Over 70% of athletes drop out of youth sports by the age of 13, according to the National Alliance for Sports. The numbers reflect the exhaustion, pressure and the most challenging aspects of being a competitive athlete as a teenager in today’s world. But what truly causes athletes to quit, even if they have love for the sport? In the case of student athletes, it can often feel like an impossible balancing act to keep pushing themselves to the ma
For many athletes, this is a common reality — go to practice, come home and stare blankly at homework while their bodies yearn for sleep. In these cases, quitting isn’t necessarily giving up, it can be a survival instinct for overworking the body. Plenty of teams, coaches and athletic communities fail to acknowledge the mental and physical toll that hardcore sports can take on an athlete’s body. This cycle creates a culture where pushing through pain is glorified, wh
But within the Paly community, what are the reasons these talented competitors may quit their sports? Every athlete has their reason for stepping away – whether it be injury, mental health struggles, coaching conflicts, the intensity of the competition, or the team culture.
For some this turning point accumulates over time, when constant injuries change the way they see the sport forever. This is the case with junior and former baseball player Madwed. Madwed suffered from many injuries during his time playing baseball both for Paly and for a club team. However, the injury that marked the end of his baseball career was a tibial stress fracture. This injury accumulated overtime from repetitive movement and overuse and for Madwed it eventually became too much.
According to Madwed, this injury marked his fifth season of baseball that has been affected by injury in the past five
years. All of Madwed’s injuries caused him to miss critical playing time in the sport he loved and ultimately caused fear and resentment towards the sport. “My injuries ultimately made me lose interest [in baseball] and I didn’t want to have to worry about getting injured again,” Madwed said.
Madwed cited that his mental health struggles due to injury also changed his performance in games.
“My will to play affected the way I played as the season came to an end,” Madwed said. In his case, his struggles with mental health and injuries eventually caused a decline in performance. Many athletes find themselves in this never-ending full circle of injuries, mental health and declining performance.
Injuries may be a driving motivation for athletes to quit their sports, but for some, fear creeps in before an injury even occurs. Athletes face challenges like overworking their bodies, which is a big risk and can put too much stress on the body. It makes these players more prone to injuries, or re-injuring previous body parts. Consequently, many athletes are forced to pick one sport instead of playing multiple seasons. Additionally, many athletes feel the need to quit higher risk sports like football.
Junior Owen McGraw knows all too well about the challenges of being a multi-sport athlete with a fear of injury. McGraw played JV football for two years at Paly and has also been on the varsity track and field team since his freshman year.
“I decided to quit football mainly because of the risk of injuries,” McGraw said. “I wanted to focus on sprinting and when I got my concussion, my parents decided it would be best if I focused on track.”
The data backs up McGraw’s caution; according to a study done by Sage Journals about high school football injuries in California, 25.5 of 100 high school football players face injury during their time playing football. With around one in four football players in California suffering from injury due to football, playing the game could be considered high risk.
Despite his affection for football, McGraw does not regret quitting. According to McGraw, quitting has given him more opportunities and time to improve his abilities in track and field.
“I’ve always loved track so it’s nice to focus on one sport,” McGraw said.
For junior Kane Do, the choice to leave basketball was about more than avoiding physical harm — it was about preserving his passion. After two years on the JV team, repeated ankle injuries and the grind of balancing sports pushed him to step away.
“There were a lot of factors that went into my decision to stop playing basketball,” Do said. “Last season, I suffered multiple ankle injuries that resulted in me not playing in every game,” he said. “I didn’t want to risk getting even more injured, especially because it’s the season before lacrosse and lacrosse is my main sport.”
This decision wasn’t just about protecting his body, it was also about preserving his joy for sports and life in general.
“I had been playing since elementary school and kind of lost my spark for the game,” Do said. “I used to love playing, but once it started feeling like a chore, I knew it was time to call it quits.”
Do was experiencing emotional and physical burnout for a sport he lost his drive and passion for.
“I realized I was putting all my energy into something that wasn’t giving me anything back.” Do said.
Do feels he is opening up new opportunities to develop his lacrosse skills. “Quitting basketball has given me a chance to grow in lacrosse,” Do said.
As well as physical health impacting athletes, mental health impacts athletes just as strongly. Numerous athletes face immense pressure within themselves, which can lead to anxiety or burnout. Responsibilities tend to pile on top of each other, making athletes overwhelmed with stress that keeps building up.
In a U.S. survey of high school athletes aged 16-17, 91% of athletes reported experiencing some level of stress due to their sport and about 58% said that their stress was moderate to extreme.
Junior athlete Laila Joshi has gone through a similar journey balancing her mental health with sports. Joshi has played many sports throughout her time at Paly — including field hockey, basketball and softball. However, Joshi hasn’t always had the easiest time balancing her mental health while playing sports.
