While participation among lower/middle class  students is going down, it is rising among upper class children 

“The typical family with kids who pay sports spends about $700 a year on fees, equipment and more, but some spend up to $35,000.” (Picchi, 2019)

Rising economy, not being able to afford certain leisurely activities and having to distribute money elsewhere just to “get by”

Tweet stating and showing evidence that the biggest predictor of sport participation is parent income 

Privatized coaches and training

Extra time to practice and dedicate time to the sport/ time constraints

Some may have the connections necessary to play at the collegiate or professional level

Sports are not fun anymore 

"Perhaps more importantly, the underlying message that “I have to be the best or I’ve failed” is deeply harmful to kids. This is absolutely mirrored and reinforced in school, where the environment is increasingly test and outcome-driven."

Having to pay for club teams - almost like a social hierarchy 

This makes it so that they are reserved for those that are financially affluent 

“Many of the top academy teams in the U.S. require players to pay well over $3,000 to pay for only a season. A player could have all the talent in the world but struggled to pay the fees to play which prevents them from developing at the highest level. 

^Connects back to Otto Loewy 

High costs to play soccer in different countries, for this reason the US is not as good as soccer as other countries where you do not have to pay to play 

Counterargument: Kids should pay because it decreases the budget for athletic programs 

Problem is that not everyone can afford this and it is just making it harder for everyone to join 

^Huge reason why many kids decided to quit sports 

Rising popularity of club sports and leagues/teams that you have to pay money for 

“The Aspen Institute found that families spend on average $1,188 per year per child for soccer, $1,002 for basketball, $714 for baseball and $581 for tackle football.”

Lack of access to healthier foods in underserved communities 

“In 2020, Black non-Hispanic households were over 2 times more likely to be food insecure than the national average (21.7 percent versus 10.5 percent, respectively). Among Hispanic households, the prevalence of food insecurity was 17.2 percent compared to the national average of 10.5 percent.2 Potential factors influencing these disparities may include neighborhood conditions, physical access to food, and lack of transportation.” 

Without a stable diet, kids may not have an immune system strong enough to support an active body 

Part of successful sports participation is about healthy eating to optimize performance on the playing field 

It is important that these athletes are well nourished so that they do not lose more calories than they should and experience excessive weight loss 

Proper hydration and having access to clean drinking water (Flint, Michigan)

Avoiding dehydration and dizziness 

Showed that approximately more than 1/3 (38%) of all adolescents enrolled in public schools do not have access to a form of physical activity 

School cuts funds towards these programs 

Scholarships 

Free camps 

Equipment Drives 

Famous athletes have created programs of their own to help kids from a lower socioeconomic background be able to play sports 

Steph Curry program (Ace Kids Golf) 

Serves up to 900 underserved youth annually from the ages of 5-18 

More representation of students of color in a sport that has been considered a “caucasian game” for so long