Where have the neighborhood games gone?

Jim Boyle

Until someone tells me different, I’m currently one of the greatest multi-sport athletes in the world. Just ask me. I’m the Bo Jackson of foursquare and cornhole. Maybe it’s not the most glamorous “sports” ever, but the chances of me pulling a hamstring are extremely low. How’d I get here and how’d I manage to keep my athletic mojo going (I also love to run, swim and play an occasional game of racquet ball) as I push 50? There’s no one reason, but it would be difficult to ignore the joy factor in my sports upbringing.

I grew up in a rural town a few hours north of Detroit on Lake Huron – a town as sports-obsessed as what kids now experience, but not exactly the same either. We played everything, everywhere, at all hours of the day and all times of the year. We played Wiffle ball on the beach in our bare feet with a huge sand dune serving as our “center field wall.” Friends would bum rides to our house for Saturday tackle football. My dad cobbled together enough buddies and resources to pour a ½-court cement basketball slab in our backyard and walked away to leave us to our own devices. To this day it’s like religion to play on that court.

We created bike obstacle courses and raced, and even once built a full-scale putt-putt course with Styrofoam cups buried in the ground for holes. Sure, kids would step away for a Little League baseball game or a pee wee basketball game, but they would always be back in time for a game of 500 (a baseball-centric game, Google it) as the sun went down. It was, admittedly, a privileged existence. Our rules, sometimes our invented games, solving our own conflicts along the way. Magic.

Today, we’ve lost a little of that magic. For a variety of reasons, we’ve seen youth sports go largely from kid-driven free play to more parent-driven costly play, which has led to led to less access and less participation across the board – rural, urban and suburban. Only 14 percent of kids in Western New York and Southeast Michigan combined (the markets the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation serve) are physically active to the level recommended by the Center for Disease Control. That’s even less than the already abysmal national average of 27 percent.

And it matters. Research shows that physically active kids are more likely to be physically active adults. They’ll have greater cognitive function, better mental health, better educational outcomes, and fewer health problems. And we lose as a society when kids aren’t active, through billions of dollars of related downstream healthcare costs and lost productivity.

Today, we’ve lost a little of that magic.

At the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, we’re looking to increase the number of physically active kids. There’s no silver bullet, but we have a pretty good idea of what “good” looks like in youth sports thanks to our partners at the Aspen Institute and their Project Play framing. We also have an amazing local infrastructure in Western New York and Southeast Michigan – thanks in large part to the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, and the working groups they’ve helped us form – poised to, collectively, continue helping us make change.

There are already amazing things happening in Western New York and Southeast Michigan to address these issues, and the Foundation has invested over $50 million to date to both lift up, and add to, that work. Everything from building the physical infrastructure for free play, like our Built to Play partnership with KaBOOM! and the Tony Hawk Foundation to build innovative play spaces and skateparks; to programmatic grants; to the contribution of data and research like the regional State of Play reports we launched in 2017, and beyond are included.

In partnership with the German Marshall Fund, the Foundation is also taking a cross-sector group of thinkers and influencers – grassroots sports practitioners, professional sports team representatives, municipal park managers and planners, and more – on a week-long study tour to Ruhr Valley in Germany and Barcelona, Spain. There, we’ll be looking at several things, including how those parts of the world successfully leverage sports and active recreation to achieve healthier and inclusive public spaces; innovative examples of sports governance and cross-sector partnerships; and integrated approaches to urban planning, placemaking and infrastructure to support sports and recreation for all ages.

The mission? Lift our heads up enough from our own work to learn and be inspired by others. Build relationships and connect with each other, while we see what cross-sector collaboration looks like somewhere else. See innovation happening outside of our own markets to get kids out, moving their bodies and having fun.

Basically, we’re taking a deep breath from our own important work to find some other ways on how we might get our magic back. We can’t wait to bring our findings back to our communities. And can you bet if any one of our travel partners happens to jump on a Futsal court along the way, I got next.

Jim Boyle is Vice President for Programs and Communications at the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. He oversees grant making in the foundation’s focus areas of: Youth Sports & Recreation (including the Project Play Western New York and Project Play Southeast Michigan partnerships); Park, Trails & Green Design; and Nonprofit Support & Innovation. The Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program will hold the 2019 Project Play Summit in Detroit on September 17-18, in part to share lessons learned from its community-based work in Michigan and New York with the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation.

Story was originally published here.

Changing the game for girls

Caitlin Morris

February 6 is National Girls and Women in Sports Day – the perfect moment to celebrate the women who are inspiring girls to get in the game. Now in its 33rd year, this day celebrates the power that sports can play in a girl’s life. This year’s theme, “Lead Her Forward,” is also an urgent call to action to get more girls active. Just over one-third of girls ages 6-11 meet healthy physical activity guidelines; that number only declines as they grow up. We need to change that trajectory.

