Sports offerings are only as good as the ability to market them. Families need to know how and when to register, costs to play, scholarship opportunities, locations of practices and games, and much more. We heard from parents who say they don’t have enough information about available sports programs, including costs.
Free play has all but disappeared in Baton Rouge
Very few children or parents we spoke with said children play outside on their own. That’s a shame. The loss of free play costs children opportunities to exercise creativity, set and achieve goals, learn interpersonal skills and develop a love of physical activity for its own sake. Baton Rouge is not unique.
How Oakland is mobilizing for kids
Oakland’s passion for sports was recognized by the Aspen Institute in “State of Play Oakland,” the 11th community report from our Project Play initiative. Two data points stood about above all: only 14% of Oakland youth received the 60 minutes of physical activity per day recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (below the U.S. average of 23%). And just 9% of Oakland girls were sufficiently physically active. The good news is many organizations and leaders in the city saw the numbers and got to work.
Baton Rouge youth are socially isolated and struggling with mental health
Too few quality indoor play spaces exist in Baton Rouge, especially for children in low-income areas
Transportation is limited for children in Baton Rouge to access sports
East Baton Rouge Parish Schools offers magnet programs to retain students, but that has consequences for extracurricular activities: Thousands of students don’t attend schools near their homes and are transported right after school back to their homes. For many children, their only way home is the school bus, which can be a long ride across the parish.
Climate change is impacting how children play sports
Changes in the climate increasingly expose football players (and all athletes in outdoor sports) to higher temperatures and dangerous levels of humidity that surpass recommended safety thresholds. Not only football is being affected, of course. How, or if, children play sports and recreate outdoors continues to be impacted by climate change, and the challenges are not going away.
Distrust in government has contributed to the privatization of sports, leaving behind children who lack access
Many youth sports providers in the public and private sectors don’t communicate much with each other, in part due to distrust of each other. There is a belief by some that no intersection exists between people who strive to use sports as an economic engine and people who focus on providing affordable, quality access for all children. The divide between the haves and have-nots in youth sports within East Baton Rouge Parish resembles that in the educational environment.
2024 Project Play Impact Report
The coming decade in sports will be the most consequential in history, or at least since a Teddy Roosevelt-era coalition of cross-sector leaders installed sports as a tool of youth development and nation-building more than a century ago. Over the next 10 years, the U.S. will serve as host of an unprecedented series of international events, from the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup to the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, two Rugby World Cups to the 2034 Winter Olympics.
What story will we tell the world?
Baton Rouge youth need more, better sports options
Washington, DC –– Not enough Baton Rouge children can access sports to enjoy the associated benefits, including notably lower participation rates among girls and children in North Baton Rouge, according to a report released today by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative. “State of Play Baton Rouge” offers solutions on how to grow sports opportunities.
How cities and counties can establish local athletic councils to coordinate sports in their community
How Boston created a youth sports online directory
Last week, Boston became the 10th city to endorse the Children’s Bill of Rights in Sports when Mayor Michele Wu signed the Project Play-developed statement at a public event and announced $300,000 in grants to support 55 community-based organizations. In adopting it, the mayor affirmed that “the City’s approach to youth sports will center the needs of youth, invest in play and qualified coaches, and commit to safe, healthy sports environments for all youth.”
The Aspen Institute recognizes Boston for its leadership and encourages other cities to take note of the experiment unfolding there – an example of how a municipality can unlock opportunities for youth through sports. Here, we explore one key innovation: a youth sports directory.
How sport activities can help mental health struggles
Child Rights and Sports Alliance Launches Ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026™
Tampa, FL – A group of leading organizations today announced the creation of the Child Rights and Sports Alliance (CRSA) in the United States. The goals of the Alliance are to elevate child rights, center youth voices, and use the sport as a vehicle for youth development in the planning, execution, and legacy building of the FIFA World Cup 2026™.
How community sports organizations can build capacity and advocate for funding
Schools in Kansas City can increase access by promoting integrated, adaptive sports
Children with disabilities often face more barriers to access sports. These challenges exist due to lack of awareness from those without disabilities to include them, lack of opportunities for training and competition, lack of accessible facilities, limited resources and perceptions about the interests and abilities of youth with disabilities to play sports. Greater promotion in schools of integrated sports — meaning pairing children with and without physical or intellectual disabilities on the same team — can help increase access to sports for children with disabilities.
November 2024 newsletter
Featured highlights:
Sports participation among girls is the highest in a decade — but it's way down for boys. Black youth now play less than Hispanic and Asian youth. Children specialize in one sport more than ever. Explore these findings, 10 Trends to Watch and more in our 2024 National State of Play report
Project Play Summit 2025 is coming to the Bay Area, California and the beautiful campus of U.C. Berkeley, March 24-25
Applications are open for the 2025 cohort of Service Learning Through Sports
and more…
One way to support coaches in Kansas City: Pass state laws requiring coach training and conduct policies in youth sports
A child’s experience in sports is often only as good as the coach. And too few coaches are trained in key areas. For instance, less than 60% of surveyed coaches have ever taken trainings in trauma-informed practices, performance anxiety, emotional regulation and how to work with parents, according to the National Coach Survey as administered by the Aspen Institute, Ohio State, Nike and partners in 2022.