When I was growing up playing youth hockey in Atlanta, I watched talented teammates quit playing for reasons that had nothing to do with skill or effort. Their families simply couldn’t afford it. If you couldn’t pay for travel costs on the weekend, or buy new equipment, you are at a disadvantag e. Eventually families were forced to pull their kids from the sport, or the kids just gave up.  That experience has stuck with me. Now going to college in Connecticut, I see the same patterns playing out. Youth sports are not just becoming more expensive, they are more stressful, unequal, and tougher on kids’ mental health. With high costs, it is hard for every kid to feel included in sport especially for lower income families.  Recent reports from CT Insider, and CT Mirror show how unequal youth sports have become across the state. Wealthier towns usually have better facilities, more competitive leagues, and better trained coaches. On the other hand, lower income towns are struggling to keep their leagues afloat. The reliance on private programs and travel teams is pushing lots of families out, and lessening the role of local, community-led leagues. What was once a shared experience between kids growing up is now shaped by what part of the state you live in and how much money you make.  The costs themselves are egregiously high. According to Project Play the average youth sports parent spent around $883 per child on their primary sport in 2022. By 2024 that number was up to $1,016. That doesn’t even include travel costs, hotels, and private training. The families that aren’t forced out of the game still have a hard time justifying the money they are spending because according to a survey done by Project Play with the Utah State University’s Families in Sports Lab in 2019, the average child spends less than three years playing a sport, ultimately quitting by the young age of 11.  Steven Ardagna The people in power in Connecticut are already aware of the mental health crisis within college sports. The State Department of Education released a Mental Health Plan for Student Athletes. The goal of this plan was to raise awareness for mental health resources student athletes have available to them. The plan also includes mental health screenings, training for coaches and other plans to better mental health for student athletes. While this is a step in the right direction, it fails to address the kids who never made it far enough because they were out of the game years before.  For the kids who can’t afford to participate, the mental health impacts might look a little different but are just as real. Being excluded in sports could result in loss in social connection, physical activity, and the sense of belonging. Over time, it adds stress and lowers self esteem. We need not only mental health reforms but structural reforms.  How can we fix this? Part of the solution must come from policy. Connecticut should invest more in community-based leagues rather than allowing private leagues to dominate the industry. Funding public rinks, fields, courts and other recreational areas would help kids access sports for free. The state can also support training for coaches, ensuring that well qualified coaches are in place, without making families pay for private training.  Policy alone is not enough. We also need a cultural shift in how youth sports is perceived. When I talk to my dad about his childhood growing up outside of Boston, he describes the competitive hockey games between rivaling towns. There were no travel teams, no power rankings and no pressure on families to be paying extra money for their kids to succeed in their sport. Kids played because it was fun and it brought the town together.  We have lost the foundation that youth sports lays for kids. Today youth sports prioritizes scholarships and professional aspirations rather than kids’ well being. A majority of kids will not play at a high level, and that’s ok. Youth sports should not be a pipeline to the college, and professional level. It should be a place of joy, where lifelong memories and friendships are made.  Revisioning youth sports in Connecticut means cutting specialization and prioritizing kids’ mental health, reminding parents and coaches that success should be measured by happiness not championships. Youth sports should be a space in which kids feel supported by their family, friends and communities around them.  If Connecticut is serious about inclusion and kids’ mental health, the people in command must rebuild the system they have allowed to grow. Youth sports in Connecticut isn’t just about athletics, it’s about the kind of society and community we want kids to grow up in. Steven Ardagna is a psychology major and NCAA ice hockey player in the Class of 2026 at Connecticut College.   ...read more read less