Play is serious.

Physical activity is a key part of living a healthy and successful life. We know that active kids do better in every way, and all kids are made to play. Kids who move are more confident, they excel in school and they carry these benefits into their adult lives. But four in five kids aren’t getting the amount of physical activity they should — and girls are the most likely to be sitting on the sidelines.

“Girls” are not a single, homogenous group by any means; getting and keeping them involved in sport and play is a complex issue. But as the Aspen Institute and other leaders in this field know, there are actions we can take now to make progress.

Girls need strong rile models and female coaches.

It starts with seeing and celebrating female athletes. Girls are inspired by sports stars like Serena Williams, Ibtihaj Muhammad, and Alex Morgan. We must continue to celebrate these women for their achievements – both on and off the court – because they show our girls what’s possible.

Four in give kids aren’t getting enough physical activity — and girls are the most likely to be sitting on the sidelines.

At the same time, girls also need female coaches who can directly connect with them, understand their experience and encourage them to persevere. Yet only 23 percent of youth coaches in the US are female. That number is the lowest on record since 2012, and it’s down from 28 percent in 2016. Title IX was an important milestone for pushing gender equality in sport, but 46 years later, we’re missing a key piece of the fight if we aren’t loudly and deliberately inviting women to the playing field.

When women are given the tools and resources they need , they step up to the plate.

That’s why so many of us across the public and private sector have taken action through initiatives like Nike’s Made to Play and the Aspen Institute’s Project Play. Committing to shattering the “glass sideline” and growing the number of female coaches takes new thinking and new strategies.

“How to Coach Kids,” a free online course that teaches volunteers the skills they need to effectively coach young athletes, is one way we can invite more women to participate as coaches. The course shows how coaching is a learnable skill, and a rewarding experience. It also reinforces messages and techniques taught at the beginning of the season, so coaches have a “pocket coach” to lean on whenever they need it. “She Can Coach,” a campaign led by Up2Us Sports, is another powerful example. This incredible campaign is training and placing female coaches in under-resourced communities, and it doesn’t stop there. After placing female coaches with teams, “She Can Coach” continues to support them by providing career mentoring and guidance on coaching techniques.

How girls are coached matters even more than who coaches.

There is surprisingly little curriculum focused on how to coach girls. Debating how much of the difference is intrinsic versus extrinsic social norming is a debate for another time, but many who’ve worked to coach girls report that the experience is different. Positively engaging girls in sport and play is the goal of every coach, regardless of gender. So, it’s important to pay attention to the data coming from organizations like the Women’s Sports Foundation that assess the state of gender-inclusive coaching curriculum and gather the research we need to inform smart program investments.

In addition to making sure girls have greater access to coaches and mentors, we also need to empower girls with sports programming that puts them at the center of the experience.

This work is already underway through programs like Mamba League, a youth basketball league led by Kobe Bryant in partnership with Nike and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles. Aiming to help girls, and all kids, develop confidence both on and off the court, Mamba League’s programming gives youth players new basketball skills as well as life skills like passion, optimism, fearlessness, focus and honesty.

As more girls jump into sport, we need to support them with the gear they need to play with confidence.

By age 14, girls start dropping out of sport at twice the rate of boys. When we listen to them, we can understand why: 41 percent of girls ages 11 to 16 report that low body confidence or fear of judgement hinders them from participating in sport. These feelings tend to grow during puberty, and as a result, the problem gets worse. Having the right gear can make a difference.

Whether it’s a hijab, team jerseys, footwear, or their first sports bra, it’s important that girls have the gear they need so they can play with confidence. We’ve seen progress on this front – there are more products on the market that speak directly to the needs of girls – but we must do more to identify and remove barriers in the way of girls getting and staying active.

Helping girls reach their potential on and off the playing field takes all of us.

Diverse leaders across business, philanthropy, civil society and government are taking on this challenge. We’re making progress, but this generation of girls still needs more.

We can change the statistics.

Each of us can help girls reach their potential on and off the playing field. Decide to “Lead Her Forward” and create opportunities for the girls in your life and in your communities.

A girl’s future depends on it.

Caitlin Morris is the General Manager of Global Community Impact at Nike, where she focuses on getting kids active and reversing the physically inactive epidemic. Nike is a founding member of Project Play 2020, an initiative of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program, which is a multiyear effort by leading organizations to grow national sport participation rates and related metrics among youth. Learn more about Project Play at www.ProjectPlay.us.

Story was originally published here.

What's next for youth sports?

