Project Play is a community of more than 20,000 organizations and leaders building healthy children through sports. Each year, the Project Play Champions program recognizes local and regional organizations that are taking new and meaningful actions consistent with the Project Play framework. As of 2024, there are 141 organizations in the Champions network. View our past Champions.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE
2024 PROJECT PLAY CHAMPIONS!

Baltimore SquashWise

SquashWise is developing a youth and community center to grow its programs and build a new kind of squash community beyond the traditional settings of country clubs, private schools and highly selective colleges. SquashWise is renovating a historic building in downtown Baltimore – the 1940s-era former Greyhound station – that will open to schools and community in summer 2025. The new facility will let SquashWise grow from two to six courts, allowing for more students of all skill levels to participate.

Beyond Sports NC, The NC Fusion Foundation

Beyond Sports NC provides opportunities through sports to positively impact people for life by breaking down barriers through access to programming and funding that address equity and unity in the North Carolina Triad. In 2024, Beyond Sports launched a new middle school enrichment sports program to grow interest and awareness of sports in Title 1 schools. Programming takes place during the school day and each four-week period focuses on a different sport. Beyond Sports provides all equipment, instruction and volunteers. The programs help students engage in a physical activity while supporting positive behavior, attendance and academics.

Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania

Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania (BGCWPA) is launching a partnership with three major professional sports teams in Pittsburgh (Pirates, Steelers and Penguins). The partnership was co-developed by BGCWPA and the three teams to advance participation in baseball/softball, flag football and dek hockey (a form of street hockey) to underserved communities and underrepresented youth. The idea is to inspire and provide mentorship to all BGCWPA Club Kids.

City of Port Huron

Leveraging public and private funding, Port Huron, Michigan is intentionally designing what it calls the first “free play park anywhere” in order to engage more children in recreation outside of organized sports. The goal is for 16th Street Free Play Park to become the foundation for physical literacy within Port Huron and the surrounding communities. The park offers a broad range of play opportunities for all children, regardless of socioeconomic status, physical or intellectual ability, athletic ability, or age, to gain confidence through play and inclusion. Park elements will be designed specifically for free play, including a wiffle ball court, renovated basketball court, small football field, soccer field, bike trail, and 40-yard dash track. Rec department leaders said the park is intended to be used by the six in 10 children who don’t make their school team.

DC Soccer Club

Recognizing the need to make competitive soccer more accessible and affordable for families, DC Soccer Club initiated the collaboration of several like-minded city clubs to create the DC Winter League. The free league successfully increased accessibility for players faced with transportation barriers. Clubs agreed to a set of principles to ensure a positive experience for players to have fun in a low-pressure environment while focusing on teamwork and sportsmanship. As a result of this collaboration, DC Soccer Club increased city-wide social interaction between players of various socioeconomic backgrounds and decreased the stress of long travel time for competition. This experience has opened a new pathway for Washington, DC youth soccer clubs to collaborate to provide an accessible and positive environment for Washingtonian youth soccer players.

Empowering Leadership in Latina Athletes (ELLA)

The ELLA Sports Sampling Clinics Program provides introductory skills training in various sports for female Latina athletes between ages 5-12. The clinics will focus on sampling and promoting the benefits of four different sports, guiding young women in learning new athletic skills, encouraging the exploration of new sports and enhancing their already learned athletic skills. Through a partnership with the Los Angeles Parks Department to host, the clinics support the growth of young female athletes and prepare them for future training camps, travel club events and college recruitment events.

EPIC for Girls

EPIC for Girls, in collaboration with J’s Braintrust, launched Girls Ref the World to develop girls and women of color in sports officiating. The hope is to cultivate a new generation of officials to sustain youth sports in Omaha, Nebraska. Girls Ref the World offers a four-week academy for girls ages 14-24. The curriculum includes entry-level sports officiating mechanics and life skills (time management, financial literacy, and mental and physical health). EPIC provides participants with registration to the Nebraska State Activities Association, officiating essentials like shirts and whistles, and access to various resources. Stipends are offered to attendees, who are then connected with local sports organizations willing to hire them. The goal is for each participant to secure employment and gain the experience necessary to become a certified official in Nebraska.

Fields & Futures

Fields & Futures is an Oklahoma City nonprofit that rebuilds and maintains athletic fields. In 2023, Fields & Futures received federal funding through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program that allowed a three-year funding runway for school-based leagues in grades 3-6. Grant funds are allocated to YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City(grades 3-4) and Oklahoma CityPolice Athletic League (grades 5-6), with Fields & Futures serving as the backbone organization. This collective impact model ensures free play, uniforms and related resources for all participants, plus the ability to gather a larger data set to support program growth and funding sustainability.

First Serve OKC Foundation

First Serve OKC, which strengthens the lives of youth through tennis and education, provides a free, six-week program to students in the Oklahoma City Public School District. The program is specifically designed for beginners and hosted in elementary school gyms, making tennis accessible to students who may not have had prior exposure to the sport. In addition to tennis instruction, students receive weekly life skills and nutrition lessons. At the end of the session, all schools attend a Team Challenge at the OKC Tennis Center to showcase their new skills and compete for prizes. In 2023, First Serve OKC had 796 participants across 22 schools and community sites.

Heart of the City

Heart of the City (HOTC) is a soccer-based youth development organization serving low-income and at-risk youth ages 5-19 in Lake County, Illinois. The organization engages athletes with programming that helps develop their physical, emotional, mental, and social wellness and supports education, post-secondary success, youth workforce development, life skills, family engagement, and healthy lifestyles. In partnership with Rosalind Franklin University (RFU), HOTC provides on-site physical therapy to injured athletes at no cost. In 2023, RFU started an injury prevention program to conduct workouts with HOTC’s girls high school soccer teams. RFU provided staff at weekly practices to talk with athletes about injury prevention and coach them through workouts while monitoring for injuries. RFU plans to study the results and expand the offering.

