BMO Sports Survey: Why More Kids Don’t Play Organized Sports

While the majority of parents agree that youth sports promote confidence and good health, they feel there are three key barriers to having children participate. Foremost, 87 per cent of parents agree that the costs associated with these activities are a major hurdle to participation, according to a new BMO Sports Survey. Those parents who know what proportion of their budget goes towards sports typically say between one and five per cent of their household budget is dedicated to their children’s sports activities, while 13 per cent of parents said they spend more than five per cent.

The BMO Sports Survey also found:

  • Three-quarters of parents (74 per cent) believe that putting children in a sports activity can add another burden to their already hectic weekly family schedule.
  • Almost half of parents (49 per cent) agree that access to – or quality of – sports facilities are barriers to participation within their community, citing access to fields and poor field quality as examples.

“It’s important that our children have every possible opportunity to be physically fit, and our survey has highlighted some of the main reasons preventing them from participating in sports,” said Sandy Bourne, Vice-President, Corporate Advertising & Sponsorships, BMO Financial Group. “Programs like BMO Team of the Week are hopefully making it easier for children to have access to soccer in their local communities.”

According to recent data from ParticiPACTION, only seven per cent of Canada’s children and youth are meeting the recommended guidelines for daily activity, with overall participation in sports by youth aged 15 -18 declining from 77 per cent to 59 per cent since 1992.

3 Comments

  1. We think a more inclusive community sport and recreation model, providing state of the art outdoor sport and recreation facilities may provide part of the answer to the alarming decline of participation by youth age 15 and over. By that we mean nature parcs that provide a multi-sport and recreation facilities IN ONE PLACE, designed intentionally for each age group, providing grassroots to olympic level making it a place of fun and wellness. We are working the details of such a model and we hope to announce our nature park development plans soon. For more details, please contact me, Fred Farha, Founder, Investor, Promoter and CEO, FAMILY NATURE PARCS INC., Ottawa, Email: http://www.fred@fundmore.com

    Reply
  2. I find it surprising that 87% of parents cite “costs ” as a major barrier to enrolling their children in organized sports. Perhaps, being Canadian, the anecdotal “Hockey is an expensive sport” had a bearing on the survey results.

    A recent canvas of our Little Leagues across Canada show enrolment costs are generally less than $100 for children aged 5 to 12, and most have a family plan to lower costs for more than one child. Regardless of that, ALL Little Leagues are open to all children regardless of the family’s ability to pay. That is a standard practice for Little League around the world. Any child can be enrolled at no cost to the family.

    Part of the problem is being able to communicate these things to the community at large. Traditional methods are expensive for local leagues (mailouts, or blanket newspaper inserts or newspaper ads) and other successful methods have been eliminated by changes in policy. For example, many leagues successfully reached children and parents by dropping flyers off for each child in elementary schools; in many regions, schools and school boards no longer allow this, or even posting one information poster in the school. It is very difficult to reach all the children in any other fashion.

    We are trying to create national awareness of Little League and other Canadian baseball programs through PSA’s produced by the Toronto Blue Jays, and we continue to seek alternative methods to reaching out to the most children at a cost that we can afford.

    Roy Bergerman, President
    Little League Canada

    Reply
  3. Roy,
    You make a very important point. Awareness and education is critical. Your landmark deal with the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this spring is truly a partnership that will create an awareness as well as revenue to support your “every child can play” concept. This is why Little League is so successful and I commend you on that success.
    I agree, parents need to know the costs and lack of awareness of such lower costs in baseball or soccer or swimming (at younger levels) versus the more expensive sports with major equipment. But often the costs are not the “entry level” costs, but instead the ancillary costs such as tournaments, travel and accommodations to events, meets and tournaments. And that is where the team or club needs to be able to also sell sponsorship successfully to fundraise and remove the traditional “selling chocolate bars” to parent’s friends and coworkers.
    My six year old (soon to be seven in a couple of weeks) daughter plays entry level baseball. She also soccer and has played Timbit soccer for 4 years. Her first year in soccer was $51. It was eight games, included socks, a tournament, ball cap, pictures, Tim Horton’s water bottle and knapsack as well as wind up party. That is pretty good value for $51! Baseball this year is 16 games, includes a tournament, pictures, training, games, jersey and all the fields and equipment. It too is a really good deal.
    There are opportunities out there. We just need to ensure that the messaging and education that “sport is not necessarily expensive” and illustrate examples to ensure the “cost barrier” is not a factor.
    One last point, sport and exercise is essential to our health and that of our children. What price tag should we put on our children’s health to claim “sport is too expensive”?

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