Tom Farrey
Executive Director, Sports & Society Program

Let’s start with the end in mind. Ten years from now, the US will host the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and two years prior our nation will have hosted the men’s World Cup. By then, sports betting likely will have been legalized in most of the country, generating at minimum $5 billion a year in revenue for states — and perhaps the federal government if it gets involved — to distribute. If the trends of today continue, the sports industry could be twice the size, in revenue if not cultural influence.

Barring major missteps, it’s fair to assume the top of our sports pyramid will be categorized as somewhere between robust and very robust.

The bottom? That’s entirely TBD, depending on how much stakeholders commit to building healthy communities through sports, starting with quality experiences for all children regard­less of ZIP code or ability.

There is a great story to be told. But it will take vision, leadership, and systems-level adjustments in the provision of sport opportunities.

The next year will be critical in designing that future, with new chiefs setting new courses at key governing bodies (US Olympic Committee, US Soccer Federation), leagues such as the NBA taking more control of their youth pipelines, the introduction of sports betting in more states, and industry-aligning grassroots efforts via Project Play 2020.

Here are five questions that the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program plans to keep in mind as we help stakeholders identify opportunities:

What are we as a nation trying to achieve here?

There are lots of reasons Americans are drawn to sports. The desire to be entertained. To wit­ness the limits of human physical expression. To have something to talk about with the in-law who annoys you or your neighbor on the other side of political divide. Common cause, even if it’s around something as superficial as a favorite team, has value.

But what people want even more is to live in vibrant communities that foster the well-being of their families. The most desirable communities are active communities with ample bike paths, recreation spaces, and sport activities (both organized and unstructured) for kids through seniors.

Developing more policies and partnerships that place health and inclusion — the core values of Project Play — at the center of our sport system will be essential in aligning the interests of stakeholders and addressing myriad other issues, including the health care crisis.

Who gets defined as an athlete?

One of the key developments of the past year was the National Federation of State High School Associations embracing e-sports. Other traditional sport entities are investing in competitive video gaming as well, and as they chase the dollars, the public will be asked to expand the notion of an athlete to include those whose body move­ments are largely limited to a few fingers. The argument has been proffered: That’s a couple more fingers than are used in riflery.

That is true, though there are hazards in adjusting our common cultural understanding of sport as activity that involves physical activity. We know that good things happen when bodies are in motion. By the week it seems, the research grows about the physiological, mental, aca­demic, social, and emotional benefits of being active and/or playing sports.

More essential is expanding our scope of the athletes served by key institutions. The US Olympic Committee (USOC) is a critical player. In 1978, the Amateur Sports Act placed the USOC in charge of developing our sport system for athletes at all levels, including youth. Since the 1990s, and increasingly over the past decade, energies have shifted more toward the tippy-top of our sport system in an effort to turn Olympic hopefuls into Olympic stars.

There is a great story to be told. But it will take vision, leadership, and systems-level adjustments in the provision of sport opportunities.

That extreme focus on medals laid the groundwork for the abuses that emerged in USA Gymnastics and which have caused deep soul-searching at the USOC and the sport-spe­cific national governing bodies it oversees. Moving forward, there will be a push to redefine Team USA as inclusive of any athlete playing on any surface anywhere; new USOC CEO Sarah Hirshland has signaled as much in early comments, though what that means practically is to be determined.

What’s the role of schools?

This year B. David Ridpath, a professor of sport business at Ohio University, published Alternative Models of Sports Development in America, in which he examined the model for school sports in the US that has been in place for more than a century. He compared it to the model favored in Europe, in which clubs provide most of the sport development oppor­tunities for youth and schools are focused more exclusively on academics, plus some physical education.

The influence of club sports has grown in the US with some even prohibiting athletes from playing for school sports teams. Ironically, it’s driven by the chase for college athletic scholarships. As that trend marches forward, it presents a nice opportunity to reim­agine the role of sports in schools. Given the body of research showing the cognitive and other benefits of physical activity, what school-based models best serve the broadest array of students? How can schools partner with community organizations to share resources? Do we need to rethink the role of the P.E. teacher, from provider of sport experiences to connector to local sport options?

School sport is a treasured American institution. But there’s room for innovation, and we will encourage conversation that inspires solutions.

What’s the role of the federal government?

The United States is one of the few nations in the world without a sports ministry or similarly situated body that can guide, coordinate or facilitate sport development. Some argue this is a good thing, skeptical that the federal government, especially amid the partisan warfare of today, can get anything done that is smart or sustainable.

President Trump is diving in anyway, asking his renamed President’s Council on Sports, Fit­ness, & Nutrition to develop a national strategy on youth sports. Progress to date has been slow; his nominees to the council, from Bill Belichick to Lou Ferrigno, still were awaiting confirma­tion as of early September, more than 17 months after Trump took office. The council remains buried within the Department of Health and Human Services, with a small budget and staff. Efforts to raise money from the private sector to support Trump’s agenda are underway.

