2024: The readers have spoken: A year-end review
What topics hit and what missed in the past year
Every year at this time, I like to revisit articles published here and reflect on which topics gained traction and which didn't.
Having been out of coaching for over 15 years, my interests have shifted slightly from those still actively involved in sport programs. I prefer to focus on ‘big picture’ topics, which explains why the articles that appear here are quite diverse in terms of relevance to the average subscriber. Consequently, the popularity of each article is highly unpredictable.
As you might expect, articles of specific interest to coaches and parents garnered more attention than my musings on more general subjects.
Top 5 articles for 2024:
The USA Swimming motivational times, 2520 views
What’s next for USA Swimming and sport in the United States?, 1920 views
More thoughts on sport dropout, 1260 views
The Chinese doping story is not just about elite athletes, 1020 views
Extrinsic motivation affects investment and retention in youth sport, 799 views
In October, the motivational times article garnered over 2500 views and became the year’s most popular article. However, based on some feedback, I believe many readers misunderstood my point about what truly motivates us and shifted towards the “everybody gets a trophy” mentality. I would say that coaches generally agreed with me, while parents did not.
Although I rarely write follow-ups, I did for that article because I believed my perspective was the correct one, at least in the traditional sense of what motivation entails. That follow-up, Preserving institutional memory can be a challenge in youth sports, was largely ignored, receiving fewer than 400 reads.
The second most popular article delved into the evolving landscape of sports in the United States. It was published just hours after the announcement of USA Swimming’s search for a new CEO and National Team Director, following the resignations of Tim Hinchey and Lindsey Mintenko. As I mentioned in the article, both resignations stemmed from a “smorgasbord of festering complaints,” but they were primarily triggered by the USA’s disappointing performance in Paris.
While most readers were likely curious about the imminent personnel changes at USA Swimming, the article also discussed the potential impact of the House vs. NCAA settlement and the final report to the U.S. Congress from the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics.
Changes in the way sports are conducted in the United States are already underway. House is only the beginning.
Articles rounding out the Top 5 addressed more general sport topics. Sport dropout, for example, is an evergreen topic that's almost sure to draw attention amongst coaches and parents. Information about dropout doesn't change but due to the nature of youth sport the audience does.
Dropout and burnout are often conflated although they are two different things. Parents who worry about Junior becoming 'burned out' should read an article that appeared here in August, which details the differences between dropout and burnout.
The Chinese doping scandal presented another opportunity to shed light on how our current sports culture inadvertently promotes the use of performance enhancers among young athletes.
The Chinese incident involved the use of a banned substance that was discovered during elite sport testing protocols. Youth sport participants are not subject to the same testing regimens and this has led to a casual attitude towards the use of performance enhancers. The absence of effective regulation raises numerous ethical questions about the youth sports environment.
The youth sports ecosystem overlooks easily available items such as caffeine-loaded drinks or other stimulants, as well as prescribed medicines, even though their use in sports is either prohibited or restricted by WADA. The real issue lies in permitting or encouraging their use, which reinforces the notion that they are acceptable and that performance boosters are necessary for success in competition.
In March, I wrote about how successful athletes transition from relying on extrinsic motivators for early success to developing their own intrinsic reasons for participating.
While extrinsic and intrinsic motivation are crucial throughout an athlete’s sports career, personal investment (intrinsic motivation) is key for true success and peak performance. Token economies—rewarding achievement with material items—are commonly used with young athletes but eventually lose their effectiveness. If athletes don’t become fully invested in their activity, their performance gradually declines.
And now here are the biggest stinkers from 2024. I'm almost sure you missed these, almost everyone did.
Least read articles from 2024:
Economic disparities are causing artificial elimination from youth sport, 281 views.
Paris 2024: Scoring, boxing, and Olympic potpourri, 293 views.
Flow and fun: Are they the same thing?, 319 views.
Case dismissed: Why all the fuss over the Thomas dismissal?, 327 views.
Sex and the IOC: We need to talk about this, 331 views.
That concludes the 2024 edition of The Sportkid Newsletter. I want to express my gratitude to each of my subscribers for their interest in my content, regardless of whether you agree with my opinions or not. I value the feedback I receive directly through the Substack site or in the numerous sports forums where I share these articles.
I'm off for the holidays and will be back in 2025 on 14 February. Be seeing you!
Excellent topics Coach Price