Public youth sports concerned over pandemic’s lasting effects
CM ICAM O » Growing up in a rough part of Chicago’s South Side, Saint Wilkins figured he was headed for a life on the streets.
The 19-year-old Wilkins has another plan these days — attend college, study psychology and work with children and teenagers. Before he started playing basketball at his local community center, it was a different picture.
“If it wasn’t for the Kroc Center, I’d be gang-banging,” Wilkins said. “I promise you that.”
Today, the Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center is closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, like many youth sports facilities across the United States. In place of bouncing balls and squeaking sneakers, there is silence and uncertainty.
The future of publicly funded youth sports is a growing concern in the sea of problems created by the COVID-19 crisis. Community leaders see a struggling economy leading to lower municipal tax revenue and private donations that help fund their organizations. Rising unemployment means fewer families will be able to afford their programs and fewer slots because of social distancing measures is another financial blow.
There is worry about a group of children being lost to sports forever, both in terms of physical fitness and the personal growth that occurs on neighborhood fields and courts.
“This is an existential threat to the youth sports landscape as we know it,” said Wayne Moss, the executive director of the National Council of Youth Sports.
Recreation centers and parks departments that only recently recovered from the 2008 recession are bracing for another big blow, particularly for poor communities.
“There’s no question that the most significant impacts will be felt in low-income communities,” said Dev Pathik, a leading consultant in the youth sports business and CEO of The Sports Facilities Advisory.
Fueled by travel teams and fancy new facilities, youth sports has become a $22 billion global industry with three-fourths of that in the U.S., according to WinterGreen Research. It’s not unusual for families to spend thousands on trips, fees, coaching and equipment.
When it comes to participation, though, the gap between the haves and havenots is jarring.
Youngsters ages 6 to
18 from low-income families quit sports for financial reasons at six times the rate of their counterparts from wealthy families, a 2019 survey by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative and Utah State’s Families in Sport Lab found. The survey of
1,032 adults with children who played sports also showed wealthier families spend more annually per child on average — $1,099 for high-income homes, $719 for middle income and $476 for low income.
Asked about the effect of the coronavirus shutdown on low-income areas, Moss looked back on the aftermath of the 2008 recesssion.
“As we have these issues, those providers in communities that need it most will also be those providers that likely will go under,” he said. “So without their support, without their systems in those communities, those young people who really need it most likely will again be disproportionately impacted by not having sports.”
The pandemic also presents its own set of challenges beyond any recession, with the need for masks, hand sanitizer and social distancing. Summer camps, for example, are facing reduced enrollment — assuming they are operating — so campers and counselors have enough space.