Time will tell if the marketplace responds, or if Trump can get more done by focusing on the levers that the White House controls. Federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could be tasked to gather better data on sport participation so states can create their own “state of play” reports that will mobilize leaders. Grant criteria across federal agencies could be adjusted to align with youth sports needs. Proposed legislation, infrastructure bills or otherwise, could be reviewed with an eye toward the impact that the language may have on community sports.

How do we pay for it all?

This is a major question — but with a major opportunity before us. That would be legalized sports betting, which the Supreme Court opened the door to in May by ruling that the federal government could no longer prohibit states from authorizing (and taxing) such activity. New Jersey was the first mover, but no less than two dozen states are now taking steps to allow gam­bling on sports events. Within five years, that market could generate between $3.1 billion and $5.2 billion per year in annual revenue, according to one projection.

In Norway, revenues from sports betting are used to fund community sports and recreation. In 2016, $330 million was pumped back into communities for new projects, from facilities to equipment purchases. The support has played no small part in making Norway one of the most active and healthy nations in the world, with more than its fair share of elite athletes emerging at the top of the pyramid. At the 2018 Winter Games, Norway finished atop the medal count — not bad for a nation of 5.2 million people.

Further inspiration comes from Colorado, which has used lottery revenues to fund recreation projects. There, 24 cents of every dollar spent on the lottery goes back to the state, which since 1992 has generated $3.1 billion to build 900 miles of trails and 1,000 parks, skate parks, pools, and ballfields. The funds have improved facilities at some underfunded schools and preserved more than 700 miles of rivers. Small wonder Colorado has among the nation’s most active citizens and the state is one of the fastest-growing in the nation.

In September, our Future of Sports series put the question on the table of whether US states should use sports betting to fund the base of our sport system. It’s a conversation we’ll stay with as states make their plans.

Tom Farrey is executive director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program. On October 16, the Sports & Society Program will host the 2018 Project Play Summit, the nation’s premier gathering of leaders at the intersection of youth, sport, and health.

The original story was published here.

The benefits of shifting from tackle to flag football for youth

Tom Farrey
Executive Director, Sports & Society Program

It’s football season again. With it comes Friday Night Lights, weekend tailgates, acts of soaring athleticism in the face of danger – and the inevitable, and growing, conversation about the game’s future. Many parents have real concerns about introducing tackle football to their children, given the mounting research on head injuries and their potential long-term impact on cognitive and emotional function.

Last year, in a milestone development that flew beneath the radar of national media, flag football surpassed tackle football as the most commonly played form of the game among children ages 6 to 12, according to annual survey data by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Last week, the LA84 Foundation, a major grant-maker to youth sports programs in Southern California, announced that it would no longer fund programs that offer tackle football before age 14.

Today, our Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program releases a 27-page white paper that explores the consequences of this trend continuing. Eight months in the making, it asks: What if flag football becomes the standard way of playing the sport until high school? What are the implications for the sport, its stakeholders, and most importantly, the children who play the game?

We analyze this potential development from five angles:

• Public health: Would delaying tackle football until high school make players safer?

• Youth participation: Would flag bring more children into the sport, or drive them away?

• Friday Night Lights: What impact, if any, might there be on high school football?

• Football industry: What could this mean for the NFL and college football, in terms of talent development, fan cultivation, and long-term bottom line?

• Civic life: How would a shift to flag impact the values promoted through the sport?

We peer into the crystal ball on these questions with the aid of a diverse set of experts convened in January at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC. The inaugural event in our Future of Sports conversation series, Future of Football: Reimagining the Game’s Pipeline, featured panels that included Dr. Robert Cantu, co-founder of the CTE Center at Boston University; Scott Hallenbeck, executive director, USA Football; former NFL players Chris Borland and Domonique Foxworth; Buddy Teevens, Dartmouth College coach; Jennifer Brown-Lerner, policy manager for the Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development, and mother of a grade-school boy who plays football; Tom Green, a high school coach in Maryland; and Dr. Andrew Peterson, representing the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Their insights were supplemented with perspectives gleaned from a post-event online survey distributed to attendees of the event and members of the public, including those who watched on livestream. Survey results and comments shown in this report come from 62 responses by parents, high school and youth coaches, athletic trainers, medical professionals and others. Those perspectives — plus Aspen Institute research — form the basis of this report. Each topic includes a discussion of the points of view shared, plus Aspen Institute analysis.

Our overarching conclusion: Children, the game and communities are likely to benefit if flag football becomes the standard way of playing before high school, with modifications. A key modification: Proper tackling technique is taught in in practice settings, and in a controlled manner, in the age group leading into it.

