The following insights come from the Aspen Institute’s State of Play Colorado: Aspen to Parachute report. The report assesses the opportunities and barriers for more children to access play, sports and outdoor recreation in rural Colorado communities.
Latino/a youth participate in outdoor recreation less due to several barriers.
While skiing is very popular, Aspen’s survey found that White youth are six times more likely to regularly go alpine skiing than Latino/a youth. Aspen School District children listed regularly participating in alpine skiing more than any other sport and at much higher rates than other districts. Large participation gaps by race and ethnicity exist in virtually every outdoor recreation activity, including rock climbing, mountain biking, paddleboarding, archery, horseback riding and hiking. “Many families won’t travel to Aspen and take our programs even when we offer it at free or reduced rates,” said Desiree Whitehead, director of the Aspen Recreation Department. “Probably some of it is due to stigma, since we’re predominantly White. I hope it changes more. It’s really good to have diversity in this environment.” C.P. Martinez, a longtime coach with two young kids, said it’s difficult culturally to ask Latino/a parents to send their children to outdoor activities given equipment, transportation and communication barriers, plus family priorities. “To me, it would be like a unicorn to have every one of those factors met and exceeded,” Martinez said. “That’s why AVSC (Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club) is so great and they’re the standard. I can’t say enough positive things about them. They actively have translators go into schools and have ambassadors ask, ‘How do we get you as a Latino signed up and what do we need to do?’” AVSC lists 19% of its winter-sport athletes as people of color, while 6% of Pitkin County residents are non-White.
The affordable-housing crisis dramatically affects staffing for rec and sports providers.
Between 2020 and the first half of 2023, the median price of a home grew by 135% in Basalt (to $2.1 million), by 71% in Carbondale (to $2 million) and by 33% in Glenwood Springs (to $825,000). Rentals are pricey too. Many people spend long commutes from cheaper housing in Rifle, Parachute or Grand Junction (two-plus hours) to work in Aspen. Roaring Fork Fencers Club, a one-person operation that serves up to 35 youth, would love to add another skilled instructor to scale up but can’t. “How can you have staff you can afford to pay to live in the valley?” asked Greg Domashovetz, the club’s owner, who charges $325 a month for regular fencing lessons. “The cost of housing here is equivalent to Brooklyn, and a fencing club in Brooklyn would charge $800-$900 per month. We don’t have New York salaries here. I would need to raise prices to pay my rent.” Finding qualified staff to work at the Aspen Recreation Center keeps director Desiree Whitehead up at night. When the rec center had an opening in 2023 for a fitness and wellness coordinator, 15 people applied — far fewer than she had hoped — and more than half lived out of state. “When you speak to these candidates, they don’t really know anything about the housing or where they would live, so you’re limited on who you can offer positions to while making sure who you’re hiring someone who has passion to work with kids,” said Whitehead. Said Travis Buckner, Aspen’s athletics coordinator: “Housing will make or break your opportunities here.”
Colorado Extreme is bringing hockey to new communities by focusing on equity, But Questions arise about the sustainability of three local youth hockey programs.
In the city of Rifle, historically known for rodeos, youth were given the rare opportunity to play hockey beginning in January 2024. That’s thanks to an outdoor rink built by the Colorado Extreme, which is making waves locally and nationally with free programming and its messaging around equity. Financed by entrepreneur and former hockey player Sheldon Wolitski, the Extreme began in 2021 with kids playing on improvised teams and in communal gatherings. Now the club has 557 youth playing at rinks in Carbondale (345 children) and Rifle (212). Approximately 31% of the Extreme’s participants are female and 24% of all players are Latino/a. And it’s all free. The NHL donated equipment. Wolitski puts significant time and money into the effort. He hired staff such as Carlos Ross — a rare former college hockey player who is Latino — to build relationships in Spanish-speaking communities.
“Hockey is a very White and expensive sport,” Ross said. “What Sheldon is doing is giving other kids an opportunity. For these kids to play in Aspen, it would cost them $2,000 just to register. Hockey is changing. It’s got to change.” What began in Carbondale gained interest from Rifle parents who sought hockey in their community too. “We think Rifle is going to be more successful than Carbondale,” Wolitski said.
Not everyone loves the Colorado Extreme’s arrival, joining Aspen Junior Hockey (founded in 1972) and Glenwood Grizzly Hockey (1998). Grizzly officials are concerned not enough players exist locally to sustain three hockey organizations without cooperation from everyone. About half of Grizzly Hockey’s players live in Glenwood Springs, with another 20% each coming from Carbondale and New Castle. Grizzly leaders believe their offerings (including scholarships) are not much different from ideas promoted by the Extreme. Grizzly leaders said they lost 15 travel players and Aspen lost five to the Extreme in the last year, leaving Grizzly Hockey unable to field a 12U team. “To take 15 kids that were rostered in our association to join (Wolitski’s) team, I can’t say that’s playing nice,” said T.K. Kwiatkowski, Grizzly Hockey executive director.
