Youth Sports Framework

At NRPA, we believe all children — no matter their race, ethnicity, gender identity, ability, age, household income or interests — deserve access to high-quality youth sports opportunities.​​ Parks and recreation is critical to advancing this vision. Local park and recreation agencies reach more than 40 million youth each year, with the majority of agencies (92 percent) providing youth with opportunities to play sports. As one of the largest providers of youth sports in the nation and the leading provider of youth sports facilities, park and recreation professionals are catalysts for increasing access to youth sports in communities nationwide, offering affordable, fun, inclusive and multisport options that level the playing field and promote positive youth development.

When kids play sports, they grow up healthier, develop essential social and emotional skills and are more likely to succeed in school and in their future careers.

• Children who participate in sports grow up healthier — and the physical benefits of sports follow kids into adulthood, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and building lifelong healthy habits.

• Sports improve children’s mental health and provide opportunities to develop social and emotional skills. Kids who regularly participate in physical activity feel happier, develop self-awareness, have confidence in themselves, and learn skills like teamwork, communication, decision making and goal setting,

• Sports help children build the skills they need to succeed in school and in their careers. Research shows that students who participate in sports are more likely to attend college and complete degrees, gain employment when beginning their careers, and serve in leadership roles.

Research demonstrates that youth engaged in sports are more likely to be physically active, report lower levels of depression and perform better academically. Participation in sports provides youth with increased opportunities to build essential skills such as self esteem, self awareness, goal setting, positive communication and leadership. Despite the well-documented physical, social and mental health benefits of youth sports, according to the 2020-2021 National Survey of Children’s Health, only 50 percent of children and adolescents ages 6-17 participate in a youth sports team in the past year. For the first time, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has set a nationwide goal to increase participation in youth sports to 63 percent by 2030.

NRPA envisions a future in which all youth have access to high-quality, affordable, fun, welcoming, and multi-sport opportunities that level the playing field and promote positive youth development. Parks and recreation has a critical role to play in achieving this vision.

Millions of kids play their first sport in their local park, yet there are still significant challenges in accessing youth sports opportunities. According to  Project Play’s State of Play 2024 :

Through the  Healthy People 2030  program, the federal government set the first national target for youth sports participation:  63 percent by the year 2030.  We are a long way from reaching that goal, with sports participation declining and  lingering just above 50 percent. 

To help reach this goal and advance our vision, NRPA developed the Youth Sports Framework, guiding park and recreation professionals through five key pathways to improve access to youth sports and increase participation. The framework is derived from NRPA research, key findings from the evaluation of more than 25 NRPA-supported youth sports projects in communities and input and guidance from park and recreation professionals and national youth sports experts. The five pathways include:

1. Changing Policies and Practices
2. Recruiting and Training Coaches
3. Engaging Youth Voice
4. Amplifying Communications
5. Building Partnerships

The framework outlines systems change approaches that park and recreation professionals can implement within each pathway to reduce barriers to sports, increase participation, improve the quality of programming, and ensure all kids can play. Systems change approaches include a focus on changing and adopting new mindsets, relationships and connections, power dynamics, policies, programs and practices, resource flows and infrastructure.  Case studies highlighting successful models are also provided.

Improving access to youth sports requires an intentional focus on eliminating barriers to youth sports and shifting existing conditions to level the playing field. Park and recreation agencies can use several strategies to better understand the current conditions, identify opportunities and actions to change them, and implement systems change approaches that prioritize fairness within their youth sports system. Strategies include:

• Conducting assessments of youth sports operations, programs and spaces
• Developing action plans
• Changing permitting processes and fee structures
• Ensuring fair access to essential community infrastructure, including sports facilities and space

A youth sports assessment provides an opportunity to assess the current state of an agency’s youth sports system and identify gaps and opportunities to change the current conditions. An assessment should examine youth sports policies, operations, programs, facilities, communications, norms and power structures, asking key questions about the current state of these conditions to identify what needs to change moving forward.

Findings from the assessment should be used to build an action plan. What steps will your agency take to close the gaps identified during the equity assessment? An action plan supports agencies in prioritizing actions, dedicating resources, maintaining accountability and tracking progress toward advancing youth sports equity priorities.

Defining objectives using the SMART acronym (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound) is a helpful way to identify actions that advance youth sports goals and establish clear targets and timelines with an equity and inclusion lens. Objectives should be established and then broken down into smaller action steps to meet your goals.

