For example, childhood obesity is on the rise at the same time that youth-sports participation is in decline among low-income kids. What seems to be happening at the national level is that rich families, seeking to burnish their child’s résumé for college, are pulling their kids out of local leagues so that they can participate in prestigious pay-to-play travel teams. At scale, these decisions devastate the local youth-sports leagues for the benefit of increasing by half a percentage point the odds of a wealthy kid getting into an Ivy League school.

An article in the Atlantic speculates on the high relative “average” mortality rate in the US, and looks at health care and overall health correlations. The example they cite is interesting, because it played out here on Whidbey with the local soccer club. I have friends whose own kids have all their kids signed up for pay-to-play leagues, and I know from personal experience that that often leaves the Rec leagues unable to field a team.

(From https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/04/america-mortality-rate-guns-health/673799/)