Why 70% of American kids quit sports by age 13
Why 70% of American kids quit sports by age 13  
Podcast: The mindbodygreen Podcast
Published On: Sun Oct 04 2026
Description: Youth sports has become a multi-billion-dollar industry built on one unspoken promise: specialize early, and your kid has a shot. In this solo episode, we dig into what the research really says about early specialization. We also looks at how Norway built a youth sports system around play instead of competition, and why it's keeping kids in the game at nearly triple the US rate. 00:00 - The myth of sports specialization 04:29 - How youth sports became a billion-dollar industry 05:10 - My own path to Division I basketball 06:52 - Higher risk of overuse injuries 09:42 - The weaker case for burnout 10:41 - Junior stars & adult pro athletes are different people 12:28 - Deliberate play & the sampling years 15:00 - 3 honest caveats 16:10 - How Norway keeps kids playing 20:29 - What every parent should actually do Referenced in the episode:  2022 meta-analysis from Jean Côté’, Ph.D.: https://doi.org/10.1177/19417381211056301  2015 study from Neeru Jayanthi, M.D.: .https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25646361/  Research from David Bell, Ph.D.: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31633411/ Research from Tim McGuine, Ph.D: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28735552/  We hope you enjoy this episode, and feel free to watch the full video on YouTube! Whether it's an article or podcast, we want to know what we can do to help here at mindbodygreen. Let us know at: podcast@mindbodygreen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices