you can count on your coach you want to coach I want to help you to grow within your golf game. But I also like in your professional career too.”

Their dream of becoming a successful college athlete mattered to five participants. One participant mentioned the importance of being stretched as an athlete. They said, “At other schools I probably would’ve been the fastest in every event, but I want to be pushed. I want to be left behind.” Another participant stated, “This school offered me the opportunity to keep studying and playing golf.” Thus, the importance of adding athletics to academics was highly important.

All eight participants mentioned that the coach influenced their college choice decision. One participant stated, “I thought like my connection with the coach here was stronger than the others.” Another participant stated, I had a good feeling with coach…. He just made me more confident about coming here.”

  Feeling a sense of belongingness with the team was important to seven the participants. This included aligning with the team’s coaching philosophy and values and/or having a strong connection with the coach and team. Fitting in with the team was important. “Felt like it would be a good fit because the swimming program had what I wanted and with my teammates having the same times [schedule] as me.” Another participant said, “I thought like my connection with the head coach here was stronger than the others. I had a good feeling with the coach…. He just made me more confident about coming here.” Another participant appreciated the friendliness from the coaches, “I found some of the other colleges I spoke to the coaches were a bit harsh. The coaches here were friendly and they more open to hearing what I wanted to contribute to the team and do for the team compared to the other universities. They kind of had their idea of what they wanted me to do and some of that was like.” Another participant similarly said, “The coaches were a lot more open to hearing my side of what I want to do and what I’m looking for.

The study included international student-athletes from different parts of the world; developed and developing countries. None of the students articulated push factors as reasons for coming to the USA, but they did have pull factors, the main one being opportunity to pursue both athletics and academics in college. Only the USA offers opportunity for collegiate athletics opportunities (Love & Kim, 2011). Availability of a scholarship was important, several students mentioned that without it they would not have been able to come to the USA. Some students talked about the differences in currency strengths between their country and the USA as contributing to not being able to afford a USA education, but money (economic opportunity) was not cited as a main reason that athletes came to the USA.

-All the student-athletes were influenced by the coach in making the college choice decision. Because most of them did not get a recruiting visit, their school choice depended on how much they felt that they could relate to and trust the coach as well as the clarity of information received from the coach. Unlike the findings by Mazzarol and Soutar, (2002) recommendations from other international athletes did not play a big role in college choice decision. The information obtained from other international student-athletes helped the students to solidify their interest and as a cautionary tale on what to pay attention to in evaluating schools.

Many of the student-athletes in the study were from countries that were not culturally or geographically similar to the USA. In agreement with Pierce et al. (2011), those students struggled to understand the USA academic grading and athletic system, found the weather to be worse than imagined and struggled with the language. This study did not ascertain whether these students from countries dissimilar to the USA had received advanced warning from other international student-athletes from their countries about these issues. One student voiced the need for international student-athletes to integrate with their American counterparts which is difficult because of feeling that they are different.

LIMITATIONS

The data collection method had the advantage of examining different potential reasons for international student-athletes’ college choice, however, having preset questions even though the interviewer could go off the script to gain further insight narrowed the conversation. It is possible that some reasons were not explored because the interview was directed, and the athlete may have felt that they needed to only speak about what was being asked. When asked if there was anything they wanted to add, most students were hesitant, but some came up with different topics which could be additional reasons for school choice by international student-athletes. A study where the interviewer only asks the athlete to tell their story without directing them could uncover more reasons and shed more light on international student-athlete’s college choice.

The overarching theme identified in this study is that international student-athletes’ choice of school is motivated by a desire to have a great experience: feel a sense of belongingness with the team, connecting with the head coach and coaches, as well as succeeding academically and athletically.

APPLICATIONS IN SPORT

Results indicated that the head coach, availability of the academic major, and the availability of scholarships were the top reasons for choice of school. Seven of the participants did not visit the school prior to their decision but heavily relied on the coach, other international athletes, and internet searches. Coaches will need to take time to build relationships with international student-athletes they are recruiting and provide information to them from a distance may be paramount to their recruitment.

