Youth Sports as an Idol
The First Commandment in Exodus 20:3 says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” John Calvin famously said that the human heart is a “perpetual factory of idols.” Sadly, I have found this to be true in my own heart and in those around me. The evolution of youth sports over the last 25 years is a shining example of humanity’s ability to take something good and turn it into an idol. The modern day youth sports machine can be a dangerous world, especially for Christians. It threatens our hearts, our parenting, our finances, our schedules, our kids, and our affections. What God has given as a gift to be stewarded and enjoyed, can easily become an idol of our worship.
A few years ago, I was speaking with a college student about his faith and life growing up. He told me that his family seemed to value faith, but this value diminished when he began competitive sports. I still remember his next words: “it seemed like we had to choose between sports and church… and we always chose sports.” He said this with sadness and a sense of regret, wishing it would have been different. These choices made during childhood were still affecting him as a young adult.
His story is not unique:
● Family A is a church going family with three kids. Their two sons play baseball and their daughter is in competitive dance. Their weekly spring tournaments and competitions saturate their Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Typically, Mom takes their daughter to dance competitions and Dad takes one of the boys to a tournament. Their other son attends tournaments with other team families or grandparents. For the duration of the spring, Dad doesn’t see his daughter compete in her dance competitions and the family was never together from Friday afternoon until late Sunday night. For about twelve weeks, the only Sunday they were able to attend church together was Easter. The father of this family was pained to share this reality with me.
● Person B described to me the realities of his childhood. He was involved in youth sports and a good baseball player even though his younger sister and brother were not interested in sports. Much of their family life revolved around his sporting events. His younger brother and sister spent a good amount of their childhood at games and tournaments watching their brother play. To this day, they struggle with resentment about this reality and it has put strain on their family relationships.
● Soccer has been a huge part of Person C’s life since childhood. He grew up playing club soccer and is now on scholarship at a Division 1 soccer program. He no longer likes soccer. Honestly, he is only playing in college because he feels guilty. His parents have spent an enormous amount of money on his youth soccer career. The financial investment of his parents far exceeds the amount of money he receives in scholarships. Sadly, he continues to play soccer while looking forward to the day that he is finally done.
● Family D has a daughter who is a good volleyball player. Her parents put her on an elite travel club team to ensure the best opportunities for her. In light of this, she misses church, has no time for friends and even had to miss her prom to play in volleyball tournaments. After all that sacrifice, she decided she no longer wanted to play volleyball when high school ended. 10 years later, she avoids playing volleyball–even for fun.
Christians entering the youth sports world must be very careful. God created sports as a gift and blessing to be stewarded, but it can easily turn into a cunning idol leading Christians to conform to the patterns of the world. Yet, God calls us to guard ourselves and flee from idols. (1 John 5:14, 1 Corinthians 10:14)
As a former athlete and a father of three kids who all play multiple sports, this is a struggle for me. I must be vigilant in protecting myself from the idolatry of youth sports. I’ve found over the years that I need to constantly evaluate my heart, my parenting, and our family schedule. It is in these three areas where the idolatry of youth sports are most often manifested.
Here are some evaluative questions that I would challenge you to work through in order to discern the place youth sports has in your life:
In Your Heart
● What are your hopes and desires for your child? How much do you think about their athletics? How much time do you think about their spiritual life?
● Do you derive personal significance from the team your child is on or their performance on the field?
● If your child wanted to play a musical instrument instead of a sport, would you be okay with that?
In Your Parenting
● Is your view of your child ever based on their athletic ability or performance instead of someone made in the image of God, created exactly how the Lord desired?
● How much of your time and resources do you spend investing in their spiritual growth versus their athletic development?
● How much time is spent talking with your child about their athletic performance versus talking with them about God’s word?
In Your Scheduling
● When you are scheduling your life, what are the “big rocks” that go in first? Is your church participation dictated by your sports schedule or your sports schedule dictated by your church participation?
● Look over your calendar at the last five Sundays and the next five Sundays. What can you learn about your family values and priorities from the way you spend your Sundays?
Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Applying this verse to youth sports, may require making some tough decisions. It may even cause your child to miss out on some good opportunities. However, this is the nature of following Christ. He calls us to be different (1 Peter 2:9-12) and to walk by faith, ordering our lives around Christ, and trusting this will lead to abundance in this life and the life to come (1 John 2:17).
1 https://thesportdigest.com/2022/06/the-goal-of-youth-sports-is-changing/
2 The Idolatry of Youth Sports