The Sports Grouch

You may think of me as a sports fanatic. That’s OK. You’re entitled to your opinion. The truth is, I’m a fan.

That‘s a reason I’m concerned about research showing that fewer kids take part in high school sports. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations’ research, participation has fallen for the 1st time in 30 years. That’s a 3% drop in participation from a year earlier.

It’s not exactly a collapse but it’s 44,000 fewer kids playing and learning from what sports teach.

Rising & falling

The number of students in our high schools is expected to rise by more than 50,000.

That suggests the number for sports participation should be rising, too.

It isn’t.

What’s going on?

Does this mean we are raising generations of video game playing, cell phone texting couch potatoes?

Not so, writes Sam Walker, an ex-Wall Street Journal editor and author of “The Captain Class: A New Theory of Leadership.”

By his calculations, high-school teams filled nearly 8 million roster spots. That’s equivalent to 47% of the student body – close to a historical high.

Who’s to blame?

The chief culprit isn’t lack of interest. It’s rising resistance to the biggest sport: 11-player tackle football.

Last season, football suffered its steepest loss of players in 33 years. Its share of sports participants fell below 13% for the 1st time.

Walker admits football may never be entirely safe. Neither will other sports.

But if its officials make the right adjustments, its positive influence on kids will outweigh the risks.

Football is a great way to teach teamwork, leadership and sacrifice and learn to lose with grace and control your ego in victory.

We’ve shown that we’re good at working together for decades even with schools that trail those in other nations by measures of academic rigor.

Wonder why that is?

We are exceptional

Most high schools don’t teach “team studies” or “applied leadership.”

Traditional classes like social studies, history and civics may touch on those themes but only in passing. And fewer of these subjects are offered any more.

Walker’s theory is that American schools haven’t bothered teaching teamwork because they didn’t need to. That’s what organized sports do well.

High schools give more resources to sports than schools in other nations do.

To keep America exceptional, can we afford to lose what sports teaches?

The Sports Grouch welcomes email at mailto:Chronicle-Sports@yahoo.com Chronicle-Sports@yahoo.com