“Realizing that my mental health was suffering due to sports was a gradual process,” Joshi said. “I noticed increased anxiety in activities I used to enjoy.”
Even though stepping away was the healthiest decision for Joshi, it wasn’t the easiest. “I felt an initial sense of relief from the pressure, but also feelings of regret or guilt,” Joshi said.
It was essential for Joshi’s mental health to understand how her commitment to sports was draining her and affecting her experience with anxiety and alternate mental health issues.
“Going to practice when you’re not enjoying yourself can be draining,” Joshi said. “It can lead to feelings of resentment, demotivation and burnout.”
Joshi believes that taking steps to help athletes struggling with mental health is important for creating a community of empathy. “Schools and coaches could prioritize open communication, reduce excessive pressure and provide access to mental health resources,” Joshi said. “Teammates can offer support by being understanding and non-judgmental.”
Experts note that athletes
often place intense pressure on themselves to succeed, which can heighten stress and harm their mental health. Doctor Francesco Dandekar, associate director of sports psychiatry and a clinical assistant professor at Stanford University, believes that while
goals are good, the intentions of these goals are ultimately most important.
“[Goals for athletes] are often outcome-oriented, which puts a lot of emphasis on achieving rather than learning and
developing,” Danderkar said. “This can lead to extra stress as well as the pressure to perform at a certain level at all times, which isn’t possible and can drive feelings of anxiety, inadequacy and decreased self-worth.”
Despite the high amount of athletes who experience these mental health issues, there are warning signs to these issues that athletes, coaches, parents or peers may be able to catch.
“A few general things to watch out for are: changes in sleep patterns (sleeping a lot more than usual, having difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep), changes in eating patterns (eating a lot less than usual, counting calories more than usual, eating a lot more than usual), withdrawing socially and isolating, decreased interest and enjoyment in their sport, school, friendships and hobbies,” Danderkar said. “Additionally, impaired performance athletically or at school.”
Beyond individual cases, Paly athletic director Scott Davis reflects on certain patterns he has observed while working in various high school athletic departments.
“Student-athletes tend to come into high school and try new things,” Davis said. “Some sports they enjoy and keep playing. Other sports they don’t enjoy as much.”
Davis shares that in many cases, athletes quit because of exploration. “Girls might go out for a sport like Field Hockey or Flag Football, which they may never have played and try it for a year,” Davis said. “Then, they might try something different. I think of it more as sampling different sports.”
However, high school sports tend to increase in difficulty throughout the four years. Varsity-level sports raise expectations and competitiveness for student athletes and the shift to focus on performance instead of progress — which can overwhelm many.
“JV is more developmental in terms of teaching more skills,” Davis said. “When you get to the varsity level, the hope is you have already developed those skills. Competition is also fun—but win or lose, if you compete, that is part of the experience.”
In the case of junior Mariah Ball, competition and commitment was a contributing factor to why she quit volleyball. Ball played Paly volleyball on the freshman and JV team in her first two years at Paly; however, Ball decided to quit before her junior year.
“I love volleyball, but I needed to prioritize my academics this year, especially because I knew junior year would be really tough,” Ball said.
Ball believes that the commitment to practicing five times a week for two-three hours a day takes too much time and in her view, the costs outweigh the benefits.
“I wish I could play this year, or they could somehow find a solution that is a less serious time commitment,” Ball said. “But since girls volleyball is so competitive at Paly, I don’t see that happening.”
Similarly to Ball’s situation, Davis believes that academics play a contributing factor in whether an athlete pursues a sport at varsity level.
“I think it [academics] plays a huge role,” Davis said. “When you get to your junior year and your workload increases, sometimes you decide to make choices that are best for you and that might mean focusing more on academics.”
Ball’s experience isn’t unique. High school tennis coach, Andy Chang, sees students walk away when competition shifts from something fun and developmental to something that focuses more on status and recognition. Chang explains how athletes have this shift in competition fixed in their minds.
“[athletes feel] like the hard work only matters if it comes with a title or playing time,” Chang said.
Pressure plays an extremely significant role in student-athletes. Mental aspects directly impact the way students feel about their sports, whether it’s the team dynamic, coach or even their allotted playing time. All of these factors contribute to how an athlete feels when participating in their sport.
“They want to do the best they can and they put too much pressure on themselves and that impacts their enjoyment and possible desire to continue playing,” Davis said.
Many athletes find it hard to continue when they don’t receive the playing time they feel is deserved; they show up to practice every day, yet don’t feel included socially or respected by everyone, including coaches.
An anonymous Paly graduate, *Ashley, said that her experience with her coach is what drove her to quit her sport. *Ashley played her sport for her first three years at Paly, but after her experience as team captain during her junior year, the pressures proved to be too extreme.
