Boys & Sports

 From a N.Y. Times story:

  My involvement in sports has always been...well...minimal. Track & Field was at the top of my list for my Junior High and High School years. With that in mind I read the following from The Times story with interest:

"Historically, sports have provided boys with structure, mentorship and camaraderie, often in a single-sex environment, especially as all other extracurricular activities skew toward girls.

 But the share of high school-age boys playing sports has declined to 41 percent in 2023 from 50 percent in 2012, according to one estimate. Among lower-income boys, the share has dropped to 25 percent.

 Financial barriers are one factor, with the rise of “pay to play” travel teams and similar offerings; but another is a relative lack of male coaches.

One hindrance to male volunteering is the fear of being seen as a potential predator. This has also reduced the enthusiasm among some parents for single-sex environments. The abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts understandably led many parents to worry about their children in male-oriented organizations. The settlement for claims against the Boy Scouts has reached $7 billion, more than the annual expenditure of many U.S. states. But the attention to child safety in these organizations is now paramount. The fear of child abuse in these organizations is similar to the fear of child abduction from playing without parental supervision — perfectly natural but potentially damaging if it overly restricts the activities of children and young adults.