SPORTS ABANDONMENT (DROPOUT)

Main factors: excessive pressure, lack of fun, lack of time

Youth sports dropout is a worrying phenomenon that usually occurs in the transition to adolescence.

Motivational models explain that dropout occurs when the costs of participation outweigh the perceived benefits.

Among the most commonly cited causes are lack of fun, overemphasis on winning by adults, pressure to perform, and perceived failure to learn new skills. Consider a teenager playing basketball in a school league.

If every weekend drive home involves critical analysis of his mistakes by his parents or if the coach punishes him by benching him for missing a shot, the activity ceases to be a game and becomes a source of stress.

When the pressure for results eclipses intrinsic enjoyment, the young athlete rationally chooses to leave the environment that generates discomfort, seeking other activities that are less emotionally demanding.

Conflict of interest in adolescence

As young people grow older, they enter an "investment phase" where social identity and peer group membership become of paramount importance. Sports compete with other social and academic activities.

If sports practice isolates the adolescent from his or her circle of friends or conflicts with his or her social lifestyle (parties, video games, social networks), the probability of dropping out increases.

Sports commitment must be compatible with the need for social integration.

A clear example is that of a promising young tennis player whose friends spend Friday afternoons at the movies or playing online games.

If his training consistently forces him to miss these social events, he may begin to feel that sport is a barrier to his social life.

If his reference group does not value the sport, the young person may feel that he "doesn't fit in" by continuing to train, opting to give up the racquet to align himself with his friends' norms and activities and avoid socia