Among other factors, our conclusion is informed by the experience of hockey. A decade ago, USA Hockey recognized that it had a participation problem, with parents concerned about head injuries and kids quitting the game prematurely. The national governing body banned body-checking through age 12, and doubled-down on coach training, describing for stakeholders a clear pathway of progression through the sport. Since then, hockey is one of the few team sports to experience youth participation growth. Tough policy decisions were made that challenged the habits and notions of traditionalists, and the sport benefitted.

We hope this paper provides the necessary thought leadership to advance the game of football, helping parents, sport leaders, educators, policymakers and other stakeholders make reasoned and ethical decisions about improving the delivery of the game for youth, our society’s most valuable resource.

You can read the report here. We welcome your thoughts.

Tom Farrey is executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program. He can be reached at tom.farrey@aspeninstitute.org. Follow him on Twitter @TomFarrey and the program @AspenInstSport. The Future of Sports series continues Friday, Sept. 14, at 12:30pmET with a livestreamed discussion on the Future of Sports Betting.

The original story was published here.

Revisiting Title IX 46 years later

Caitlin Morris

Title IX, signed on June 23, 1972, was a game changer. It altered the rules for federally funded activities in education, making it illegal to discriminate against women and girls in this area. It also gave them the opportunity to participate in sports and physical activities, creating a path for some of our greatest athletes, like Mia Hamm and Sheryl Swoopes.

Title IX built a strong policy-based foundation, but 46 years later, we know that our work has really only just begun. While many systemic and cultural changes — from reductions in physical education programs in public schools to increasingly higher costs of participation in competitive sports — have led to a drop in physical activity among all kids, girls are still getting the short end of the stick.

At Nike, we believe if you have a body, you’re an athlete. But fewer and fewer girls hold that statement to be true about themselves. More than 38 percent of girls (versus 25 percent of boys) in America don’t participate in sport. Girls are consistently two years behind boys in physical literacy skills. We may not be entirely sure why this gap exists, but we know the scale of its impact. Generally speaking, when girls lack the competence, they also lack the confidence to engage in sports. Children as young as 8 years old begin defining themselves as athletes, or not.

When girls walk away from sport this early in life, it affects more than just their health and happiness. Research shows that physically active kids are 15 percent more likely to attend college, and earn 7 to 8 percent more money, on average. Essentially, play equals power.

So, the big question today is, how can we all come together to truly, finally deliver on the promise of Title IX to promote gender equality in sports? For starters, we’d love to share some important lessons we’ve learned from our investments with community and school-based partners that we believe could have implications for all stakeholders:

1. Smart program design and coaching are key. If we don’t design programs specifically for and with girls in mind, they will sit on the sidelines, or worse, stop showing up. Also, If we don’t offer the presence and expertise of female coaches, girls will be less inclined to participate. We know that strong women make good role models for girls and help boost their confidence both on and off the court/field/track, yet only 28 percent of youth coaches are female. Programs like the Mamba League have shown us what’s possible in this context. Inspired by Kobe Bryant’s own youth experiences and coaching philosophy, the Mamba League was created to inspire girls and boys to learn basketball fundamentals and to build self-assuredness through leading an active, healthy lifestyle. Nike worked closely with the Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club to create a program that encouraged an equal number of boys and girls teams at every site and targeted female coaches to lead the girls-only teams. Every single girls’ team was led by female coaches, which drew girls to participate in record numbers — they made up 48 percent of the League in its first year. Those numbers held up in year two as well, even after the Mamba League doubled in size.

2. Data gaps will continue to hinder us. We know that what gets measured, gets done. While there is some data available on adolescent and teenage participation in sports in after-school programs, like the Boys and Girls Clubs, the current data sets do not fully capture sports participation for younger kids (12 years of age and under). They also don’t adequately cover gender breakdowns. And we know that physical activity does more than create good health. It contributes to leadership, productivity and innovation. It lowers depression and crime, increases educational achievement and income levels, and generates returns to businesses. This is why it is so critical to create access for girls — and all kids — to have early positive experiences with sport, so they may reap the benefits over their lifetime. More research needs to be performed in order for all of us to better understand — and address — the issues at hand. Without a baseline for how many girls are participating in sports and other physical activities, or details on where and how we are falling short, we will not be able to successfully evaluate any of our current efforts and investments. Once fueled with this information, as program funders, we may better examine and better channel/invest our time, energy and resources toward creating innovative, proven solutions to get more girls — and kids, in general — active.

3. This is everyone’s issue. No one organization or sector can increase girls’ sports participation alone. This has to be a team effort in order to succeed. We need multi-stakeholder engagement — and we need to visit this subject together on an ongoing basis. We applaud the continuing collaboration between the City of Los Angeles, The Getty Foundation, and non-profit as well as corporate institutions who are gathering in L.A. on June 23 to help get more girls moving across the city. The Aspen Institute Project Play 2020 initiative is another great example of multi-stakeholder engagement in the United States. The consortium of organizations — of which Nike is a founding member — aims to develop shared goals and advance collective action around making sports accessible to all kids in the US, regardless of zip code, ability or gender.

