Sidelining Sundays: The impact of youth sports

By Emily Tuttle

You’ve seen it before: dozens of five-year-old girls running around on a soccer field dressed in purple jerseys, worried more about picking dandelions than putting the ball in the goal.

The game doesn’t stop at five. As these children grow up, weekends are full of traveling to the next state for a tournament. And parents continue to swipe their credit cards for uniforms, team fees, hotels and anything needed for their child to succeed. 

But should success be the end goal for Christian parents to teach their kids? Should a love for sports and showering children with opportunities be valued over weekly involvement in a local church? 

The National Survey of Children’s Health in 2022 found that about 54% of children ages 6-17 play on a youth sports team or take lessons after school or on weekends. Additionally, a Lifeway research study found that 39% of evangelical churchgoers said it was OK to miss church for youth sports a few times a year, and 8% said that missing many times a year was fine. 

The Bible makes it clear that the church should not neglect to meet together. However, these statistics demonstrate that church attendance declines as youth sports demand more time, which concerns church leaders. 

Jim Knauss, director of discipleship and theological development at Heritage Bible Church in Greer, South Carolina, often counsels parents on this issue. To get parents to think critically about rigorous sports involvement, he asks quantitative questions like, “How many Sundays are you missing at your local church a year?” or “How many nights do you eat dinner as a family a week?”

“What is this doing to your family and the kid’s childhood as a whole?” Knauss said. “Is half of the kid’s year spent in a hotel room?”

Sports can provide children with countless opportunities, teaching them discipline and leadership. But the adverse effects of travel sports on young athletes, especially if they miss church, may not be worth it. What priorities does it communicate that parents will skip Sundays in their church for a youth team? 

For many athletes, this trade-off influences them personally. Kaley Matney, a junior setter on Cedarville’s volleyball team, began travel volleyball in fourth grade, and her story mirrors many others. On indoor and beach volleyball travel teams, church fell by the wayside when Matney was in middle school. 

“There was no importance to church,” Matney said. “It was kind of like, ‘I’ll go when I go, and if I have travel stuff, I won’t go.’”

She also struggled to balance family time. Although she had plenty of time with her mom while traveling, she did not get as much with her dad or brothers. 

Parents often justify missing church and family time with their aspiration of getting their child a scholarship. However, i9 Sports says less than 2% of high school athletes receive athletic scholarships, and according to the NCAA, these scholarships often consist of about $5,000 or less. 

Aspen Institute’s most recent youth sports survey says that the average family spends $883 annually on one child’s primary sport. The scholarship amount hardly covers the money spent over many years, begging the question: What is the bang for your buck?

If parents have excess money to put their children through these programs, they provide value. However, from a greater perspective, it is vital to consider sport’s ultimate purpose
or goal. 

Matney believes sports are for believers to glorify God through the abilities he has blessed them with. After playing volleyball at Cedarville for the past three years, Matney has experienced a different “why.”

“Since being here and since growing in my faith, that answer has changed a lot,” Matney said. “Ultimately, volleyball and any type of sport is a gift from the Lord.” 

But if a parent and athlete’s goal is to glorify God and not themselves, how do their hard choices communicate what matters deep down? Matney believes that if people are missing opportunities to be in church and grow their faith, they need to step back and assess their motivations and priorities. 

“The danger there lies in having an earthly perspective rather than an eternal one,” she said. 

Matney thinks of the quote, “What one generation finds optional, the next finds unnecessary.” If children grow up in a household where parents don’t prioritize discipleship and attending church, they will likely do the same for their children. This effect is monumental: generations of parents who forgo church for a conflicting event grow generations of children who do not even consider attending a church in the first place.

Parents are the main agents of discipleship for their children and should instill in them a love for God and his church. When they understand the church’s value, attendance is not rote weekly repetition but done out of love and desire. 

“It starts first by being discipled in the home: what your parents are doing and what you’re doing for yourself,” Matney said. 

This is not to say we should all boycott AAU and club volleyball. When placed in their rightful position, there are benefits to playing sports in adolescence.

Knauss loves sports and says that his children are involved in them year-round. However, they do not participate in leagues that don’t allow them to eat dinner as a family or strictly require Sunday tournaments. 

“What I want my kids to learn is: how do you follow well, how do you submit to the authority of a coach, how do you treat your fellow teammates with respect and encouragement, especially when they’re not doing well,” Knauss said.  “These are the things I want to get out of this to glorify God in a way that is helpful and consistent with His Word.”

So where is the balance? Is there a way to do both? 

Knauss and Matney both believe parents should seriously consider why they put their children in sports and whether that reason is eternal or temporary. Using sports to glorify God in a way that aligns with His word, not just personal priorities or pride, is vital.

Sports have the power to shape character but should never replace the power the Bible and the church have to transform hearts. Sports are a gift, not the goal, and having a biblical view of them will allow us to see God as a giving Father who wants his children to enjoy life. 

Emily Tuttle is a sophomore journalism major and the sports editor for Cedars. She is passionate about Philly sports, weight lifting, and all things silly.

Photos provided by Logan Howard, Scott Huck, and Kaley Matney