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Detroit Pistons Invite Local Students to Sneaker Art Event

Detroit Pistons and Pensole Lewis College hosted the Martk'd "Art of Sneakers" Invitational.

• Author: Pat Benson

The Detroit Pistons and Pensole Lewis College, Detroit's only HBCU, recently hosted the Martk'd "Art on Sneaker" Invitational. The event is a sneaker design competition with Detroit-based students, who compete for a chance to have their design produced by Reebok and sold at a local sneaker boutique.

The competition began earlier this month, when 37 contestants came up with a shoe design to present to judges. From there, the competition was narrowed down to 12. The final 12 contestants took part in a virtual boot camp last weekend with instruction from Pensole Lewis College, the Pistons and Stackwell in preparation for creating and submitting their final design.

Each contestant was given a pair of blank Reebok shoes to work on for the week and will present their final design in person on Saturday. One winner will be selected at Saturday's finals and will have their shoe produced by Reebok to be sold at the local Detroit sneaker boutique, Two18, next year on March 13, 2025. A highlight video can be seen on the Pistons Instagram page .

Participants at the "Art of Sneakers" Invitational.

"The MARTKD program at Pensole Lewis Detroit in partnership with the Detroit Pistons and Reebok is about much more than sneakers," Dion Walcott, Director of Partnerships PLC and Founder of MARTKD said. "The program provides students a pathway of understanding that there is more to the sneaker industry than being a consumer and provides students an outlet to express themselves, access to education and awareness of creative careers that revolve around the industry."

Carmen Hardaway, Director of Reebok Classic Fashion Footwear & Collaborations, said, "The event itself is a baby of Martk'd. The founder (Dion Walcott) is doing a lot of special things with the youth and we wanted to be a part of that, particularly around the areas of access and representation. Really just giving kids visibility to what it means to be in this industry. This is our second year, and we are happy to be doing it again this year."

Hardaway expressed joy when seeing so many different partners come together. "We are seeing more people want to get involved, like Microsoft, coming in and giving these kids tablets to further their work. There are so many tools that kids do not have access to. So, to see so many brands come together and work collectively to help and inspire these kids leaves me in awe when I leave these events."

Hardaway is not the only one in awe of this event. The Pistons, Pensole Lewis College, Martk'd, Stackwell, and Reebok make a dream team that other organizations should look to replicate. Stay locked into FanNation Kicks for all of your most important sneaker news.

In This Article (3)

Caitlin Clark is one of college sports' top earners. Here are the 10 student-athletes with the highest NIL valuations.

• High school and college athletes can profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL).
• Top student-athletes have worked with leading brands like Nike and Gatorade.
• LeBron James' son, Bronny James, has an estimated NIL value of $4.9 million, according to On3.

As University of Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark continues her March Madness run, she's garnered attention for both her record-breaking performances and her ability to translate that on-court success into lucrative deals with major brands like Nike, Gatorade, and State Farm.

"There's a significant uptick in interest in March Madness sponsorships and influencer-marketing campaigns this year as compared to years past," Ayden Syal, CEO of NIL marketing platform MOGL, told Business Insider in March 2024.

Name, image, and likeness deals — or NIL deals — have become a billion-dollar industry since their introduction to amateur sports in 2021, allowing student-athletes to make significant amounts of money regardless of whether they have the option to turn pro.

On3 tracks these partnerships and ranks student-athletes weekly based on their annual NIL Valuation , which is determined by an algorithm that considers a player's roster value performance, influence, exposure, and deal data.

These four factors determine an athlete's "Roster Value" — "a calculation of an athlete's respective value to their team," according to On3 — and "NIL Value," which is related to their advertising and sponsorship opportunities. These values are then combined to get their total NIL Valuation.

While these student-athletes have built names for themselves through their talents, skills, and social media savvy, some top NIL earners might have had some extra help attracting deals thanks to their legacy-bearing last names.

With valuations starting at $1.5 million, here's a look at the top 10 student-athletes profiting the most from NIL. These figures were accurate as of March 26, 2024.

10. University of Georgia quarterback Carson Beck has an estimated NIL Valuation of $1.5 million.

UGA junior and starting quarterback Carson Beck threw for 3,941 yards and 24 touchdowns last season, per ESPN , taking his team to victory in the Capital One Orange Bowl against Florida State University and finishing with an impressive 13-1 record.

Most of Beck's NIL valuation stems from his Roster Value, which On3 estimates to be $1.1 million. Comparably, his NIL Value is estimated at $354,000 thanks to deals with EA Sports, The Players' Lounge, Associated Credit Union, Leaf Trading Cards, and Zero FG Energy.

9. University of Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe has an estimated NIL Valuation of $1.6 million.

The redshirt sophomore threw for 2,834 yards and 23 touchdowns to lead the Crimson Tide to a 12-1 record, ESPN reported.

Milroe signed his most recent NIL deal on March 24, 2024, with Six Star Pro Nutrition. He shared his first post for the brand on Instagram , writing in part, "I don't want to leave any doubt on whether I'm doing enough to help the team win in 2024. That's why I've teamed up with @sixstarpronutrition to fuel my grind with world-class supplements at an affordable price."

On3 reported that some of Milroe's other sponsorships are from EA Sports, HEYDUDE Shoes, Rhoback, and Beats by Dre, where he was part of the inaugural "Beats Elite" class of 2023 alongside other top NIL earners like Colorado's Shedeur Sanders and Texas' Quinn Ewers, Sports Illustrated reported .

8. Louisiana State University superstar Angel Reese has deals with top brands like Coach and McDonald's, giving her an NIL Valuation of $1.8 million.

LSU junior Angel Reese blew up on social media during last year's NCAA March Madness tournament , winning the highly anticipated championship game against Caitlin Clark and the University of Iowa and earning the title of most outstanding player despite racist criticisms .

This year, Reese has been just as dominant. The forward was selected as SEC Player of the Year and was named to the First Team All-SEC and All-Defensive Team, all while partnering with major companies like Goldman Sachs, Topps, Beats by Dre, Tampax, Reebok, Airbnb, ZOA Energy, and Amazon, On3 reported.

On March 18, she shared her ad for a Goldman Sachs investment initiative, One Million Black Women , with her 2.7 million Instagram followers, highlighting the racial wealth gap faced by Black women.

"We're asking Congress to do their part — it's time to advance the ball," Reese wrote.

7. University of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers has an estimated NIL Valuation of $1.9 million.

Last season, ESPN reported that sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers threw for 3,479 yards and 22 touchdowns. He helped lead his team to the College Football Playoff Semifinals, where they ultimately lost in a close game against the University of Washington.

Ewers has a total On3 NIL Valuation of $1.9 million, thanks to a Roster Value of $1.2 million, and NIL deals with companies like HEYDUDE Shoes, C4Energy, EA Sports, Beats by Dre, Panini America, Ryl Tea, and Texas One Fund.

In 2023, he was also named a member of 7-Eleven's Cleat Crew alongside players like Marvin Harrison Jr., Trevor Etienne, and Blake Corum. The inaugural program helped raise over $100,000 for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals throughout the US.

6. University of Colorado dual-threat Travis Hunter's NIL Valuation is $2.4 million.

During his sophomore season, Hunter put up impressive stats as both a wide receiver and a cornerback, with 57 receptions for 721 yards as well as 31 total tackles and three interceptions, ESPN reported.

Hunter played his freshman year at Jackson State University, then followed his teammate, Shedeur Sanders, and coach, Deion Sanders, to the University of Colorado.

Thanks to deals with EA Sports, Leaf Trading Cards, Cheez-It, Celsius, American Eagle Outfitters, and more, Hunter has an NIL value of $1.9 million, per On3. Combined with his Roster Value of nearly $500,000, Hunter's total NIL Valuation equals $2.4 million.

