Policy Call to Action
Create A Youth Sports Public Health Messaging Campaign
Develop and deliver a broad public health messaging campaign aimed at policymakers that highlights both the risks of unregulated, low-quality youth sports and the benefits of well-designed experiences for kids’ overall health and well-being.
→What this looks like when we get it right: Policymakers take action to organize the youth sport sector and begin to position youth sports as an intervention to address critical issues facing youth and communities such as mental health challenges, violence, and social isolation.
→Who can drive this change? Civil Society and Human Rights bodies, including sports coalitions and advocacy groups with supporters including youth sport organizations, school-based sport stakeholders; Data & Research including pediatricians, sports medicine providers, mental health providers, school counselors, public health experts, and universities
Why This Issue
For any policy to take hold, lawmakers need to understand the current state of youth sports and the scope of the problems. Most are unaware that youth sport coach training and quality standards are virtually nonexistent or that this void leads to major issues with access, equity, safety, early dropout, and missed opportunities for youth development.
Now is the time to give policymakers the motivation, messages, and data to drive change.
Getting Started
Connect youth sports to public health outcomes. Since youth sports is largely unregulated, most local, state and federal policymakers seem unaware of the challenges and abuses, and the untapped public health and economic gains achievable through investment in the youth sports system. High-quality sports programming is linked to improvements in youth physical and mental health, prosocial engagement, academic performance, and social connection.
Mobilize advocacy groups to build the case. Coalitions, including sport-based nonprofits, violence prevention networks, children’s rights groups, and public health associations, should use existing data to build powerful, localized case statements. These can position coach training and program quality as solutions tied to policy priorities that legislators already care about.
Link youth sports to key legislative issues. To resonate with policymakers, messaging should explicitly connect youth sport to major public health and social outcomes, such as:
- Youth and adolescent mental health
- Preventative health care and health care cost savings
- Physical inactivity and obesity
- Violence, substance use, and crime prevention
- School engagement and academic outcomes
Highlight the economic and health return on investment. According to Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative, raising youth sport participation from 50.7% to 63.3% would yield an estimated $3 billion in reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety and $53 billion in productivity gains tied to improved physical and mental health among youth. Laureus Sport for Good and other research also demonstrate that sport-based youth development can serve as a powerful tool for violence prevention and positive youth outcomes.
Develop state-specific messaging with research partners. By partnering with universities and think tanks, advocacy groups can tailor messaging to the priorities and language of state legislators and build the case for youth sports reform inclusive of minimum coaching requirements as an investment in the well-being and safety of youth and communities.