Can Scouting and Sports Coexist?

Canyon Berry, 2024 Olympian and Eagle Scout
Canyon Berry, 2024 Team USA Olympian and Eagle Scout

Parents have some influence over which activities are appropriate for their children. And with a wide variety of choices available, Scouting is just one possibility when adding to any young person’s after-school or evening schedule. Sports are also an excellent and common choice.

With busy schedules, the demands of school and the genuine need for family time, parents may feel it has to be a decision of one or the other – Scouting or sports. But youth who participate in Scouting and youth sports are more likely to embrace prosocial values such as ‘helping others’ or ‘doing the right thing’ than youth who only play sports.

Many of the same characteristics championed in sports are reinforced by Scouting, and vice versa. A great example of this is the fact that 13 members of Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris were Eagle Scouts.

To read more about how Scouts and sports can coexist in a young person’s busy life, visit https://scoutingwire.org/ask-expert-can-scouting-sports-coexist/.

Also check out: Meet the 13 Eagle Scouts competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics

And don’t miss: “Eagle Scout battling for playing time on one of college football’s best teams

“You can be an athlete … you can be in band … you can be in theater … you can be in anything, and still be in Scouts. All it’s going to do is benefit your life.” 

Addison Nichols, Eagle Scout & NCAA Division I Football Player