Statistical studies show that women’s soccer quit at a rate that doubles that of males. But here is an intriguing fact: Not higher level premier teams, ECNL teams, or Girls Academy League teams, but rather recreational teams and lower level select and club teams appear to be vanishing and becoming difficult to fill in young soccer. All those are currently successful right now.
So what is happening? Why is leisure women’s soccer struggling to fill rosters because players no longer desire to play? Still, top-level competitive soccer for girls and women is crushing it. Why are young women giving up soccer when the women’s game has reached its peak popularity?
Here are reasons of girls quitting sports
Women’s soccer believes that they can no longer do things for enjoyment; they must be good at them because of the climate produced by today’s culture. As a result, they demand high standards of excellence in all they do. There is no place for doing anything because you like it or because you’re good at it; you have to be good at it.
These days, many women’s soccer players often put their sense of value on their ability to live up to these impossible perfectionist ideals. It is harmful to have this social conditioning. It prepares kids for persistent feelings of failure and incompetence in soccer and life. This is a difficult way to live and impacts a person’s mental health, self-esteem, and general wellness.
Pressure, expectations, and comparison culture
Here, comparison culture has a significant impact and raises the attrition rate of female athletes. Whether we realize it or not, social networking is designed for comparison. If you look at everyone’s fancy workout or goal-scoring videos on Instagram, you can’t help but believe that you will never be as good as them, so why even try? Comparison is the pleasure thief, and boy, is it practical.
Youth sports’ emphasis on winning at all costs doesn’t help the problem. Women’s soccer experiences pressure from the outside and wants external reinforcement that “means” they deserve both on social media and in practical life, also to the pressure they already feel about themselves to succeed and fulfill expectations.
Other Causes Women’s Soccer quitting sports
Due to this trend, women’s soccer is leaving all sports, not just soccer. Many more factors might influence a girl’s choice to stop playing soccer, also to pressure, expectations, and perfectionism.
Common causes that girls are quitting soccer in the middle are the following:
Burnout: Burnout occurs when you put a lot of effort into something but only see less progress and development. Burnout occurs when you believe your target is no longer achievable and that it would be good to give up and move away.
Productivity shame: Some of us have social conditions to feel that every minute must be productive. Because it is not a valuable use of our time, we cannot do something only “for enjoyment.” You feel bad about having fun if you do it.
Soccer Injuries: Sports abandonment by women’s soccer can be significantly influenced by injuries. In recreational soccer, where players’ skill levels can range widely, and some players feel more vulnerable when playing against more potent, more competitive opponents, anxiety can arise not only from the process of recovering from an injury.
Capacity: When females start high school, they frequently discover that they don’t have as much free time as they formerly had. They don’t have a lot of capacity and attempting to juggle everything while attending school, working, applying for colleges, and participating in extracurricular activities can be challenging.
Limited resources: In addition to boys, girls also stop doing sports because of problems with transportation, money, and other socioeconomic considerations.
Social factors: Because they don’t get along with their teammates or the team has clique problems that make the experience unpleasant; many ladies quit sports. They could have also experienced bullying, which is a significant motivator for leaving.
How do coaches and parents help to keep girls in sports?
Girls are still leaving soccer even though women’s soccer is as popular as ever. It’s unlucky since it’s crucial and beneficial for girls to stay in the sport. It’s crucial since sports help develop a variety of skills. There are other things that we could mention. Still, these are a few qualities that women’s soccer may develop via participation in sports, including leadership, communication, self-control, collaboration, work ethic, persistence, patience, and resilience.
We need to normalize the dialogue surrounding these challenging issues of pressure, expectations, perfectionism, and self-worth if we want to keep females in sports. We must discuss and include mental health in our strategy. We need to talk more about women’s soccer experiences since they are ones that almost everyone has in common, yet no one ever brings them up in conversation.
By demonstrating our concern, getting to know them personally, and being open to difficult dialogues, we can keep girls involved in sports through women’s soccer motivation. Before players reach the stage when they feel alone in their experience, having conversations with them supports them to comprehend they are not alone and deal with the problems head-on.
