By james art
ASSOCIATED PRES
WASHINGTON — Overall, kids and teens playing sports are up, although participation among boys is down, according to an annual survey released Wednesday.
Girls’ participation was at its highest level since at least 2012, in part because of the phenomenal rise of Indiana Fever star Kaitlin Clark, who has made youth want to play basketball, according to an Aspen Institute study.
The group said the National Survey of Children’s Health, administered through the U.S. Census Bureau, found that 53.8 percent of youth ages 6-17 played sports in 2022.
The Sports and Fitness Industry Association, which tracks youth sports participation, found in 2023 that there was a 6% increase in young people regularly participating in team sports, which it says is the highest percentage (39.8% ) since 2015.
However, the SFIA data found that only 41% of boys took part in sport regularly in 2023, down from 10 years earlier when half of all boys took part.
Federal government data also shows a decline in boys over the past decade, though not as steep, according to the study.
Thirty-four percent of girls ages 6-12 participated and 38% of girls ages 13-17 participated in a sport in 2023, higher than in any recent year dating back to at least 2012.
Tom Cove, SFIA senior adviser and former president/CEO, said the change was significant and “it’s a mystery to me why.”
Cove speculates that making teams has become more difficult and that when boys fail, they stop playing. Girls, he said, don’t get cut as often as boys.
“My feeling is that youth sports has become a self-fulfilling prophecy around travel and competition and there aren’t enough places to play when they get cut,” Cove said.
Black children are playing sports less than they used to, while Hispanics are increasing. SFIA data shows that 35% of black youth aged 6-17 participated regularly in sports in 2023, down from 45% in 2013, when black children played more often than their white peers. White, Hispanic, and Asian American children were more likely to play sports in 2023 than black youth.
The study said the increase among girls may be due in part to Clark’s performance on the court.
“Her deep shooting range inspires younger players and could change the women’s game the way NBA star Stephen Curry changed the men’s game more than a decade ago,” the study said.