Explore  NRPA's SMART goals resource  to begin creating actionable goals.

Permitting refers to the practice of controlling the use of courts, fields and other sports facilities. Park and recreation agencies manage facilities that are used by a variety of groups for sports, including schools, travel leagues, faith-based groups and more. This puts the ‘power of the permit’ in their hands for deciding who has access and when.

Permitting can help ensure that third-party groups using sports facilities meet safety, conduct, coach training and injury prevention requirements. Implementing a permitting fee can also help cover facility maintenance costs. Because permitting gives agencies an opportunity to protect access to sports facilities, priority should be given to programs that provide sport opportunities for youth who face barriers to access.

Municipalities often face pressure from private, well-resourced groups interested in accessing facilities, but they can take steps to ensure policies provide a fair opportunity for all to access facilities. NRPA recommends developing a written policy that governs how an agency permits its facilities. Some considerations for ensuring fairness in permitting practices are below.

 Project Play’s State of Play 2024  found that 25 percent of kids ages 6 to 17 from homes with $25,000 or less played sports on a regular basis, compared to 44 percent of kids from homes with an income of more than $100,000.

While cost is dramatically impacting kids’ access to youth sports, more than one-third of park and recreation agencies do not offer reduced fees for lower-income residents to participate in youth sports programs, and only 10 percent of agencies use a sliding scale based on household income. Registration fees, in addition to expenses like equipment, transportation and uniforms, can create a barrier for many families.

All people deserve access to park and recreation programs, facilities and places — which includes essential spaces and community infrastructure for physical activity. Yet, due to a history of unfair systems, policies and practices, many people face additional barriers to accessing and benefiting from high-quality park and recreation spaces and programs, including youth sports opportunities. Unfair systems can create access challenges like:

• High-quality fields, courts, athletic facilities and other essential infrastructure (e.g., lighting, comfort stations and shade structures) flourish in some neighborhoods and don't exist in others.
• Fields/courts/facilities are permitted to private sports organizations during prime hours when community members could be utilizing the space.
• Routes to athletic facilities don’t allow for safe, fair access.
• Infrastructure improvements, new facilities and maintenance dollars are unfairly distributed.
• All community members are not engaged in decision making regarding investments in new facilities and spaces.
• Necessary equipment and uniforms for participation is high cost or unavailable to some communities.

Youth sports coaches play a pivotal role beyond influencing the scoreboard. Coaches are a major factor in shaping kids’ youth sports experience and remain one of the top reasons why a child may decide to stop playing sports. Beyond keeping children safe on the field and improving athletic skills, well-trained coaches help participants gain self-confidence and build critical skills and attitudes, like leadership and teamwork, self-awareness, appreciation and respect for others, emotional regulation, and responsible decision making. That’s why training coaches to understand and embed youth development best practices alongside safety and injury prevention is critical — that way park and recreation agencies can develop and retain quality coaches who support holistic and positive youth development and encourage children to stick with sports.

A thoughtful and well-rounded approach is required to cultivate coaches and create the sustainable, long-term coaching infrastructure needed to advance positive youth development outcomes through sports. Park and recreation agencies should leverage a multipronged approach to build an equipped and effective coaching program. Addressing barriers expressed by coaches — for example, not feeling qualified to lead a team — along with intentionally fine-tuning recruitment and retention techniques to build a qualified pipeline of coaches must be key areas of focus for park and recreation professionals. Working to ensure coaches are representative of the community your agency serves is an important step in growing your coaching pipeline and ensuring all youth can relate to coaches.

Developing a recruitment plan can help increase the number of trained youth sports coaches.

• Set recruitment goals.
  • Set measurable recruitment objectives for coach recruitment (using the SMART acronym).
• Develop recruitment materials that include expectations and FAQs.
  • Include powerful messaging and talking points that invite more people in.
  • Include a wide range of images and welcoming language in marketing materials.
• Market the opportunity and think creatively.
  • Leverage partners to spread the word and promote across a variety of channels.
  • Incorporate impact stories and engage current coaches to help promote.
  • Attend community gatherings and local events to garner interest or host your own recruitment events.
  • Focus on the pipeline of coaches (e.g., create opportunities for young people to build coaching skills and gain experience).
  • Tap into local resources like businesses, employers, older student athletes and higher education institutions to engage more coaches.

