Oakland has a rich history of developing its children and communities through sports. The pro athletes who grew up in Oakland are among some of the greatest in their respective sport – Bill Russell, Rickey Henderson, Frank Robinson, Marshawn Lynch, Damian Lillard, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce, and Joe Morgan, to name a few.
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, which develops insights, ideas and opportunities to build healthy children and communities through sports. Published in 2022, the report identified troves of data, findings and recommendations for the community.
Two data points stood about above all, ironic given the long history of Oakland producing elite athletes. Only 14% of 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 girls were sufficiently physically active.
The good news is many organizations and leaders in the city saw the numbers and got to work.
Oakland Unified School District used the statistic as a rally cry to introduce elementary school sports programming that adds 30 to 60 minutes of activity per student. The move aligned with a recommendation in “State of Play Oakland” to diversify sports offerings through partnerships in schools because children spend so much time there.
Eat. Learn. Play., Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s foundation which had commissioned the report, addressed the physical activity statistic by investing in schoolyards, gyms and school sports. ELP’s strategy prioritizes so-called “community schools,” as hubs where kids can have access to safe and equitable places and opportunities to play.
The Oakland Sports Equity Coalition, a group of community leaders, regularly cites the physical activity data as its reach grows. “That 9% number really resonates with girls,” said Khali Blackman-Newton, Positive Coaching Alliance’s director of community engagement for Northern California.
But it’s the response to those numbers that matters most. The good, hard, innovative work of so many organizations in Oakland and the surrounding region over the past few years is one big reason why our Sports & Society Program is bringing the Project Play Summit to the Bay Area this year (March 24-25 in Berkeley). We want to celebrate some of these achievements.
Below are five key developments, some directly flowing from recommendations in our report. We recognize that many other organizations have also made positive contributions, too many to cite here.
Photo: OUSD
1. Oakland elementary schools say "yes" to sports
For many years, a huge disconnect existed within the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) over the value of sports. Educators and providers of afterschool programs operated in silos and held different ideas about the role of sports in student development. That gradually started to change. The journey of OUSD’s new Youth Elementary Sports Program is reflected in its name – YES! Sports.
“It’s that collective movement,” said Chen Kong-Wick, who leads YES! Sports for the district. “In order for the whole system to change, the whole system has to say yes to sports.”
Some of these developments in Oakland will be elevated and discussed at this year’s Project Play Summit (March 24-25 in Berkeley). Keynote speakers include best-selling author Michael Lewis and the CEOs from Little League International, National Recreation and Park Association, and National Federation of State High School Associations.
Tickets are still available for the Summit. Nonprofit rates are $339 and corporate are $469. Click here to register.
Funding for elementary school sports comes from California’s Expanded Learnings Opportunity Program (ELO-P), which helps schools partner with community organizations to develop students’ academic, social, emotional, and physical needs without replicating activities in the school day. When OUSD’s grant from ELO-P expanded from $10.5 million to $39.6 million in 2022-23, elementary school sports increased from Saturday camps to four to 10 weeks of sports programming during after-school hours on weekdays.
OUSD hires sports-based organizations to lead activities at least twice week through 45- to 60-minute sessions. The sessions must meet the After School Education & Safety and 21st Century Community Learning Center physical activity component requirements, which includes a warm-up, organized sports activities and a cool down. By adding elementary school sports opportunities, OUSD’s standard 30 minutes of physical activity increases to 60 minutes or more.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in the last three years from families who say their child is actively engaged in school and they are being physically active,” said Martha Peña, OUSD coordinator of after-school programs.
In 2022-23, the first year of YES! Sports, 4,140 youth participated in programming, comprising 23% of OUSD elementary school students. YES! Sports aim to exceed 50% engagement by the end of the 2026-27 school year, a goal OUSD says is informed by “State of Play Oakland” and builds upon Positive Coaching Alliance’s evaluation of the elementary school program.
“State of Play Oakland” recognized that students are more likely to participate in sports when they have a choice of activities that align with their interests and abilities. So, YES! Sports has offered activities like roller skating, skateboarding, soccer, tennis, baseball and softball. Roller skating and skateboarding were top five sports Oakland girls told us they want to try.
