Maybe We Can Do Something About It – Together!
The percentage of children under 18 diagnosed with anxiety and depression has steadily increased from 2016 to 2022, according to data from the National Survey of Children’s Health, analyzed by researchers at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. The numbers are stark: anxiety rose from 7.1% to 10.6%, and depression from 3.2% to 4.6%. And while those stats are alarming, they’re not surprising to me.
As a school counselor, I felt like I was watching it unfold in real time. I started teaching in the early ’90s and became a school counselor around the turn of the century. Back then, it was rare to meet a high school student who was being medicated for anxiety or depression. That changed drastically with the advent of the iPhone in 2007.. What I noticed first was a sharp uptick in anxiety symptoms among girls, but over time, it became just as common among the boys I worked with.
That’s why at 2-4-1, we’re doubling down on what we’ve always believed: sports are one of the best places to teach the skills needed to manage anxiety and depression. I used to get called into classrooms to teach lessons on managing sadness or worry. But those emotions are hard to simulate in a 30-minute class. Sports, on the other hand, bring those emotions out in real time – and in a safe environment where kids can actually practice managing them.
At 2-4-1, kids feel connected. They’re surrounded by trained coaches who know how to help them identify what they’re feeling – and more importantly – how to move from how they’re feeling to how they want to feel. That’s at the heart of our TOP Self™ approach, and as we work with partners like the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport to view all this through a trauma-informed lens, we become even more powerful together.
This is what building resilient youth looks like. And we need it now more than ever.
About Steve Boyle
Steve Boyle is a connector, collaborator, and tireless advocate for making youth sports more playful, inclusive, and developmentally sound. As Executive Director of 2-4-1 CARE, Inc. and Co-Founder of 2-4-1 Sports, Steve has helped lead a growing movement to reshape the youth sports experience—one that puts the joy of play and the whole child at the center. Grounded in his background as a school counselor and coach, Steve co-created the award-winning TOP Self™ platform, which uses sport as a vehicle for social-emotional learning. Under his collaborative leadership, 2-4-1 has grown from a single program in West Hartford, Connecticut to a global nonprofit impacting communities across North America and Africa. Steve’s influence extends beyond his own organization. He served as Advisory Board Chair for the National Association of Physical Literacy and as Global Lead for Athletics and Physical Literacy at Whittle School & Studios, shaping programming in Washington, D.C. and Shenzhen. Whether working with local partners or global networks, Steve brings humility, heart, and a belief in the power of teamwork to everything he does.