Socioeconomic Prerequisites and Baseball Participation: Exploring the Dynamics of Youth Involvement and Access
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v12i4.5833Keywords:
Baseball, Socioeconomic factors, AccessibilityAbstract
Youth participation in baseball has witnessed a decline, with notable losses of 3.7 million players aged 7 to 17 reported from 2002 to 2013. This decline can be attributed to various factors, including the intricate interplay of socioeconomic status, accessibility, and other pertinent dynamics. The sport's demanding financial requirements, coupled with the formidable challenges of achieving collegiate recruitment, compound the issue. This study endeavors to scrutinize the impact of diverse socioeconomic factors and access to sports facilities on the participation in baseball. The analysis revolves around a purposive sample comprising 43 collegiate baseball players, with the aim of unraveling the intricate connections between these factors and their influence on baseball involvement. Through rigorous data collection, meticulous analysis, and thoughtful comparisons against U.S. averages and benchmarks, the study paints a comprehensive picture. The results consistently reveal a compelling correlation between the necessity for socioeconomic advantages and the feasibility of pursuing collegiate baseball. Evidently, parental income analysis underscores that collegiate baseball players exhibit higher average incomes compared to the national median income. An overwhelming majority—90%—of survey participants conform to this higher parental income trend. Subsequent investigations into various other factors converge to a consistent conclusion: securing socioeconomic advantages is pivotal for individuals aspiring to engage with baseball at the collegiate level. In essence, this research shed light to socioeconomic prerequisites that intertwine with the pursuit of collegiate baseball participation, emphasizing the pressing need for equitable access to opportunities within the realm of baseball.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
Admin. (2018). How much does Little League cost? What Is the Price? https://www.howmuchisit.org/little-league-cost/
Alam, A., & Jones, B. (2021). 73 years after Robinson broke color barrier, baseball struggles to lure Black players. Cronkite News. https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2021/01/06/seventy-three-years-after-robinson-broke-color-barrier-baseball-still-struggles-to-lure-african-americans/
Baseball by the numbers: Understanding the youth baseball landscape - TEAMSNAP blog. TeamSnap. (n.d.). https://www.teamsnap.com/blog/general-sports/baseball-by-the-numbers
Byrne, A. (2021, October 2). Do student athletes come from more privileged backgrounds? Athletes have higher hometown median household income, many families spend thousands on club sports. Flat Hat News. https://flathatnews.com/2021/09/19/do-student-athletes-come-from-more-privileged-backgrounds-athletes-have-higher-hometown-median-household-income-many-families-spend-thousands-on-club-sports/
Canton, D. (2017, July 10). Where Are All the Black Baseball Players? US News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/opinion/op-ed/articles/2017-07-10/3-reasons-for-the-declining-percentage-of-black-baseball-players-in-the-mlb
Cohen, K. (2019, August 11). Kids aren’t playing enough sports. The culprit? Cost - ESPN. ESPN.com. https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/27356477/kids-playing-enough-sports-culprit-cost
Desai, S. (2018, November 2). College Sports Help Rich White Students Get Admitted. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/10/college-sports-benefits-white-students/573688/
Green, B., & Greenberg, M. B. (2016). Chapter Nine/United States of America. In E. Kristiansen, M. M. Parent, & B. Houlihan (Authors), Elite Youth Sport Policy and Management: A Comparative Analysis (pp. 136-147).
Kroshus, E., Qu, P., Chrisman, S. P. D., Herring, S. A., & Rivara, F. P. (2021). Socioeconomic status and parent perceptions about the costs and benefits of youth sport. PLOS ONE, 16(11), e0258885. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258885
Leveling the Playing Field for Youth Sports | Perspectives | Parks and Recreation Magazine | NRPA. (n.d.). https://www.nrpa.org/parks-recreation-magazine/2019/october/leveling-the-playing-field-for-youth-sports/
Leveling The Playing Field Of Sports Opportunity. (2022). Teach for America. https://www.teachforamerica.org/one-day/ideas-and-solutions/leveling-the-playing-field-of-sports-opportunity
Socioeconomic Impacts on Youth Athletics- analysis Study : Journal of Physical Education and Sports Management. (n.d.). http://jpesm.com/vol-8-no-1-june-2021-abstract-8-jpesm
Tandon, P. S., Kroshus, E., Olsen, K., Garrett, K., Qu, P., & McCleery, J. (2021). Socioeconomic Inequities in Youth Participation in Physical Activity and Sports. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(13), 6946. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136946
The TFA Editorial Team, Leiva, K., Co-Founder, & Miami-Dade ’12. (2018, March 7). Leveling the playing field of sports opportunity. Teach For America. https://www.teachforamerica.org/one-day/ideas-and-solutions/leveling-the-playing-field-of-sports-opportunity
Tompsett, J., & Knoester, C. (2022). The making of a college athlete: high school experiences, socioeconomic advantages, and the likelihood of playing college sports. Sociology of Sport Journal, 39(2), 129–140. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2020-0142
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2023 Eric Nam; Michelle DeMarco
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.