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Maryland pioneers model that brings soccer into high-poverty schools

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TAKOMA PARK, Maryland – It’s 3:40 pm on a fall afternoon, and as classes let out, about 40 children flood into the outdoor patio at Rolling Terrace Elementary School. They come for snacks and soccer and receive life lessons along the way.

On this day, many are antsy to play soccer, tying their free cleats and chatting loudly with friends rather than listening to their mentors discuss what optimism and persistence mean. Lukas Barbieri, a high school student who is the youngest of Rolling Terrace’s soccer mentors, eventually quiets the kids down.

“Does anyone remember what optimism means?” Barbieri asks.

“Helping your friends,” says one child. “Being thoughtful,” adds another.

“Sort of,” Barbieri replies. “Optimism means you have to believe in yourself.”

In a sense, this scene represents what optimism for youth sports looks like.

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Analysis: Serious knee injury among teen athletes grows 26%

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Among the most dreaded injuries in sports, the rate of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries among high school athletes has grown significantly over the past 15 years, according to a new data analysis by organizations collaborating to assess and address the problem of serious knee injuries.      

The National ACL Injury Coalition reviewed injury data for 12 major girls and boys sports over five three-year periods from 2007 to 2022, as supplied by certified athletic trainers in the High School RIO surveillance program. From period one to five, the average annual ACL injury rate grew 25.9% to 7.3 injuries per 100,000 athlete exposures. ACL injuries now represent more than 14% of all injuries involving the knee.  

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The value of sport system design

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The Aspen Institute studied the governance models and ecosystem results in 11 peer countries, with a focus on youth sport participation rates and elite performance – the grassroots and treetops. The countries studied vary in population, geography, culture and forms of government, but all have found success in either youth sports or elite sports, or both.

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MLS exec: Soccer system should work together to compete for best athletes, fans

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Like other professional leagues that are members of Project Play 2024, MLS has come to recognize both the need and the opportunity to introduce programs at the very opposite end of the talent pipeline that delivers their commercial product. Tom Farrey, executive director of the Sports & Society Program, sat down with MLS executive VP and chief engagement officer Sola Winley to ask why.

Olympic and Paralympic commission hears reform ideas

Rewarding National Governing Bodies that best support grassroots sports and tying financial incentives to coach training were among the ideas heard Sept. 6 by an independent commission studying entities that shape the sport ecosystem for 11 million Americans.

The Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics (CSUSOP) was established by Congress in 2020 to study recent reforms after the Larry Nassar sex-abuse scandals and make recommendations for policy changes in governance and oversight of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and its affiliated NGBs. After funding delays, the commission began its work in early 2023 and will deliver a final report to Congress and the public in the spring of 2024.

Project Play Summit recap: Olympic reform panel explores big changes

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – The independent commission set up by Congress to review recent reforms and governance of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and its affiliated National Governing Bodies of sport plans to do so with an eye toward how those organizations fit into and contribute to the larger sport ecosystem, a co-chair of the commission said at the Project Play Summit.

In a livestream session, Dionne Koller discussed the scope of the work of the Commission on the State of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics, and the need for better sports policy. The USOPC and NGBs get their statutory authority from the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, the law that created the current U.S. Olympic system in 1978.