{"id":211528,"date":"2026-03-09T12:45:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T12:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/211528\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T12:45:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T12:45:06","slug":"how-can-youth-sports-in-sacramento-be-less-competitive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/211528\/","title":{"rendered":"How can youth sports in Sacramento be less competitive?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Abridged version:<\/p>\n

When it comes to youth sports, some parents have decided that winning isn\u2019t everything, and that sometimes there\u2019s too much focus on competition.<\/p>\n

Norway, whose athletes brought home more 2026 Winter Olympics medals than the United States, has a\u00a0unique approach to youth sports, including no keeping score until kids reach 11 years old.<\/p>\n

One area organization says parents should ask three questions before their kids play competitive sports.<\/p>\n

Cassandra Opiela\u2019s 12-year-old son, Spencer, loves sports. Every time his school PE class introduces something new to play, the Sacramento mom says he comes home and wants to give it a try. For years now, he\u2019s played organized soccer and baseball, but \u2014 she says \u2014 both got so intense so fast, that he almost quit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m often having to course correct after a game or practice because (he\u2019s) feeling this immense pressure from the coaches and parents around him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe just wants to play with his friends. We talk all the time about how we can bring the intensity down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opiela\u2019s teenage daughter played volleyball in middle school just to give it a try. When she was asked to play on a competitive club team, \u201cthe conversation became all about how important and difficult it was to make the high school team,\u201d Opiela said.<\/p>\n

According to a 2024 study<\/a> by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 70% of young athletes drop out of sports by age 13. Injury is one reason. But so is burnout.<\/p>\n

This reality may prompt some parents to look at options for youth sports, including in Sacramento, in which competition is downplayed in favor of having fun.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s working in Norway<\/p>\n

Americans, as it turns out, may have something to learn from Norway. Youth sports organizations across that country have banded together to abide by a doctrine known as Children\u2019s Rights in Sports<\/a>, which applies to all sporting activities for kids up to 12 years old.<\/p>\n

In addition to the doctrine\u2019s stated values of joy, community and health, it also dictates that kids shall not participate in any kind of national championship before age 13. Perhaps most notably, teams don\u2019t keep score or publish rankings before age 11.<\/p>\n

Norwegian athletes brought home more medals than Team USA did in the recent Winter Olympics. And some believe that Norway\u2019s success was connected to its culture of emphasizing fun over competition in youth sports.<\/a><\/p>\n

Positive environments encouraged<\/p>\n

Positive Coaching Alliance<\/a>, a nonprofit based in Northern California, aims to foster positive environments across youth sports throughout the United States. The organization acknowledges that the most commonly reported reason kids stop playing sports is that they\u2019re no longer having fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a powerful signal,\u201d spokesperson Ryan Durrett said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a growing emphasis on early specialization, year-round play, travel teams, high participation costs and performance outcomes at younger and younger ages. That intensity can crowd out what research consistently tells us matters most: fun, development and relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tSign Up for the Morning Newsletter<\/p>\n

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Sacramento programs reject scorekeeping<\/p>\n

A handful of youth sports programs in the Sacramento region align with Norway\u2019s approach to not keeping score.<\/p>\n

The city of Sacramento\u2019s Junior Giants baseball\/softball program, for example, is a non-competitive approach for kids aged 5 to 18, geared entirely for beginners. A description about Junior Giants<\/a> on the city\u2019s website acknowledges that the rules are flexible and, in addition to no score being kept, games are self-officiated.<\/p>\n

\"KidsKidz Love Soccer runs soccer programs that focus on learning over competition. (Kidz Love Soccer)<\/p>\n

Similarly, Kidz Love Soccer<\/a> \u2014 which runs soccer programs for ages 2 through 10 all over the Sacramento area \u2014 promotes effort and learning over competition. Its motto is \u201cKidz Love Soccer \u2014 where the score is always Fun to Fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the U.S. is losing sight of development in favor of the win-loss column,\u201d said Olly Bayliss, who has worked for Kidz Love Soccer for about two decades. Bayliss, as a player and competitive coach himself, describes himself as someone who \u201clives for soccer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Participants say everyone celebrates a goal \u2014 no matter who scores. Activities focus on teaching fundamentals.<\/p>\n

Bayliss describes Kidz Love Soccer as a soccer school \u2014 not a competitive program. \u201cOur goal is (to see) these kids go on to play competitively somewhere,\u201d after they\u2019ve finished with Kidz Love Soccer, he says.<\/p>\n

Three questions to ask<\/p>\n

Positive Coaching Alliance suggests parents talk with their kids and ask three simple questions before committing to higher levels of competitive sports:<\/p>\n

What are you hoping for this season?<\/p>\n

What would make this season feel like a success to you?<\/p>\n

How can I best support you?<\/p>\n

Parent awareness is important, according to the alliance. Its website offers even more insights and steps for families<\/a> to take.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt its best, youth sports are one of the most powerful tools we have to help young people develop confidence, character and connection,\u201d Durrett said. \u201cWhen adults intentionally design sports experiences around those outcomes, competition becomes a vehicle for growth \u2014 not pressure \u2014 and kids are far more likely to stay in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChanging the culture of youth sports is a job for all of us,\u201d Opiela added. \u201cAs parents, we have to be willing to put a stop to the chatter and drama. As coaches and officials, people need to prioritize learning and fun. We need to teach the players how to win and lose with more grace and less intensity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200b\u200bCarolyn Becker is a regular contributor covering youth sports for Abridged in her feature Beyond the Bleachers. She\u2019s lived in Northern California most of her life and worked in journalism and communications in Sacramento for more than 25 years. She and her husband are raising two boys, both of whom play competitive baseball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Abridged version: When it comes to youth sports, some parents have decided that winning isn\u2019t everything, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[5592,121,123,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-211528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-feature","9":"tag-sacramento","10":"tag-sacramento-headlines","11":"tag-sacramento-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}