5. Despite being the University of Texas's backup quarterback, Arch Manning has an NIL Valuation of $2.8 million.

The freshman quarterback comes from a long line of football royalty . His uncles, Peyton and Eli Manning, were Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks in the NFL, and his grandfather, Archie Manning, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989.

The vast majority ($2.1 million) of Manning's NIL Valuation comes from his Roster Value, On3 reported, while his NIL Value is listed at $740,000 thanks to a multi-year deal with Panini America, a trading card company.

4. All-time NCAA leading scorer Caitlin Clark has an NIL Valuation of $3.1 million thanks to deals with brands like Gatorade, State Farm, and Nike.

The senior point guard at the University of Iowa is one of the most dominant players in NCAA basketball history. This year, she broke the record for most career points in Division I history, surpassing Pete Maravich's 3,667 points on March 3, 2024. She's also averaging 31.8 points per game this season, per ESPN .

Understandably, her dominance has caught the attention of major brands, including Nike, Gainbridge, Gatorade, State Farm, Xfinity, Buick, and more. On3 reported that Clark also signed with Excel Sports Management for NIL representation in October 2023.

On March 19, 2024, Gatorade released a limited-edition water bottle featuring her number, 22, just before the start of this year's March Madness tournament.

Clark is looking to bring home the championship before entering the 2024 WNBA Draft.

3. LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne is the highest-paid woman in NIL history, with a NIL Valuation of $3.6 million.

With a combined social-media following of 12.6 million people, Dunne is one of the most-followed student-athletes ever, which likely helps brands gravitate toward her .

On3 reported she has signed deals with a variety of brands like American Eagle Outfitters, Vuori, Too Faced Cosmetics, Grubhub, Motorola, and Leaf Trading Cards. Most recently, Dunne announced on Instagram that she's the face of Nautica's Spring '24 collection.

"What I love with certain brands is getting long-term brand deals," said Dunne in a 2023 episode of the podcast "Full Send."

"Those are probably the best because you build a relationship with the brand, and they want you year after year," she added.

And these deals haven't taken anything away from Dunne's performance. The LSU Gymnastics Program just won the SEC Championship on March 24, 2024, and Dunne competed on bars, earning a 9.800 for her routine, LSU reported .

2. Deion Sanders' son, Shedeur Sanders, has an On3 NIL Valuation of $4.7 million.

University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders made waves in college football last season alongside his dad, Hall of Famer "Coach Prime" Deion Sanders, after transferring from HBCU Jackson State University to the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Despite finishing his junior year season 4-8 overall, Sanders threw for over 3,000 yards with a passing completion percentage of 69.3% and a passer rating of 151.7, ESPN reported.

On3 reported Sanders has made $4.1 million in NIL money thanks to sponsorships throughout his collegiate career from companies like Urban Outfitters, Oikos, Mercedes-Benz, Actively Black, and Gatorade. Sanders was also a member of the inaugural "Beats Elite" class of 2023.

1. The highest-paid student-athlete in NIL history is the son of NBA legend LeBron James, Bronny James, with an On3 NIL Valuation of $4.9 million.

The USC freshman point guard made his collegiate debut just months after suffering a cardiac arrest during a July 2023 pre-season training. He finished the season with 25 game appearances, where he played an average of 19.4 minutes per game, ESPN reported.

Coming out of high school, James was a five-star recruit with a NIL Valuation of $7.2 million, per Bleacher Report , signing deals with PSD Underwear, Nike, Beats by Dre, and Klutch Sports Group for representation, On3 reported.

It's unclear how many new deals James has signed since his cardiac arrest, though he was featured in a March 2024 Android ad, which he shared on Instagram with his 7.5 million followers.

With a total social-media following of over 13 million and plenty of NCAA eligibility remaining, only time will tell just how lucrative James' college career could become.

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