“The year before I became captain, I didn’t carry as much responsibility,” *Ashley said. “Coach valued me as a good player and put me in because I worked hard and made that clear in practice and in games.”
But interactions with her coach shifted between when she was appointed team captain.
“When I became captain of our team, the dynamic switched,” *Ashley said. “I was expected to perform perfectly and run the team, but when I wasn’t respected or didn’t get playing time, I received no sympathy. Winning became a priority; not the wellbeing of players or the effort we put in.”
*Ashley reported that the pressure was felt throughout the team, but many of her teammates felt they couldn’t leave because there was too much going for them. Looking back, *Ashley remembers the moment her feelings towards the sport changed.
“It makes me upset to think that a team and coach would urge me to quit a sport I loved, but it just came down to where I could find the most self worth,” *Ashley said. “The sport started to make me feel more insecure than excited, more anxious than optimistic.”
Some coaches may take for granted how deeply their words and criticisms affect their players. “Coaches make such a great impact on a meltable high school athlete’s brain,” *Ashley said. “We take what they say seriously and think about their words for longer than they know. We already beat ourselves up for the mistakes we make and it’s not fair as a coach to harp on them more.”
A report in the Journal of Sports Medicine found that 30% of youth surveyed cited negative actions by coaches or parents – such as favoritism, poor teaching and pressure to win – as a reason for quitting sport.
After her junior season, *Ashley took a break from her sport— and ultimately made the decision not to come back. “After taking a hiatus from playing for about six months, I felt happier and more fulfilled than I did on the team,” *Ashley said.
Despite her negative experience with her coach, *Ashley’s decision took careful thought. “[My decision to quit was] so hard,” *Ashley said. “I truly had a passion for it and having my relationship with the sport tainted is still a hard pill to swallow.”
However, according to *Ashley, when looking back, she has no regrets.
“High school sports should teach you discipline, friendship and hard work,” *Ashley said. “They shouldn’t give you stress to show up to practice and games. To this day, two years later, I still know it was the right decision.”
Some student-athletes find that their decision to step away is due to a lack of competitiveness that school sports provide. Junior Oakley Keogler, who had previously participated on the varsity boys soccer team, decided to quit high school to solely focus on club soccer. “I don’t play high school soccer because my club season runs over the same time period,” Keogler said. “I would rather play club season than high school, because club is more competitive.”
For athletes like Keogler who plan on playing in college, club-level sports offer a higher-level environment compared to high school sports. This environment offers more exposure, which may be something high school soccer lacks.
“The levels are just super different; the club level is significantly higher,” Keogler said. “I mean, that’s how you get recruited to college, right? People don’t get recruited for playing high school soccer.”
This is the case for many athletes who seek to compete at the collegiate level, where their priorities are rarely about having fun and mainly about pushing themselves for recognition and growth.
Competition plays a significant role in sports, sparking a large debate about whether high school sports should prioritize high-level competition or focus on the enjoyment of the sport.
Tennis coach Andy Chang shares how the pressure of competition against teammates for status affects athletes and their commitment to the sport.
“I saw a lot of people quit once they realized they weren’t going to get the role they wanted,” Chang said. “Some varsity players stopped showing up because they weren’t playing singles, and some JV players quit because they didn’t make varsity. For them, it felt like the effort wasn’t worth it if they couldn’t put ‘varsity’ on their résumé.”
“If you define success only as making varsity or winning matches, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment,” Chang said. “Those things are never 100% in your control — coaches decide rosters, opponents play better or worse on a given day. But what you can control is how much you improve and what you learn from each season.”
Athletes who focus too much on titles lose sight of the true value of sports. “If you quit just because you didn’t get varsity, you miss out on those chances to grow,” Chang said.
Because of these dangers, balancing the amount of competition within high school sports can be a challenge.
“If the students can focus on ‘I want to get better, no matter the outcome’ instead of ‘I want to win’, I think they will immediately be able to deal with losses with more positivity and start to enjoy tennis, sports and life in general a lot more,” Chang said.
Overall, the reasons athletes leave their sports are as diverse as the sports and athletes themselves. However, whether their reason for quitting be injury, mental health, time restraint, coaches, competitiveness or something else, these athletes have one thing in common: they prioritized themselves. Most often, quitting isn’t a sign of weakness or failure, but a sign of self-awareness.
*Ashley offers advice to others who might find themselves in a similar situation. “If you look back in two years, would you truly regret taking yourself out of a situation you weren’t happy in?”
Whether it’s focusing on academics, or bodily health or mental health, these athletes are defining what commitment and success means for themselves. These decisions show that for athletes, pushing through pain is not always the right approach and at times, choosing to step back and care for oneself can be just as valid.
