AAP Report: 7 in 10 kids quit sports before high school due to burnout and overtraining

NEW YORK - Basketball for 15-year-old Elijah Howard has been a relatively easy sport to fall in love with over the years.

 "I like how fast-paced it is. It makes my adrenaline pump. It’s just very competitive," Howard told FOX 5 NY.

 The same can be said for Nicky Goodman and his growing love for hockey and football...

"I kind of just enjoy it. It’s the journey that matters," Goodman said.

 But a recently updated report finds droves of children are calling it quits with sports altogether.

"There's more kids who are still dropping out of organized sports by the time they’re 13; about 70 percent," said Joel Brenner, the medical director of the Sports Medicine Program at Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughter in Virginia.

Though the main goal of youth athletics is to have fun and learn life-long skills with physical activity the report found:

70 percent of kids drop out of sports before 13 years old, a third of elite athletes experience overtraining by the time they’re adults and nearly 10 percent of athletes are simply burnt out.

Nick Goodman a dad and coach for his son Nicky says that burnout stems from parents and their unrealistic athletic expectations for their kids, and kids hanging up their cleats comes with consequences...

If kids drop out of organized sports and become physically inactive, that can then lead to other medical problems and mental and emotional problems," said Brenner.

That’s why he encourages kids and parents to stay active because of the benefits, but parents, he warns, should look out for red flags, which include signs of fatigue, mood problems like sadness and depression, and sleep disturbances.

Doctors recommend parents refrain from signing their kids up for multiple sports in the same season, allow them to fully recover, and impose less pressure on them to perform, while coach Goodman reminds us that it's about just letting the kids play.

 "They’ve got to find their own way. It can’t be me telling him hey you’ve got to go to practice, you’ve got to go to this game, you’ve got to work harder. It’s up to him to find that motivation for himself," said Goodman.