Title IX Day is more than just a moment for reflection and celebration on how far we’ve come to build gender equity in athletics. It’s a call to action to break down the existing barriers for girls so they can confidently get in the game. Because we know that once they start, they won’t want to stop.

Caitlin Morris is the General Manager of Global Community Impact at Nike, where she focuses on getting kids active and reversing the physically inactive epidemic. Nike is a founding member of the Aspen Institute Project Play 2020 initiative, which is a multiyear effort by leading organizations to grow national sport participation rates and related metrics among youth. Learn more about Project Play at www.ProjectPlay.us.

Find the original story published here.

The best sports town in America

The tiny town of Norwich, Vermont, has likely produced more Olympians per capita than anywhere else in the United States. Over the past thirty years, the town of 3,000 has sent an athlete to almost every Winter Olympics. New York Times sports writer Karen Crouse traveled to Norwich to discover the town’s secret. Also in this episode, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred discusses taking the professionalism out of youth sports, and creating a simpler, more informal atmosphere of play. Featuring onstage talks from the 2017 Project Play Summit, held by the Sports and Society Program at the Aspen Institute.

The “Aspen Ideas to Go” podcast is a weekly show featuring fascinating speakers who have presented at the Aspen Ideas Festival and other public programs offered by the Aspen Institute — including Aspen Words, the Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series, and various events around the country. For a curated listening experience, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or listen to each episode on the Aspen Ideas website.

Originally posted here.

How to build multi-sport venues

Tom Farrey
Executive Director, Sports & Society Program

If you’re a parent of an active child today, you may be familiar with the dilemma. Your kid shows an interest in a sport, flashes some promise, then next thing you know – maybe even before she or he is out of grade school — the message you’re getting from coaches is the pathway to the next level flows through a focused, year-round commitment to that sport. You may even be asked to sign a contract promising to prioritize that team’s training sessions and games over any outside sport activities.

It’s not consistent with what the research says about quality athletic development. “Not one publication says specialized, intense early play will lead to elite-level success,” says Dr. Neeru Jayanthi, an Emory University professor and one of the world’s leading experts on the health implications of youth athletic training. “There are plenty of anecdotal stories” but no data to support that approach as better than just letting children do what most of them naturally want to do, which is to explore a range of activities.

Schools know not to teach kids just one subject. But this is becoming the standard in youth sports, at least among those who can afford the rising economic barriers to entry (which many cannot). In 2015, for the first time since data began to be collected by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, the number of team sports that the average child (ages 6 to 17) played dropped below two, to 1.89.

What to do? At the 2015 Project Play Summit where we introduced our seminal report, Sport for All, Play for Life: A Playbook to Get Every Kid in the Game, we offered to host a follow-up roundtable on the topic that was of most interest to attendees. The winning idea, as submitted by thought leaders and voted upon via electronic, on-site polling: Conceptualize a multi-sport club. It was a response to the fact that increasingly, youth sports is influenced by private clubs that have expertise in just one sport, and if they own facilities, promote year-round play in that sport because, well, their mortgages need to be paid year-round. Structurally, it’s a model that makes sense for entrepreneurs, not kids and families.

So, last September at the invitation of the U.S. Tennis Association, we hosted a roundtable at the U.S. Open that convened senior leaders from organizations with the capacity to change the game. Actually, it was a couple of roundtables, one mostly for leaders from the professional leagues, one for leaders from national sport governing bodies, with a mix of other key groups, including the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition. Many had just agreed to a statement in support of multi-sport play at least through age 12, the first shared action around a strategy as identified in the Sport for All, Play for Life report. Their endorsement was featured in a PSA placed by the USTA in the Sports Business Journal.

Step Two was forming a working group focused on creating a resource that sport providers could use to create multi-sport venues. That resource was delivered at the 2016 Project Play Summit, a document offering guidance for not just sport clubs but camps, parks & rec departments, and other providers. It highlights programs from across the U.S. that we identified as exemplars in encouraging multi-sport play and have developed successful models or innovations that can be scaled. We include a brief overview of each organization, its breakthrough strategy or tact, and its financial structure. Ideas also are offered for creating multi-sport programs from scratch.

Check out the first-of-its kind resource here, and please share with your networks.

Because multi-sport play isn’t just what kids need. It’s what the market wants, if given a choice.

Tom Farrey is executive director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program and founder of the Project Play initiative, which provides thought leaders with the guidance to build healthy communities through sport. The program has produced a series of reports, most recently State of Play: 2016, an annual snapshot of how well stakeholders are serving children and communities through sports, with grades offered in each of the areas of opportunity as identified in the Sport for All, Play for Life report.

