(L-R) Christina Hixson, Kim Hegardt and Tom Farrey at Project Play Summit 2024, May 15 in Baltimore.
*Photo: Howard Korn for the Aspen Institute*

Project Play Summit 2024 Student Recaps

Just 54% of youth in the U.S. played on a sports team or took sports lessons in 2022. At the Project Play Summit, the Aspen Institute challenged its Project Play network to embrace a goal of 63% by 2030 – an outcome that research shows would unlock at least $80 billion in societal benefits.

Until now, Project Play had never set a numerical goal for youth sports participation in the U.S. Tom Farrey, Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program executive director, recalled that a decade ago the public was not aware of the socioeconomic gap reflecting which children can better access sports. Farrey attributed findings in research such as Project Play’s National State of Play report to heightened awareness in recent years.

Now a 63% target has been set by government agencies as a Healthy People 2030 national public health goal. To help reach the goal, the Aspen Institute announced at the Project Play Summit that it will convene a national roundtable of leading sports, health and philanthropy organizations called 63X30 (pronounced “Sixty-Three by Thirty”) to support the government’s goal of growing sports participation among children.

Farrey asserted that Project Play’s commitment to this goal is not motivated by politics. “This is not a Trump administration thing or a Biden administration thing – it’s an interagency goal,” he said.

Farrey outlined three “strategic priorities” that will help reach the 63% participation rate – encouraging sport sampling, revitalizing in-town leagues, and training all coaches.

Kevin Martinez, vice president of corporate citizenship at ESPN and a member of 63X30, said that the role of the new national roundtable is to make sure leading organizations working in youth sports “are on the same narrative.” Martinez said that the decline of youth sports participation is not only detrimental to ESPN, but also to its corporate partners and sports leagues who program on the network.

“They all have shared values about getting youth back into sport because it is the funnel to fandom,” Martinez said.

The Aspen Institute previewed the formation of a new Project Play Communities Council to provide ongoing support and learning opportunities for the cities and regions that have partnered with the Institute on local State of Play reports. The invitation-only Council will share best practices aligned with Project Play frameworks, study promising models, and inform the work of the 63X30 national roundtable.

Kim Hegardt, who will serve on the Project Play Communities Council as president of the Names Family Foundation in Tacoma, Washington, said there is value in local action because it can be replicated on a larger scale. “I firmly believe that local community is where things happen,” she said.

In another effort to reach the 63% participation goal, the Aspen Institute announced the formation of Project Play Colorado, a coalition of state-level entities and community organizations that aims to increase opportunities in sports participation for Colorado youth. In partnership with UC Health, a healthcare company in Colorado, the coalition will meet on a regular basis to track better data, share knowledge and best practices, influence state and local policy, and provide thought leadership to stakeholders.

“We believe at UCHealth that we don’t want you to come see us,” said Christina Hixson, senior director of partnerships and events at UCHealth. “Our intent here is really to help reduce healthcare costs by having healthy kids and healthy communities.”

A published study estimated that if 63% of youth play sports, the U.S. could save $80 billion in direct medical costs and productivity losses and over 1.8 million more quality years of life could be delivered to Americans.

Student journalists from the University of Maryland’s Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism covered the Project Play Summit on behalf of the Aspen Institute. More of their stories can be found here. For Project Play’s recap of the Summit, click here. For the full Summit agenda, including replays of every session, click here. The full “Key to 63” panel can be found here.