Hoosier Sport

Hoosier Sport, a campus and community partnership led by the Indiana University, aims to use the power of sport to support and inspire a healthier future for youth and college students through collaborative research, teaching and learning. The launch of Hoosier Sport in May 2023 began with a collaborative needs assessment of the White River Valley Middle School community to identify sport, physical activity and psychological needs, and nutritional barriers and facilitators in the community. The results informed engaging and candid program design sessions conducted with kids and adults from the community. Hoosier Sport ran an eight-week fall pilot test using pickleball, soccer, goal setting, pedometer step tracking and a positive reinforcement system (e.g., sports equipment incentives) with promising feasibility outcomes. Currently, Hoosier Sport is running a refined eight-week pilot program using basketball and strength training.

Minnesota Twins Community Fund

The Minnesota Twins Community Fund is challenging the barriers that keep kids from participating and taking bold steps toward a more inclusive youth sports landscape. Through a collection of new partnerships, events, and donations, the Community Fund is making strides to ensure that every child has the access, equipment, and individualized instruction to play baseball and softball and develop their skills in a positive environment. In 2023, the Community Fund provided funding for two new Miracle League fields in Minnesota and worked with six additional nonprofit partners across Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa to donate 57 sport wheelchairs, ensuring that more kids across the region have access to the equipment and safe spaces they need to play. Through a partnership with Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, the Community Fund also enhanced an annual adaptive wheelchair softball clinic by offering major-league instruction from a Minnesota Twins pitcher and coach as well as personalized jerseys for each participant.

Open Field

Open Field launched the Future Forward Soccer League, a holistic support network and pathway to post-secondary education for teenagers from marginalized communities, primarily immigrants and refugees, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The program engages youth between ages 14-19 in learning opportunities that include year-round Soccer + Life Skills (SEL) programming, post-secondary opportunity exploration and preparation, and career readiness skill-building. The cornerstone is the Future Forward Soccer League, which takes place in the Spring with full days of activities that includes three essential components: soccer, learning and food. Approximately 100 participants engage in soccer competitions, team meetings and workshops, one-to-one mentoring, and college/trade school visits.

Rainier Adaptive Sports

Rainier Adaptive Sports offers seasonal programs in wheelchair basketball, goalball and beep baseball to youth ages 5-18 in Tacoma, Washington. Programs are broken into age-appropriate groups to foster learning and development for kids with physical disabilities so they enjoy parallel opportunities that many mainstream kids and families experience regularly. Youth in the Tacoma region who have physical disabilities are almost twice as likely to have zero days of physical activity than young people without disabilities, according to the Aspen Institute’s State of Play Tacoma-Pierce County report. Rainier Adaptive Sports is creating a tiered pipeline that serves the child through development and into adulthood as programming continues through senior populations. Youth have the option to attend free clinics, join teams, attend camps and travel and compete in adaptive sports.

Rugby LA

Rugby LA’s paid and volunteer coaches, ranging in age from 16 to 45, are predominantly active amateur or pro rugby players with a deep commitment to growing the sport. In 2023, Rugby LA formalized its staff training process, establishing a comprehensive standard for non-contact rugby coaching certification. This includes annual completion of U.S. Center for SafeSport prevention courses; completion of USA Rugby and World Rugby coaching certification, safety protocols and concussion protocol trainings; and 24 hours of in-person training on practical application of curriculum, CPR/first aid, California laws on child and sexual abuse (and mandatory reporter laws), and best practices for coaches as mentors.

San Francisco Youth Soccer

San Francisco Youth Soccer (SFYS) is a soccer-based community organization that offers play and leadership opportunities for ages 8-18. SFYS champions inclusivity, participation and retention with programs like the Recreational League, which keeps classmates in grades 2nd through 8th together by age. The low-cost Varsity League offers small-sided competition and expanded rosters for high-school age players so they can keep playing without expense or commitment of travel soccer. In addition, the free lunchtime and after-school soccer SFYS @ School Program expands access to the sport and creates playing opportunities for public schools with or without only limited physical education programs.

Sport Mode One

Sport Mode One, an AAU basketball program and football provider in Charlotte, North Carolina, created an inclusive 3-on-3 basketball league with a local nonprofit, Generation We, that supports children with autism. Using basketball as a bridge-builder to connect communities, the league invites athletes of all abilities and skill levels, including those with neuro and physical differences. The idea is that 3-on-3 provides players the opportunity to improve skills, develop teamwork and enhance basketball IQ to eventually play 5-on-5..

The Champion Project

The Champion Project, which offers sports to all kids at low costs, is increasing programming for children with disabilities in Western New York through the High Five initiative. High Five enables youth ages 5-18 to develop core athletic, socialization and teamwork skills through community-based sports sampling programs — including volleyball, basketball, soccer, tennis, floor hockey, rowing, cheer and flag football. Athletes of all ability levels will work together to show that sport and social inclusion can positively impact the community. High Five operates under the unified spirit of sports, joining athletes and peer athletes (non-disabled peers) to create empathy, compassion and understanding across the peer group.

University of Denver (DU) Wellness & Recreation

DU Learn to Play Sports launched in 2024 its first sports sampling program for children that comprises five sports — floor hockey, martial arts, volleyball, frisbee sports and flag football. Over the course of a 10-week series, participants try each sport for a two-week block. Coaches teach basic skills, rules and introductory game play for each sport. Each session ends with players populating a customized skill chart and reflecting on their practice and learning. In addition, DU Learn to Play Sports has started a parent education initiative that shares resources and research about the benefits of sport sampling for children and the potential pitfalls of early sport specialization.