This story was originally published here.

Play is the work of children

Wayne Moss
Aspen Institute Guest Author

During 2015 Spotlight Health, the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program released a white paper that bears consequence for the health of the nation, “Physical Literacy in the United States: A Model, Strategic Plan, and Call to Action.” Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the paper builds on research associating movement competence with physical activity.

Wayne Moss, senior director of sports, fitness, and recreation for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, is a member of the 15-person working group that contributed to and reviewed the report.

When school is out, summer camp is in for young people at Boys & Girls Clubs. Their days are filled with laughter, participating in games, informal play, and making friends while creating a lifetime of memories. Nearly two-thirds of the children we serve are eligible for free and reduced lunch. If not for the local club, many of these youth could not afford the luxury of structured activities that have tremendous benefits. While kids have a three-month vacation from school, it wreaks havoc on activity levels — and their development of physical literacy.

We believe in physical literacy because we believe that every young person should feel confidence and self-assurance to move with their bodies.

Physical literacy is defined as the ability, confidence, and desire to be physically active for life. It means being able to move with poise and confidence, being able to “read” a wide variety of physically challenging situations, and having the talent to respond with imagination, agility, and intelligence. I grew up playing tag, hide-and-go seek, sandlot baseball, basketball, and riding bikes and remain active today.

At the Boys & Girls Club of America, we believe that physical literacy is so important that we’re committing to revising the curriculum of our signature healthy lifestyles program, Triple Play, to align with these life-changing concepts. For more than a decade, Triple Play has provided sports and fitness activities, making nearly 10 million connections with kids. As we continue to improve this program, infusing concepts of physical literacy is essential for elevating our kids’ physical abilities. By investing in physical literacy for all youth in our clubs, we will be able to reach our bold goal of the youth in our clubs achieving four billion hours of physical activity by 2018.

We believe in physical literacy because we believe that every young person should feel confidence and self-assurance to move with their bodies. This can be accomplished by working on fundamental movement skills such as running, jumping, skipping, throwing, catching, and balancing. As young people increase their physical literacy they:

• Increase their knowledge, understanding, and comprehension around their physicality

• Increase the creativity in which their bodies move

• Increase their ability to move with deftness in different environments

Physical literacy also includes children and adults being able to be agile and strong and even able to navigate something like a slippery surface in a safe way. Physical literacy can also prepare young people for a physically active career, such as those of firefighters, police officers, and construction workers.

In my role as senior director of sports, fitness, and recreation for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, I see the direct benefits these young people get with a summer filled with activities like baseball, basketball, tag, and hopscotch. Some members, like ballet great Misty Copeland, received their start by running, jumping, and dancing at Clubs like the one in San Pedro, California. Copeland is now a member of the American Ballet Theatre and recently made history by becoming the company’s first African-American principal dancer.

I challenge all other youth-serving organizations to join us on this journey. Organizations such as schools, recreation and community centers, after-school and sports programs, day-care facilities, and youth scouts organizations should commit to integrating physical literacy principles in their respective programs. I invite those organizations to design physical literacy frameworks and programs by 2018 and have them fully implemented by 2020 so that together we can change the future for the next generation.

There’s an incredible urgency to move now to change the opportunity equation for our kids and our nation.

The original story was published here.

Why make room in sports for kids with developmental disabilities?

Darrin Steele
Aspen Institute Guest Author

The USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation has partnered with the Aspen Institute Sports and Society Program’s Project Play initiative to explore ways to get and keep children active through sports. Below, the USA Bobsled Federation CEO Darrin Steele reflects on what he’s learned about the power of sports in raising a child with a developmental disability.

Some people find their calling working with kids with developmental disabilities. Other people find themselves in that world unexpectedly. For parents like me, it’s the latter. 

The learning curve is steep, and to call the education an emotional roller coaster would be a gross understatement. I have to confess that when we got the diagnosis that my son has autism, I assumed there was an established path we would plug him into. The comfort we got from finally having a diagnosis was eclipsed by the realization that America was ill-prepared to handle the fastest growing developmental disability in the nation. We quickly realized that he wasn’t entering a path; he was exiting one.

My son loves physical activity and he has natural athleticism. He reminded me of me when I was young, and I was happy his motor skills were very good. I was troubled by the therapy he got, which took a lot of time and involved a lot of sitting. He didn’t do well. He was immersed in an inclusive classroom, which we supported and still do. He stays in the classroom as much as possible, but goes to the special needs room when necessary. He’s in a great school and we are lucky to have him there.

Even though this might be as good as it gets, the reality is that the system wasn’t built for kids like him and he really doesn’t belong there. All too often, we are reminded that kids like my son don’t really belong anywhere. He makes too much noise, he doesn’t follow directions, he can’t keep up with his peers, and he gets in the way.