The idea for elementary school sports emerged from PCA’s Oakland Sports Equity Coalition, a group of community leaders whose members include afterschool education leaders, youth sports professionals, government leaders, community stakeholders, minority business leaders, and professional athletes. The coalition helps OUSD evaluate its programming to show impact and potentially generate new funding from philanthropic organizations.
OUSD hopes to assure YES! Sports stays financially viable through private funding in case ELO-P state dollars disappear. OUSD believes it’s a rare California school district using this ELO-P funding on sports.
“Principals and superintendents usually treat sports and P.E. as an afterthought,” Kong-Wick said. “If kids having true access to sports and physical activity helps their health, then why aren’t we making sports activity a priority? What we’re doing in Oakland could be duplicated across California with ELO-P funding. We know how it works.”
Photo: OUSD
In 2023, the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation announced a commitment to raise and invest $50 million in additional support for Oakland students by improving the school experience. In addition to its “eat” and “learn” pillars, ELP has pledged to transform 25 schoolyards and make investments with the Oakland Athletic League and OUSD’s Expanded Learning Program to grow elementary and middle school sports in Oakland.
“The investment decisions we made as an organization were fueled by the State of Play report,” said Sidney Griffin, ELP vice president of marketing and communications. “It really unlocked for us information about the gender inequities and inequities across the board in terms of having safe places to play.”
As of January 2025, ELP had partnered with KABOOM! to renovate 17 schoolyards. The renovations have evolved and include shaded playgrounds, replacing hot asphalt, adding large trees or building new trees for shade, and building multisport courts and soccer mini-pitches. Local Oakland artists paint kid-inspired murals at each school’s renovated play area.
“The collaboration with KABOOM! has challenged both of us to go faster, further and quicker,” Griffin said. “It’s taken on such a life of its own in the sense that we’re looking at all of these play spaces and schoolyards in a much more holistic way so we’re maximizing (use of) all of the spaces. Early on with the first two or three, they were beautiful renovations, but when we were done, we’re like, ‘We could have put another basketball court there.’”
Nearly 7,000 children have been involved in the 17 schoolyard projects to help identify what they want from spaces, said Carrie Leovy, KABOOM! senior strategist of partnership development.
“These are conversations that go home with them and their parents are involved in the planning and hands-on construction on every school yard,” Leovy said. “That energy then translates into playgrounds that are prized and loved.”
ELP is also supporting the remodeling of six gyms at two OUSD middle schools and four high schools with Under Armour and All Sport America. Court updates include the refinishing of floors and replacement of backboards, hoops, wall pads, scoreboards and shot timers.
Photo: Eat. Learn. Play.
During the “State of Play Oakland” research process, Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) started a learning community in which local leaders work collaboratively to increase access to sports for youth in low-income neighborhoods. The Sports Equity Coalition created an agenda with goals, action plans and key indicators to measure progress.
Later, the Aspen Institute cataloged the city’s youth sports providers. It also created a capacity-assessment tool that allows providers to understand the entry requirements, standards of practice, strategic thinking and data collection to be effective partners with the school district and city agencies.
Most importantly, the coalition has started to break down silos and make connections.
“The mobilization to see so many cross-sector partners working together to make the youth sports ecosystem more equitable is huge,” said Robert Marcus, PCA chief strategy and community impact officer. “The data has been critical in laying out how we want to target our equity gaps.”
Elementary school sports programming emerged in Oakland. OAL middle school participation increased from 14% of students in 2021-22 to 45% three years later. UC-Berkeley’s Cameron Institute introduced annual field days for East Bay families and students in honor of National Girls & Women in Sports Day. Regional discussion about collaboration in the Bay Area is starting to happen between like-minded organizations hoping for youth sports legacy projects around major events like the Super Bowl and World Cup.
“We had a meeting combining the Oakland Sports Equity Coalition and San Francisco’s coalition to bridge the Bay and talk about resources we both have in common and so we can learn from each other,” Blackman-Newton said. “That’s had ripple effects.”
Photo: Oakland Lacrosse Club
The Oakland Lacrosse Club offers one of the best templates for sustained work in OUSD schools. Coaches enter schools for six- to eight-week P.E. or after-school programming to generate interest and cycle through groups of students. Lacrosse was a dormant sport not long ago. In 2025, Oakland Athletic League (OAL) will have 14 lacrosse teams – eight middle school teams (four boys, four girls) and six high school teams (two boys, four girls).
