As we round Memorial Day weekend and prepare for summer, there will be something important missing from parks across the country, the sounds of kids enjoying organized sports. If you’re like our family, your spring sports were canceled and now summer sports leagues are canceling as well. This is unnecessary and should be reversed. Let the kids play!
According to the latest COVID-19 data in Colorado, children ages 0-9 make up 2.07% of all cases and 0.00% of all COVID-19 deaths. Even in hard-hit places such as New York City, the deaths of children ages 0-17 make up .06% of all COVID-19 deaths.
So why are we making kids stay inside and forgo youth sports activities? It sure isn’t to protect kids from COVID-19. No, with a majority of deaths coming from older people, we are attempting to flatten the curve by keeping families isolated. Rather than targeting our stay-at-home orders toward those most vulnerable, they are so broad to include people that aren’t dying from the virus.
There is a better solution.
Youth sports could help reduce the overall health, social, and psychological effects of COVID-19. According to William Bryan, the acting head of the Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, “Our most striking observation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus, both surfaces and in the air. We’ve seen a similar effect with both temperature and humidity as well, where increasing the temperature and humidity or both is generally less favorable to the virus.”
Moreover, vitamin D produced by the body exposed to sunlight may help combat the effects of COVID-19. According to Northwestern University, “Not only does vitamin D enhance our innate immune systems, it also prevents our immune systems from becoming dangerously overactive. This means that having healthy levels of vitamin D could protect patients against severe complications, including death, from COVID-19.”
Sports get kids outside, where the sunlight kills the virus, and produces essential vitamins to keep kids healthy and surviving COVID-19. In addition, youth sports provide plenty of other benefits for children, including reducing obesity, improving cognitive skills, and encouraging hard work, sportsmanship, and teamwork ethics.
For the past five years, I’ve been coaching all four of my children in youth sports. This includes coaching soccer, baseball, basketball, and flag football. Most of these sports leagues have a very small number of people on a field at one time. Teams are made up of 10 kids, and the only people attending games are family members.
We can practice social distancing by keeping the spectators far apart. We can avoid unnecessary contact before and after the game. We can keep older and more vulnerable family members away from the games. We can do all this while letting the kids enjoy sports this summer.
It’s time for the stay-at-home orders to target those most likely to suffer from COVID-19. America’s children have lost out on one spring sports season already, a semester of school with their peers, and are likely spending more time in front of screens than ever before. Let’s give American children their summer back. Long days full of friends and sports. Let them play!
Jeff Hunt is director of the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University. He was the 2019 Developmental Boys Soccer Coach of the Year for his community.
