Youth Sports Participation Declining

Fewer children are participating in youth sports activities. This is a downward trend that has been observed over the last ten years. Numerous documents address the concerns which center around the drop in sports participation. Most alarming is the public health threat of inactivity on children and society. This page is devoted to some of the documents which focus on declining sports participation with guidelines on how to turn around this troubling trend.

“Over the past two years, Project Play has convened more than 250 thought leaders in a series of roundtables, identifying strategies that can address barriers limiting access to early youth sports activity that fosters the development of healthy children and communities. This 50-page report aggregates the eight most promising strategies surrounding increasing youth sports participation. Authored by the Sports & Society Program with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Sport for All, Play for Life: A Playbook to Get Every Kid in the Game is a unifying document, collecting in one place the best opportunities for stakeholders—from sport leaders to mayors, parents to policymakers—to work together to grow access to an early, positive sport experience.” (Sport for all play for life document).

“”Nike, the American College of Sports Medicine and the International Council for Sport and Physical Education have led a global effort to unite key experts and practitioners around a common vision for increasing physical activity among kids worldwide. In the Fall of 2012, the results of this collective work were published in a report titled Designed to Move. That report laid out a framework for action based on two asks: 1) Create early positive experiences for children in sports and physical play, and 2) Integrate physical activity into everyday life.” (Designed to Move Full Report).