Mom shares 'unpopular opinion' on why recreational sports need to make a comeback for children

Nowadays, sports for kids is all about competition. Every kid is trained to be out there playing the same sport throughout the year, unlike in the '80s and '90s when children just played to have fun. Realizing this, a mother named Alli–who goes by @bloominonbridge on TikTok–shared why kids should be allowed to enjoy different sports if they want to. She started the video by saying, "Unpopular opinion. Recreational sports need to be brought back to life."

She went on to talk about how she played soccer her whole life and how it helped her. "I sucked at it and when people would ask my position, I would literally say 'benchwarmer.' I was good enough if people were injured or hurt. I was not good, but I loved soccer," she expressed. "And I loved my friends on the team. And I literally, one of my best friends to this day is somebody that I met playing soccer when I was in fifth grade," she added. The mom then spoke about how schools now are no longer places where kids make true friends and have fun.

She explained, "There's like a 15 to 20-minute recess lunch. They're shoveling food in the 20 minutes that they have to eat. So they're really not even like getting to do anything with each other and then the class is class." Allie then shared how her son plays town baseball, which should be "recreational baseball," but it gets treated as "club baseball." She elaborated, "The parents can be crazy. The coaches can be crazy. The tryouts are insane. Sports are what everyone used to say what keeps kids out of trouble and it keeps kids on the right path and we need sports. Yet all we've done is take them away from kids and we've taken the opportunity for sports away from kids."

After this, Allie compared the financial commitment needed to play sports when she was a kid to what it is now. "The financial commitment for my mom to have me play soccer was a pair of $15 shinpads, a pair of $30 cleats and the $40 registration fee for me to play for the whole season. Now, a single season of recreational league baseball is $120. And I'm not stupid. I get it that goes to the refs and all of that. But it just has changed drastically," she said.

The mother highlighted how kids could play every season earlier, but now, they "have to specialize in one sport way early on and humongous studies are talking about how it isn't good for their growth and their development and their bodies." Then, she spoke about how if a kid is playing hockey, they have to play from August until around March or April. "There's no time for other sports. And if there is, they have to fit it in and then it becomes just a craziness," she expressed. 

The mom favored kids who wanted to go for travel sports, but she wanted to let the other kids be kids. "Let the kids that play travel, who excel at sports, keep playing travel. Let them play club ball. Let them play club hockey. No one is asking those kids to change anything. But we are asking for an opportunity for the kids who just want to play to have fun and meet friends to be able to do that again," she said. The video garnered over 90k views on TikTok and was captioned, "Sports for kids should be available to all." People in the comments agreed with what Allie shared. @seeannajane commented, "My phone has been listening. I talk about this all the time!! Kids shouldn't have to pick their sport by age seven. It's insane."

 @buffmuakja wrote, "My son is nine and wants to try something and he can't... there are tryouts and he has no idea how to play." @sydnigicantmom pointed out, "To this: we need more parents with a recreational sports mindset to volunteer. I'm the director of the youth recreational league in my town and it's always the travel dads wanting to coach and they shouldn't even be playing." @67apav said, "Totally agree. Recreational is for learning the basis of a game and how to be on a team. To be part of something. It should be for fun." 

You can follow Allie (@bloominonbridge) on TikTok for content on parenting, healthcare and children.