Equally important to coach recruitment is coach retention. Some strategies to retain youth sports coaches include:

• Provide training for coaches to build their skills and confidence as community leaders.
• Foster a supportive and team-oriented environment (e.g., mentorship between new/returning coaches).
• Clearly communicate expectations via a signed coaching agreement or handbook.
• Ask for feedback regularly from coaches and youth — and make program improvements based on input.
• Recognize and celebrate the contributions of coaches and incentivize coaching (e.g., discount for participating in sports or park and recreation activities).

Establishing minimum training requirements for all coaches and developing a coach training program that provides training on key youth development concepts, plus application of those concepts in youth sports settings, is a key factor in increasing access to youth sports and improving the quality of youth sports programs. Ensuring training is available at no cost and offered at times when adults can participate can also reduce barriers to participation.

Training on integrating mentoring and conflict resolution strategies, as well as training specific to certain populations (girls, youth with disabilities, etc.), can also improve the quality of youth sports programs to ensure coaches embrace people-first approaches and promote positive youth development outcomes.

A coach training plan should outline minimum training requirements and expectations, goals of the training program and anticipated learning outcomes, and training policies (e.g., how often coaches need to renew training).

Park and recreation leaders can also consider how to require training from third-party groups using park and recreation facilities and how to provide training to parents/caregivers to ensure parents support and reinforce positive sport environments.

Centering youth voice is essential for fostering a positive and inclusive environment. Giving young people the opportunity to contribute and make decisions helps youth feel like they belong, they are valued and their opinions matter. Cultivating space for youth voice also helps ensure your programs are grounded in what youth want and need, which encourages youth to fully engage in your programs and provides them the opportunity to develop key leadership skills.

Asking for and gathering youth input is a strategy that can be used to get honest feedback and new ideas. Agencies can use surveys, conduct focus groups or gather real-time feedback during youth sports programs. Ensure the questions you are asking are age appropriate, culturally appropriate, and take factors like attention span and survey fatigue into consideration. Use their feedback to make improvements and address their wants and needs.

Youth sports provide a great opportunity for young people to build essential skills and help prepare them for future careers and leadership roles. Consider how you can develop leadership opportunities for all youth to inform your youth sports programs, especially youth whose voices often go unheard or are underrepresented.

Bias against youth based on a belief that adults are better, know more or have more skills is called ‟adultism.” Like other forms of bias, adultism can create barriers to empowering youth and creating an environment where youth can and will want to contribute.

Young people can lead, innovate and express themselves, and they know what they need to meet their needs. Support and guidance from adults can be helpful but should not overpower youth. Knowing what adultism is, challenging it when it shows up and constantly reflecting on how this decision/activity/opportunity supports young people can help eliminate these biases.

Promoting parks and recreation as a leading provider of high-quality, ​fun and welcoming youth sports opportunities that provide multiple physical, social and emotional health benefits for youth is key to changing existing beliefs and mindsets within the youth sports system. This will also support increasing participation and generating long-term, sustainable support for community recreation programs.

Strong and consistent narratives and storytelling can help reach new audiences and stakeholders, build a network of allies and supporters, and drive new partnerships and investments. Communications can also provide a platform for sharing youth sports values and priorities to report progress toward goals, ensure transparency and maintain accountability.

Identifying your target audience is a key first step in building a communications or advocacy plan to increase engagement and investment in youth sports. When thinking about your audience, consider:

• How to reach all families, with a focus on families who have historically faced barriers to youth sports programs.
• Who are the decision-makers you need to influence to shift the current conditions within the youth sports system? What are their beliefs about youth sports?
• What does the audience value as it relates to youth sports?
• What beliefs do I need to change or influence across audiences (e.g., parents, coaches and youth)?
• What are the barriers families face to youth sports participation?
• What is the call to action?

Develop key messaging to promote parks and recreation as a leading provider of high-quality, fun and welcoming youth sports opportunities that provide multiple physical, social and emotional benefits for youth. Messaging may differ across audiences so ensure priority audiences are involved in developing key messages. Based on research, we know that families care about:

• The positive, lifelong impact of youth sports on the futures of youth
• The mental and physical health benefits of youth sports
• Ensuring youth have fun

Policymakers, elected officials or other community decision-makers may care about different priorities like the economic value of youth sports, healthcare cost savings, reelection, etc. Tailoring messages to fit the audience’s priorities is important to connect with them.

