Parents enroll their son in 2 sports. Then it starts eroding their marriage: ‘Kids sports are ruining families, marriages, and kids themselves’

Youth sports are a staple for many American children. But any parent with a kid in a travel league knows the time commitment can resemble that of a second full-time job.

One mom says a single spring season left her whole family exhausted.

‘My son was in two sports in the spring'

Content creator Abby Eckel (@abbyeckel) shares an anecdote about kids' sports and the toll they took on her family. Her video has more than 2 million views.

“I think kids' sports are ruining families, marriages, and kids themselves,” Eckel says. “Calm down. I can already feel the heat coming through the phone. You don't like that. I get it.”

Eckel goes on to explain that her son had played two sports that spring.

“We had something every single night of the week in terms of a practice,” Eckel says. “And then we had games on the weekends as well. And we were exhausted. Everybody was exhausted. I never saw my husband.”

Eckel says the stringent schedule left no room for actual familial connection.

“We never had any good, intimate, connected family time,” she says. “Everybody was tired. We were at each other's throats. We were just going and going and going and going. And I won't do it.”

Eckel says she isn't against sports. She recognizes that “kids' sports, recreational sports, team sports are very important,” and that they teach developing minds important lessons. Eckel even says she had played sports as a child. She says that the current state of youth sports “has gotten insane.”

“My kids are 6 and 9,” Eckel says. “This level of competition, of expectation that we have of kids at this age, I think it's detrimental. I think it's harming more than it's helping. And I sure … don't think it's helping marriages, which are already struggling.”

She concludes that “burning yourselves to the ground, running kids around every single night and every single weekend” isn't the way to go.

Viewers weigh in: ‘It's not worth the stress'

While some commenters pointed out that “multiple sports at once is [Eckel's] first problem,” and sports “[don't] have to be like [she] described,” many agreed with her take. One person even said that “kids need free play without adult direction.”

“Everyone is overstimulated and overscheduled!” one comment said. “Just completely exhausted by the end of the night.”

“School, homework, then sports and rehearsals?” another echoed.

“Teacher here,” one viewer wrote. “When my students miss school for strep or fever, they still go to their games sick … spreads to the whole team.”

Adult viewers who used to play sports as kids chimed in on the discourse.

“Speaking as an ‘athlete' in the early generation of travel ball, my parents in fact ended up divorced,” one commented. “AND by the time I made it to compete in high school, I was burned out and didn't even play.”

What does research say about kids' sports, the family and the kids themselves?

Cost is one measurable strain. Aspen Institute's Project Play reported in 2025 that the average U.S. family spent $1,016 on a child's primary sport in 2024, up 46% from 2019. Spending on that child's other teams added $475, bringing the average to nearly $1,500 a year. Aspen estimated families spend more than $40 billion per year overall.

Moreover, in a 2012 University of Texas at Austin dissertation, Michael Newhouse-Bailey interviewed seven families with children in elite youth sports. He reported that “the emphasis in youth sport in the U.S. has shifted towards a focus on skill development.”

“With this shift, the time and financial demands on families for participation in these sport leagues has increased as well,” Newhouse-Bailey wrote. “Families are willingly engaging with these leagues despite the stress they place on the family. Large financial and time demands are placed on the family that impacts the family in various ways. Elite youth sport is given high priority that may impact the marital dyad and the non-athlete sibling.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics warned in a 2016 clinical report against early single-sport specialization. It said intensive, year-round training contributes to burnout and dropout, with many children leaving organized sports by age 13. It also reported that roughly half of athletic injuries are overuse injuries.

‘Youth sport minimally interferes with family functioning'

Other researchers found more positive results. A 2011 report by Nicole LaVoi and Alyssa Norris at the University of Minnesota's Tucker Center concluded that “youth sport minimally interferes with family functioning,” according to parents in its sample.

A 2021 study in Psychology of Sport and Exercise found that parents whose children played organized sport “reported more time pressure, more life stress, and lower psychological distress.”

Lastly, a 2022 PLOS ONE study of 11,235 U.S. children ages 9 to 13 found that “youth involved in team sports were less likely to have signs of anxiety, depression, withdrawal, social problems and attention problems. However, children who played only individual sports … were more likely to have such difficulties than children who played no organized sports at all.”

@abbyeckel

Subplot News reached out to Eckel via email.

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