"A lot of Men's sports are suffering because schools are legally obligated to have an equal amount of male and female athletes" [+228]

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At 2017-04-05 22:49:03 UTC, BenTide replied to "ELI5: Why do high schools in the US care so much about sports? Is it like this in other countries?" [+338 points: +338, -0]:

Easy, the sports culture in the US grew up alongside the schools. Have you noticed that sports around the world are centered around "athletic clubs" and such? Well in the U.S., most began as high school and college sports and with no pro sports (apart from like golf, baseball and a few others) even the best athletes would quit after graduation. The idea of serious athletes became culturally relegated to school age men and women until the 20th century, so naturally, the fierce regional rivalries that sports usually breeds, emerged in the high schools and universities in America, not clubs.

Even when pro sports came of age, they paled in comparison to college atmosphere and energy for decades.

The 20th century saw the Olympics and other international competitions take hold. While other countries developed through sports clubs and creating "Ministries of Sport," the United States had no need since, their schools were doing all the work already, and they were an instant heavy hitter on the international scene, dominating in a lot of sports.

To this day, the US has never seen a need to develop the nations athletes any other way than using the High Schools as the prospect developer and the colleges are training centers. This is hurting a few US sports, like soccer, where academies are only just now finally being built that train players much better than the NCAA. A lot of Men's sports are suffering because schools are legally obligated to have an equal amount of male and female athletes. Plus, the governing NCAA puts strict training hour restrictions on the athletes. Which makes sense so a coach doesn't overwork an engineering major, but is bonkers for a US male gymnast who is going to the Olympics against a Chinese athlete who trains 10 hours a day.

EDIT: I posted this in a comment but it's very topical here. Stephen Fry described college sports as basically the most American thing to exist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuPeGPwGKe8

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