sportstyle

4 • March/April 2023 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com B aby boomers are getting more active. But too many Americans are still inac- tive. Yet overall, the outlook for sports participation and activity is good, with the silver linings darkened by a few storm clouds. ese are the findings from the recently released Sports & Fitness Industry Association's (SFIA) 2023 Sports, Fitness and Leisure Activities Topline Participation, a detailed, comprehensive study filled with easy-to-read and interpret charts that contain news that's both discouraging and encouraging. ere's even a section that reveals sports and fitness participation trends by Baby Boomers (1945-1964), Gen X (1965-1979), Millennials (1980-1999) and Gen Z (2000-present). By the way, 2022 represented the third straight year that fitness participation by the Baby Boomers increased, great news for health and fitness clubs. Of the many categories included one focus is on the number of "inactives" — someone who did not participate in one of the 120 sports and activities measured by the SFIA in 2022. e positive news is that number of inactives is on the decline — the negative news is that the number is still too high. "e good news is the total inactive par- ticipation figure dropped below 70 million people for the first time since 2010," reports SFIA president/CEO Tom Cove. "And even with that, it remains sad, and remarkable, that 68.6 million people – 22.4 percent of the total population – reported doing no physical activities in 2022." Fortunately, for the fih consecutive year physical activity in the U.S. continued to in- crease. Nearly 80 percent of all Americans – 237 million people – participated in at least one physical activity during 2022, a 9.2 percent increase from 2017 and a 1.9 percent increase from 2021. is means that 20 million more people participated in at least one physical activity compared to 2017. Fortunately, there are a number of other posi- tive sports and fitness participation trends in the U.S. Among them is – no surprise – pickleball. says Cove. Other findings: Outdoor soccer is also on a roll. At the same time, team sports overall have not returned to pre-COVID participation levels. e same is true for those fitness activities most connected to a fitness club, such as elliptical training or group cycling. Cove points out that for team sports and fitness it takes time to recover. "is is likely a hangover effect from the pan- demic when indoor and group activities suffered greater participation declines than outdoor and self-directed sports," he says, adding that most team sports displayed a significant decrease in core participation numbers, while seeing significant increases in casual participation. Looking at the three-year changes, outdoor soccer was the only team sport that saw an increase in both total and core participation. Basketball, outdoor soccer, flag football and tackle football all posted three-year total par- ticipation increases of more than 4.5 percent. Basketball had the highest three-year increase — 13 percent All of this points to a conclusion that Americans are making physical activity more of a priority in their daily lives. "Physical activity seems to be more of a pri- ority for Americans today than it was 10 years ago," says Cove. "Every category's participation rate increased except for individual sports, which showed a slight decline." Core active participants – a measure of fre- quency and the SFIA's indicator for an organized or active participant – followed a similar trend, also increasing for a fih straight year. Core participation has increased by 10.1 percent since 2017, or by just under 15 million participants. Nearly 160 million people in the U.S. were considered core participants in 2022. Racquet sports had the largest gain in par- ticipation in 2022, increasing by 17.6 percent – around eight million participants – from 2021. Every racquet sport that SFIA tracks displayed increases in 2022, with pickleball leading the way with that astonishing 85.7 percent year- to-year growth. Team sports participation continued to re- cover from the large drop they sustained in 2020 due to the pandemic. e team sports participation rate increased to 23.2 percent in 2022, which is just under the 2019 level of 23.4 percent. n THERE'S GOOD AND BAD NEWS FOR SPORTS PARTICIPATION IN AMERICA. BY MIKE MAY THE 'BIG PICTURE' FOR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY Americans are making physical activity more of a priority in their daily lives. TREND The pickleball craze is alive and well, still the fastest growing sport in the United States and participation almost doubled in 2022, increasing by 85.7 percent year-over-year and by an astonishing 158.6 percent over three years.

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