Youth Sports Need a Place For Every Kid (with Amanda Carey, multi-time Pro MTB Champion)
About this episode
Amanda Carey discusses the importance of creating inclusive environments in youth sports where every child can belong and thrive.
Youth sports have become increasingly all-or-nothing. Make the team. Commit more time. Play at a higher level. Keep up, or eventually there may not be a place for you anymore. Amanda Carey believes there’s another way. Amanda is the President of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) and a multi-time professional mountain biking champion. In this conversation, she talks with Jonathan Carone about what happens when youth sports make belonging the starting point instead of something kids have to earn. They get into why kids need safe chances to make bad decisions, how sports can build independence, the value of letting kids choose their own level of competition, why teenagers need opportunities to play just for fun, and how competitive kids can learn to use that drive to make the people around them better. They also talk about exercise and ADHD, the unique benefits of repetitive sports like mountain biking, swimming and running, and why giving kids ownership over their sports experience can help them build a relationship with movement that lasts long after their competitive years are over. This episode uses mountain biking as the example, but the bigger question…
People in this episode
Host: Jonathan Carone
Guest: Amanda Carey
Topics covered
- youth sports
- belonging
- independence
- ADHD
- competition
- exercise
- mountain biking
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: National Interscholastic Cycling Association, NICA
More episodes of Healthy Sports Parents
- What 32 Years of Coaching Taught Me About Youth Sports (with Coach Travis Hudson, WKU Volleyball)
- Every Kid Is On Their Own Timeline (with Jordan Palmer, retired NFL QB)
- How To Raise Confident Kids Through Youth Sports (with David Epstein)
- What Kids Actually Need From Youth Sports (with Abby Wambach)
- BONUS: Could this be the future of youth sports? (with Renata Simril, CEO of LA84 Foundation)
- BONUS: 7 Things That Feel Like Bad Sports Parenting But Aren't (with Dr. Joey Case, Miami Marlins)
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Healthy Sports Parents podcast page.