The growth of lacrosse in schools started in 2020 after OUSD settled a Title IX lawsuit because it cut 10 high school sports that affected twice as many girls as boys. OUSD spent a year working with prominent Title IX consultant Donna Lopiano to begin addressing gaps.
Any child can be on the lacrosse teams. “No lacrosse experience or team sport experience is needed,” said Kevin Kelley, Oakland Lacrosse Club Executive Director. “We’re really trying to make it accessible so kids see they can be an athlete.”
Oakland Lacrosse Club pays for the equipment, recruits coaches, and trains them in sport-based youth development. OAL provides field access, scheduling support, stipends for coaches and transportation for the high school teams. More than 200 children participated in 2024.
Middle school lacrosse is a modified 7 v. 7 version, allowing more touches on the ball and helping with roster sizes of about 12 to 15 players. For now, Oakland’s four high school girls’ teams just play each other because of competitive disparities.
“We get a few kids who identify as lacrosse players, but the vast majority identify with having a sense of belonging and supportive relationships,” Kelley said.
Oakland Lacrosse Club’s budget has more than doubled to $1.6 million over the last four years. About 70% of its money comes from individual donors who want to grow lacrosse. Kelly does too, setting a goal for lacrosse to be played in all eight Oakland middle schools and 17 high schools within the next five years.
Photo: Oakland Genesis Soccer Club
Recognizing that club soccer is now the dominant path to sustained play through adolescence, Oakland Genesis has emerged with a new model that’s free to families. Oakland Genesis, whose board of directors includes MLS veteran Jeremy Ebobisse, has 10 academy teams and 10 afterschool programs totaling 450 children.
The afterschool program allows Oakland Genesis to identify passionate players who are restricted from playing soccer due to cost, transportation and cultural barriers. The academy teams play local and state competition, “but really it’s a youth development program,” said Cody Pillon, co-founder of Oakland Genesis. “The skill level varies. We don’t turn kids away. It’s based on effort and commitment, not talent.”
Each academy team has a soccer coach, academic coach, tutors, mentors and transportation. Oakland Genesis says its academy players have a 3.27 grade-point average compared to the OUSD district average below 2.7.
One of Genesis’ biggest supporters is Yours in Soccer Foundation, a California foundation that advises athletes on how to showcase their athletic and academic skills to colleges. “I don’t think we could fund our program without their academic component,” Pillon said. “We wouldn’t have enough access to grants and what schools require with wraparound services.”
Meanwhile, the Oakland Roots and Soul professional soccer teams began training Oakland youth coaches in 2024. The Oakland Coach Academy is a partnership between the clubs and OUSD with a goal of bringing soccer to all 51 elementary schools by the time the FIFA Men’s World Cup comes to the Bay Area in 2026. Coaches obtain accreditations from U.S. Soccer and training in first aid, youth mental health, and social-emotional intelligence skills.
The Oakland Roots & Soul Foundation also partnered with the city of Oakland in 2024 on the first “Soul of the Town” futsal tournament and soccer clinics to Town Nights, a series of free community events hosted Friday evenings during the summer. Roots Purpose Partners, Oakland Genesis, My Yute Soccer, Street Soccer USA, Soccer Without Borders and AYSO partnered for four events at various sites during Town Nights.
Learn how other communities have used their State of Play reports to unlock opportunities to play.
Gradually, Oakland is making progress to increase sports access to more children. Leaders are exposing children to new sports, creating shared agendas among key partners, providing different pathways to play, and investing in play spaces and school leagues. When new OUSD school board members now ask what the catchphrase “say yes to sports” means, school administrators now have a work-in-progress story they can tell showing impact.
“(OUSD Expanded Learning Coordinator) Martha Pena said yes to sports – that’s the reason why we named it YES! Sports,” said Kong-Wick, the district’s elementary school sports leader. “We want district staff to say yes to sports, not just students. The success story needs to be told. If we build it correctly, it will be told, and we’ll build a new pipeline for children to play.”
Jon Solomon is Community Impact Director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program. Read our original State of Play Oakland report and learn more about our community projects.