Dropout reasons in youth sports: a retrospective research

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate dropout reasons in former athletes, age between 10 to 20 years old, comparing sports, gender and age group. 332 participants (179 boys and 153 girls) who had dropout sport (soccer, basketball, swimming, gymnastics and handball) answered a questionnaire regarding dropout reasons. The main dropout reasons were: school work (34% of former athletes), lack of time for friends/ dating/ leisure (17%), other concerns (16%). Team sports presented higher drop out reason such as other interests, training monotony, lack of motivation, burnout and excessive dedication for individual sports and injuries/ health problems and lack of friendship in (p < 0.05) for team sports. It was observed a multiplicity of dropout reasons, depicting the importance of knowing them to develop strategies to avoid this phenomenon in youth sports.