EQUAL ACCESS TO SPORTS

Not all children participate in youth sports at equal measure; disparities continue for Black children, children from low-income families and especially for girls. Factors that contribute to disparities can include lack of access to facilities and leagues, cultural norms and attitudes, lack of representation in coaching and leadership positions, cost, and an absence of available programming options.

(Youth Sports in Parks and Recreation Survey in October 2024)

Participation and retention disparities between girls and boys in youth sports remain a top industry focus:

Girls make up 49% of U.S. youth population
Only 35% of youth sports participants are girls
Girls are 2x more likely to drop out of sports by age 14
Over 1M more boys play HS sports than girls

Two participation-focused initiatives, paired with in-depth survey reports, have launched in recent days.

The National Recreation and Park Association is partnering with Nike on the Get Her in the Game campaign.
And i9 Sports’ Gains are for the Girls initiative aims to have 500K girls participating annually across the platform by 2030.

The i9 survey of over 1.5K families found 89% of girls are most apprehensive about not knowing anyone when they start a sport.

Families can now request to be paired with specific coach and past teammate as a result.
Franchise locations are also offering preseason clinics where families can meet each other, coaches and staff members before registering for the season.

57% of Americans believe it is “highly important” to encourage middle and high school girls to participate in sports, according to NRPA

44% of NRPA-surveyed orgs have never led or participated in an initiative to increase girls participation
Having fun is the top priority of i9 parents (31%)
Getting better at a sport is most important to i9 athletes (39%)

71%

of girls say the top barrier for youth sports participation is a lack of women coaches. Women represent 51% of the U.S. adult population, but only 25% of youth sports coaches. About 40% of orgs are actively recruiting female coaches. 59% lack specific training for coaching girls.

CHALLENGES

The greatest challenges in youth sports delivery are volunteer coach gaps (82%) and lack of facilities (67%).

92%

of cited youth sports activity are Team sports leagues.

FAIR ACCESS

Professionals believe that providing coach training (86%), financial resources (85%) and sports equipment (75%) are the top ways agencies can ensure fair and just access to youth sports.