Why Is Participation in Sports Down Among American Children? The average child spends less than three years playing a sport and quits by age 11

The Inside Hook reports:

In America today, the average child spends less than three years playing a sport and quits by age 11, according to a new national survey of sports parents conducted by the Aspen Institute and Utah State University.

For a country where childhood obesity rates are rising and junk food is as readily available as air, that is certainly not a good thing.

According to the Aspen Institute’s survey of parents of youth athletes, the primary reason kids are quitting sports is because they simply aren’t having fun playing them anymore.

Instead of going out to shoot baskets with their friends, a growing number of kids would rather get their kicks by shooting their friends online while playing video games like Fortnite or Call of Duty.

Last year, only 38 percent of kids aged six to 12 played team sports on a regular basis, down from 45 percent in 2008, according to research which was conducted by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA).

And those numbers only get worse with age, as 56 percent of teen girls and 48 percent of teen boys do not participate in sports, according to statistics provided by DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation’s Sports Matter — an initiative which has pledged to provide access to sports for one million youth athletes over the next five years — at a recent panel event.

An article worth your time.