This is where sport comes in. I experienced the power of sport as a child and quickly figured out that my social stock rose due to my achievements in sports. That was great news for a shy kid like me. Sport has the unique ability to not only provide an experiential education that serves real life, but it is one of the only possible experiences that rewards heart, drive, and teamwork. 

Sport offers something else that no other experience does: the concept of the “personal best.” There is a universal understanding in sport that a personal best is something special because in sport, you compete against yourself. Sure, there are other competitors, but they are there to help bring out the best in you. Sport allows us to define success at an individual level.

These kids with disabilities are reminded of their weaknesses on a daily basis. While most kids gravitate toward their areas of strength, the Individualized Education Program process for kids with special needs is primarily focused on areas of weakness. What would happen if these same kids were introduced to sport? Fortunately, we don’t have to guess. I had the pleasure of studying one of the few sports organizations on the country that provides sports programs for kids with developmental disabilities. Sports Plus, in Montgomery County, Maryland, allowed me to observe the programs and talk with the parents of participants.

Sports Plus quickly realized that having positive coaches — who had fun with the participants while demanding incremental sport improvement — was an absolute requirement for success. The kids took pride in their improvements and experienced social gains from both engaging the coaches and feeling a sense of belonging with their peers. More than 95 percent of participants are repeat customers. 

I have seen the impact of physical activity on my son Darrin Khan as well, although he’s never participated in organized sports. This is a kid who has been on the move since he came out of the womb. He is a lot like I was as a child and we both fit the definition for ADHD. Dr. John Ratey, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, has studied the outcomes of exercise on those with ADHD and regularly prescribes exercise rather than drugs to his ADHD patients. Not only does physical activity make my son happy while he’s doing it, but he’s much calmer and less inclined to have meltdowns after.

I have yet to find a sports program that can handle him. Although he has a high level of athletic ability, mainstream sports require too much cognitive application and team sports require too much communication and social interaction. For now, he swims, climbs, and dances for fun. I recently took him to a martial arts class because I trusted the coach and the coach knows my son. He certainly enjoyed the experience, but he didn’t understand why he was punching and kicking the heavy bags and he doesn’t like to stand in line.

Above, watch Steele’s son in his first Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) class.

Kids like my son need much more one-on-one instruction at the beginning and they will learn faster if they are shown what to do rather than told. The other kids will accept these kids, strange behavior and all, if the coach sets the tone. Those aren’t major modifications and they could make all the difference. 

I have seen some resistance to creating programs specific to kids with developmental disabilities. I certainly think we should include them in mainstream programs where, when, and if it makes sense. Sports are fun when the challenge is reasonable and the athletes and teams are evenly matched. Yes, there should be winners and losers because there are important life lessons to be learned. If evenly matched means that teams are exclusively made up of kids with developmental disabilities, then we should encourage it. If we can include them into mainstream programs with some adaptations to their training, then we should most definitely do that.

The thing that we should remember about all sports is that we are ultimately competing against ourselves. It’s much easier to define success in general terms that we can all understand, but all participants should celebrate the idea of personal struggles and personal bests.  

A few weeks ago, I was able to see a video that my son’s 3rd grade teacher took. She does a great job of including music and dance in class throughout the day. This is a regular inclusive classroom and we worry about how he’s doing when we’re not around. This video showed him leading the class in a dance to the song Ghostbusters. This is something he’s good at and his teacher recognized the opportunity to play to his strengths in front of his peers. It’s something that kids like him don’t get to experience often and it brought tears to my eyes to see it. That is what sports can do if we get it right.

This school is an exception, unfortunately, but the experience above is one of the reasons he has kids saying, “Hi” to him constantly and why he feels like he belongs.

An estimated 10 million children in the United States between the ages of three and 17 have a developmental disability and that number is rising. These children often have physical, emotional, social, and cognitive challenges that result in a lower health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and much lower sport participation rates than neurologically typical children. Youth sports have proven to increase the HRQoL in children.

Often-overlooked aspects of inclusion are the benefits to the children without disabilities. These children have been found to not only increase their social skills when in the same classroom as diverse students, but also see improvements in leadership, self-esteem, and confidence.

So, why make room for kids with developmental disabilities? Because every kid deserves to feel like they belong somewhere. Sports are uniquely capable of offering this to kids who have more challenges than solutions, more questions than answers, and more places where they don’t belong than those where they do. In short, because everyone wins.

RELATED CONTENT:

• 7 Charts that Show the State of Youth Sports in the US and Why it Matters

• Why Do Kids Play Sports? Back to the Basics

• Seven Steps to Improving Youth Access to Sports

• A New Vision, Platform for Youth Sports in America

The story was originally published here.