sportstyle

40 • January/February 2024 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com TEAM core versus casual sports participants. e number of core team sports participants, those playing 13 or more days for some team sports or 26 or more days/annually for other team sports, continued to slip as the number of casual participants increased by 7.9 percent to 45.3 million, its highest total over the last five years. What's more, year-over-year, core participa- tion in team sports fell to 25.4 million, down 3.4 percent and 12.7 percent, or 3.7 million, below the 29.1 million core participants recorded in 2019. Declines in Core Players Seven major team sports – baseball, tackle football, lacrosse, indoor soccer, slow-pitch soball, track and field and wrestling – suffered double-digit declines in core participation be- tween 2019 and 2022. For most team sports, player retention and converting casual play- ers into core players is key to reversing this downward trend. "e demonstrable interest in playing team sports in America is fueled by a variety of factors, including wanting to be physically active, but also the recognition that playing team sports is good for mental health," says Tom Cove, SFIA president and CEO. "At a base level, young people are returning to youth sports because it is a great opportunity to have fun with their friends. We should not lose sight of this simple fact as we strive to deliver appropriate sports programming." Among the other findings of the report: • Aggregate team sports participation also trended positively in 2022, increasing by 3.6 million participants. This means, for example, if a participant plays soccer and baseball, they count twice in the numbers. is year's was the largest in the last decade, and the first time in five years this number did not decrease. • is positive trend is due to the largest team sports – basketball, outdoor soccer, flag foot- ball and tackle football – all having increased levels of participation. Efforts to promote early sport sampling and less single-sport specialization should be encouraged. • ere's very promising news to report among children ages 6-17. e SFIA re- search shows that both the 6-to-12 and 13-to-17 age groups saw total team sports participation levels increase from 2021 to 2022. Foundationally, this is good news for the sports and fitness industry for two reasons, First, the health of team sports depends on youth participation much more than other categories, like running and health club activities. Second, from a longer-term view, youth sports participation is historically a gateway for Americans to be physically active over their lifetimes. "It is great news that youth team sports participation levels have increased, which creates a good foundation for team sports and is the first step in cultivating a love to play at a young age," adds Cove. "e important part now is taking those new participants and converting them into core team sports players and allowing their passion and com- mitment to sports to be fulfilled." As an aside, outdoor soccer is the only team sport that had an increase in core participation from 2019-2022. "Soccer is poised for a terrific future, starting with it being the only sport to grow in core participation in past three years, and then welcoming massive attention and excitement from global soccer events taking place in the United States in 2024 (Copa America), 2025 (FIFA Club World Cup), 2026 (FIFA Men's World Cup), and 2028 (Los Angles Summer Olympic Games)," adds Cove. Two other growth areas: Flag football (male and female) and volleyball. n Football is one of the seven team sports that suffered a decline in core participation.

• Cover