The Extreme has a recreational, learn-to-play program and travel teams, while Grizzly Hockey offers more recreational opportunities (such as jamborees) for players in between. Wolitski, who takes pride in statewide success by the Extreme’s 10U A team, said he hopes to eventually play the Aspen and Glenwood teams through conversations brokered by the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association. “Unless these other organizations let us in, we’re having to go to Denver, which isn’t too bad,” said Wolitski, who hopes to secure donations for families that need financial help to travel if their children want to play at a higher level. Kwiatkowski said more local games among the three associations makes sense, “but we’re also looking at a finite population and we’re stretched for players over three associations.” In our youth survey, 146 children indicated they want to try hockey for the first time — more than basketball, baseball, soccer and football.
Robots are here to efficiently line sports fields.
As soccer and lacrosse organizations rapidly increased their requests to host tournaments at Crown Mountain Park in El Jebel, park officials felt overwhelmed. How would they efficiently line all these fields? Wagner decided to spend $7,000 over five years to buy field-painting robots from TinyMobileRobots, which use GPS satellites to mark fields, rather than hire people to do it as she has in the past. Wagner said the parks departments at Aspen and Glenwood Springs have also since inquired about possibly using robots. All an employee needs to do is open an iPad, link the robot to the right location and field lines, and press start. “Previously, it would take me a week to set up lacrosse fields with two to three people,” Wagner said. “Now I was able to do nine lacrosse fields in eight hours by myself. It was incredible — and perfect lines. I’ve probably saved 75% on labor and 50% on paint. I’ll make our money back on this within a couple years.” Wagner said the robot has not yet taken away jobs and allows staff to focus on other maintenance.
More collaboration and resources are needed to accommodate youth with disabilities.
“Disability programming has not been thought through enough to most effectively serve the community,” said Lindsay Cagley, executive director of Challenge Aspen, whose programming includes adaptive biking, rafting, horseback riding, archery, skiing and snowboarding. For instance, Cagley said Unified Sports programming — which pairs people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team — could be expanded into the region by Special Olympics. In July 2023, the Western Region Caravan for Special Olympics came to Glenwood Springs to register athletes, build leadership skills of adult volunteers and bring awareness about the Summer Special Olympics. Eight athletes showed up. “I would have hoped for a lot more,” said Nick Adams, City of Glenwood Springs athletics supervisor. “We’re reaching adults with special needs; we’re not reaching youth. Many parents aren’t seeking out sports programming because they don’t know about it.” Glenwood Springs Parks and Recreation, which has a 20-member Unified soccer team, shares its programming information with Garfield County schools, but officials aren’t sure how the schools distribute it to families. Garfield County provided the City of Glenwood Springs with a $7,000 grant to offer free programming. Cagley said school districts need to identify better resources and partnerships and require adaptive inclusivity for students with disabilities. What’s missing, Cagley said, are programs working together on equipment, training and transportation, as well as empowering every organization to own some regional programming. Doing so could increase opportunities to support schools.
All children crave being part of activities with their peers. “I think the difficulty is we’re such a tiny minority in our town that we don’t have much pull,” said an Aspen mom with a special-needs child. “If we went to Denver, there is a much bigger community to put activities together. Here, there’s just a few of us, and it takes time to organize. Honestly, parents' focus is more on school than sports. There's growing awareness of the need for more sports and recreational offerings, but we're not sure how to address it."
Another parent described frustration that the closest adaptive playground is far away in Grand Junction. Several parents said schools face a major shortage of paraprofessionals, who help students with disabilities in the classroom with modified instruction. One mom worked as a para for $1,000 per month. “No one can survive on that,” she said. Parents expressed concerns over how much to trust unqualified paras and whether parents should be at school more often.
With fewer teams in rural communities, programs are challenged to balance different kids’ needs.
Metropolitan areas can clearly define their programming lanes between rec and travel sports. That’s much harder in smaller, isolated communities within the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys, where an eighth grader can play a sport for the first time and be paired with teammates who have far more experience. “You don’t have 150 kids at each age group trying out so you can break the kids out into appropriate levels,” said a football, hockey and lacrosse coach. “You have the Division I-aspiring kid on the same team as the kid who would much rather play video games.” Several coaches said they must be hyperaware to provide instruction that meets skill levels of kids in the middle. “Part of the struggle is remembering they’re in fourth grade, when I remember just playing and having fun,” said a basketball and lacrosse coach. “Should we be doing all of this strategy at this age? Then you see parents are looking, and they seem to want to see me teaching their child a certain skill. Do they care about that, or am I overthinking?” The administrator of one sports provider wishes its organization did not include “club” in its name. “We’re a rec program, but everybody is looking at us to be the next club-level team,” the person said. “That’s not really what we are, but it’s the only way kids can play our sport, so we sometimes struggle with that balance.”
