The Subtle Dangers of Kids’ Sports
There’s a strong tide pulling families into the world of sports. For many of us, it’s basically the water we swim in. Our evenings revolve around practices, our weekends around games, our budgets around gear and travel, and even our relationships can center on teammates and their parents. If we don’t fight the tide, life itself can quietly start to revolve around sports.
The Benefits of Sports
Let’s start with the good. There are certainly real benefits to sports. They can build character, teach discipline, and encourage teamwork. They keep our kids active. They provide a natural space for friendships—especially with people outside the Christian bubble, allowing us to be a light in the secular world.
And let’s be honest: it’s fun. It’s fun for our kids to play. It’s fun for us to watch them and cheer them on. Realistically, you could probably list ten more reasons why it’s a worthwhile part of your family’s rhythm—and many of them would be valid.
Clearly, sports are here to stay, and there are good reasons for that. But as with many good things, we have to be alert to the dangers.
Here are a few we try to watch for in our own family:
The Company They Keep
When I think about who I want my kids spending time with, I think of family, church friendships, and other families who are following the Lord. Sports provide an extra opportunity for friendship—but it’s one to approach with caution. Not necessarily because the kids are all troublemakers, but because their influence is less known.
The challenge is that we don’t always notice how outside influences are shaping our kids—it often happens slowly, in the small stuff. Maybe it’s a teammate who jokes crudely, or a group text that gradually normalizes disrespect. It doesn’t take much—just time, laughter, and familiarity—for those things to start feeling normal.
This might seem like an extreme way to view friendships, but it’s really not when you consider passages like these:
“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” — Proverbs 13:20
“Bad company corrupts good morals.” — 1 Corinthians 15:33
“Make no friendship with a man given to anger… lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.” — Proverbs 22:24–25
In other words, influence is contagious—good or bad.
Again, sports are an opportunity to be a light to the world, but it’s much easier to be pulled down than to pull someone else up—especially for our still-maturing children. Hence, we need caution in these relationships.
Our personal strategy is to make sure our kids’ closest friends—the ones they spend extra time with—are pointing them to Christ. They’ll still spend plenty of hours with teammates, but we’re intentional about steering their deepest bonds toward families who are following Jesus—so those friendships shape them in the right direction.
2. The Costs Behind the Costs
There’s no denying it—kids’ sports are expensive. Registration fees, equipment, uniforms, travel, tournament costs—it all adds up.
But the real issue isn’t just the price tag. It’s what those costs can quietly crowd out.
As Christians, we’re called to use our resources with eternity in mind. Or, to say it another way, God calls us to be faithful stewards of the money he’s entrusted to us. It’s really his money, not ours. That doesn’t mean we can’t spend it on things like sports (or vacations, homes, cars, or fun outings), but it does mean we should pause to ask whether each expense is something that pleases him.
Whatever we spend money on should never limit our ability to do what we know we ought to do—things like being generous, supporting our local church, giving to missions, or investing in opportunities that strengthen our kids spiritually. If we find that we can afford the tournament fees but not give to missions—or that we’re quick to fund sports but hesitant to fund discipleship opportunities—that’s a problem. Our spending should reflect God’s priorities, not our culture’s.
And when it comes to raising kids, that matters all the more. Ideally, our resources should be used first to help them grow in faith—with athletics lagging far behind on the priority scale. That might mean saying yes to a youth retreat or a discipleship class, even if it means saying no to a new uniform or an extra tournament.
3. What Sports Might Be Crowding Out
We all feel the pressure. Life is full, and there’s only so much room on the plate. When you add something—anything—it’s always at the expense of something else.
So we have to ask: What are we sacrificing for the sake of sports?
If it’s time watching Netflix, being on screens, or otherwise sitting around, sports are a great alternative. But the extent to which most people engage in athletics, it’s usually taking over far more than that.
Sometimes our family rhythm of busyness (largely due to sports) makes us so busy we don’t have time to do the basics. We find ourselves running around frantically taking children to various practices and barely making time to eat right or sleep well. That, of course, is a problem.
But what’s more concerning is when the spiritual basics start to disappear. If there’s no time to read God’s Word or pray—two nonnegotiable for any believer—then something needs to change. Sports are not essential; walking with God is. We should be willing to drop any activity, no matter how beloved, if it keeps us from the habits that anchor our faith.
But most often what sports pushes out is church. Church activities, youth group, or even the main weekly service get pushed out for games, lessons, or even just practices. Of course there are dynamics at play, like wanting to be faithful to a team—but most of the time we are simply far more dogmatic about being there for a sports team than we are for our church family.
Here’s the thing: we are communicating to our kids what is important by the choices we make. If we consistently choose sports over church, they are noticing. If we get more excited about their home runs than their Bible memorization, they are taking note. If we wake up early for game days but can’t for spiritual disciplines, they will follow suit.
Our priorities are showing—what are our kids learning?
Holding Sports in Its Right Place
At the end of the day, sports can be a blessing. But we need to approach them with wisdom. And we need to approach them with a bit of caution. Because one day we will look back and see how we spent our life, and we don’t want to be swept into a tide we never intended. Life is not about sports, but it’s far too easy to live like it is.
When viewed through the lens of eternity, we have to remember that the value of sports is so small compared to the lasting spiritual impact of discipleship, service, and walking closely with God.
In fact, we’ve all probably known kids who earned spots on great college teams, who maybe even got the scholarships our kids all dream to get—but today aren’t walking with the Lord. They had talent, training, and success, but spiritually they were untethered. That should give us pause. Are we making sure to invest most in what matters most?
So yes, let’s enjoy sports. Let’s cheer and celebrate and have fun. But let’s also be on guard. Because our kids’ souls matter far more than their stats.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” — Matthew 6:33