Identifying and building trusted relationships with key community messengers can help you reach your target audience and tell more powerful stories. Key messengers represent community members who have historically faced barriers to youth sports. These individuals or organizations can also help develop messaging and advise or make decisions regarding your youth sports system and programs. Know that building trust requires time, energy, a long-term commitment and an investment in relationship building. It also requires acknowledging past indiscretions and failures, inviting shared leadership and decision making, and delivering on promises. If you are going to engage community members, make sure to listen deeply, compensate partners, allocate time, leverage skills and be accountable.

Developing and implementing a formal youth sports public awareness, marketing or advocacy campaign is another strategy to drive engagement and participation. Establishing target goals, key performance indicators and an evaluation plan to measure campaign progress is key. Consider your audience, who/where they go to for information and how they like to communicate, and lead with your core messaging and call to action. Engage a variety of allies and stakeholders, and use a variety of methods to reach diverse audiences. Campaign activities may include posting flyers and banners, using paid media and social media, hosting public events, etc. Ensure all materials are inclusive and accessible.

Utilize NRPA’s research, communications and advocacy resources to amplify the role of your park and recreation youth sports and advance a more holistic communications approach.

• Explore NRPA’s dedicated  youth sports in parks and recreation website .
• Review best practices for engaging parents and caregivers in youth sports opportunities.
• Get  training and support on local grassroots advocacy approaches  that can strengthen youth sports systems.
• Explore  relevant research  with key data points to help make the case for youth sports investments.

Partnerships between park and recreation agencies and other organizations in the community can help ramp up youth sports resources and programming, close access barriers and increase engagement in exponential ways. Partnerships can help you implement, expand and/or sustain your programming and achieve specific programmatic and impact goals by leveraging the partner’s experience, expertise, skills and resources.

Common partners include community members, schools, nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations (e.g., BGCA and YMCA), local neighborhood groups/associations, private youth sports organizations, local businesses, funders/donors, faith-based organizations, professional and collegiate sports teams, and more. When building partnerships, consider nontraditional partners and those that have strengths and assets that may complement your agency’s strengths and resources.

Community members, including youth, are key partners. Without representation of the community in program design and decision-making processes, youth sports opportunities may not meet the community’s needs and desires.

Partnerships may take different forms. For example, some partners may choose to establish a formal agreement outlining roles, responsibilities and commitments of partners, while others may not. Successful partnerships are equitable and mutually beneficial. Building trust with partners is critical to success. Without trust, partners may be hesitant to engage and contribute.

Before reaching out to potential partners, explore these key considerations:

• What needs does your youth sports system have that can be filled by a community partner?
• What community partnerships already exist (youth sports coalition, etc.)? How do these partnerships align with our values and equity priorities?
• What gaps do we have in our existing partnerships (e.g., lack of representation from community-based or cultural groups)?
• What aspects of our programming can be strengthened through collaboration with a partner?
• What can our agency offer a potential partner? Who has capacity to manage the partnership?
• What actions do we need to take to build trust with a potential partner?

Park and recreation agencies are leaders in promoting access to youth sports and ensuring all kids have the opportunity to play, grow and thrive in their communities. By focusing on advancing key systems change approaches, park and recreation professionals can continue to create accessible, welcoming, fun and high-quality youth sports opportunities for all kids. We hope that this framework will provide you with strategies, ideas and examples to remove barriers to youth sports in your community and maximize the impact of parks and recreation on community well-being.

About NRPA The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) is the leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to building strong, vibrant and resilient communities through the power of parks and recreation. With more than 60,000 members, NRPA advances this mission by investing in and championing the work of park and recreation professionals and advocates — the catalysts for positive change in service of equity, climate-readiness, and overall health and well-being. Authors and Contributors

• Allison Colman, Senior Director of Programs, National Recreation and Park Association
• Charissa Hipp, Marketing and Engagement Manager, National Recreation and Park Association
• Paula Jacoby-Garrett,
• Kellie May, Chief Partnerships Officer, National Recreation and Park Association
• Brian McFadden, Program Manager, National Recreation and Park Association
• Teresa Morrissey, Senior Program Manager, National Recreation and Park Association
• Vitisia Paynich, Director of Print and Online Content, National Recreation and Park Association
• Rosa Riley, Program Specialist, National Recreation and Park Association
• Meagan Yee, Manager of Online Content, National Recreation and Park Association

NRPA would like to thank  Musco Lighting  for its generous support of this project.