Some teens quit sports due to body shaming.
Children who get discouraged by idealized athletic bodies presented on social media may drop out of sports. “A lot of my friends say, ‘I could never see myself in a swimsuit every day or wearing spandex and these super tight tank tops in cross country,’” said a female swimmer and runner from Glenwood Springs. “Lining up at the starting line (in cross country), it’s crazy hearing a few girls who are quite fast with all the negative talk: ‘Yeah, I need to lose 25 pounds by the end of the season so I can look like this.’ I’m upset it’s happening in high school sports.” Sports should be inclusive of all body sizes and shapes. One small national study found that children often quit sports due to poor body image, issues with coaches and competitive pressure.14 Among children who quit because they thought they “didn’t look right,” about two-thirds said they often compared themselves with images in the media and on social media. Close to half of girls in the study said they “looked worse than the ideal.” The Glenwood Springs athlete said it’s hard subconsciously to wear tight-fitting gear given societal pressures to look feminine, and it’s even harder when adults perpetuate the angst. “When I used to play volleyball, my coach called me thunder thighs,” she said. “That should not be something you’re saying.”
Latino/a children report feeling similar positive coach interactions as White youth.
This is not normally the case. In many previous Aspen Institute State of Play reports from communities across the country, Latino/a children viewed coaches far more unfavorably. By making all children feel welcome, communities have a better chance to retain them on sports teams and develop the physical, social, emotional and academic benefits that can come from participation. In our survey of youth in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys, children’s perception of coaches was nearly identical across ethnicities. For instance, 64% of Latino/a youth and 61% of White youth said their coaches “almost always” or “frequently” made them feel good when they improved a skill. In other communities, the gap is often 10 to 20 percentage points in favor of White children. Locally, a slightly higher rate of Latino/a children (63%) than White youth (59%) said their coaches tell players they’re all important to the team’s success. Latino/a and White youth had an identical response rate (60%) for coaches telling them that trying their best was most important. Many people in this region value a shared cultural life experience and prioritize positive coach-player relationships.
The best coaches communicate well with parents.
The relationship between parents and coaches can be fraught with pitfalls. Parents want their children to play and succeed, and some go too far — another reason some people don’t want to coach. “At first they were the helicopter parents because they hovered,” said Craig Denney, Glenwood Springs High School athletic director. “We call them bulldozer parents now because they don’t come in thinking about specific situations. They come in with bulldozers to plow the road and say, ‘This is how it’s going to be for my kid’ — and the kids learn that and expect Mom and Dad to fix it.” This can be so difficult in hockey that at least one program, Aspen Junior Hockey, requires parents wait 24 hours after a game before addressing any concerns about the coach. “Twenty-four hours gives everybody a chance to cool down and gather your thoughts rationally,” said a hockey coach. “But honestly, I haven’t figured it out. Hockey parents are tough.” A lacrosse coach said he tries to overcommunicate with parents, such as daily emails with positive updates about the energy and enthusiasm of the team. As long as parent concerns aren’t related to the physical or emotional health of the child, several high school coaches and athletic directors said they encourage parents to let their child advocate for themselves by talking to a coach on their own.
LGBTQ+ youth feel less welcome and safe in sports.
“We have found that many LGBTQ+ youth have not been involved in organized sports and play, and have felt unsafe to engage more broadly in their communities,” said Kyle Crawley, executive director of Stepping Stones of the Roaring Fork Valley, a youth mentoring organization that operates an LGBTQ+ support group. Nationally, more than two-thirds of LGBTQ+ youth have never taken part in any school or community sports, in part due to discrimination or fear of being discriminated against.21 CHSAA recognizes the right of transgender students in Colorado to participate in school sports based on sexual orientation and gender identification. Students must inform their school in writing that their gender identity differs from their assigned sex at birth, and CHSAA requires the school to perform a confidential evaluation. In 2020 and 2023, Republicans in the state legislature introduced legislation that would have banned transgender girls from participating in female sports. The 2023 proposal attempted to cover all college, interscholastic, intramural and club sports if sponsored or sanctioned by a public school, school district, activities association or university that receives public funding.22 Both the 2023 and 2020 efforts failed to get out of committee.
Jon Solomon is Community Impact Director of the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative. Jon can be reached at jon.solomon@aspeninstitute.org.