October 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 60

YO U T H S P O RTS

Andreatta discovered that his
family priorities changed for the
better. His children's travel sports
teams were shut down, so the family shared more dinners together instead of racing to and from practices
and games almost every night of the
week. His kids eventually rediscovered their love of sports by playing
outside through free play, a lost art
in recent years in the United States.
But despite how much Andreatta
wishes he and other parents would
stick with this slower routine when
it's safe to return to organized
sports, he doubts he will. The reason: Andreatta doesn't believe another quality alternative to travel
sports exists where he lives.
" I hope that recreational leagues
- the leagues that were the foundation of youth sports for so many
years before tourism bureaus and
for-profit organizations got in-

volved - can step up their efforts
and offer a level of play that's
competitive enough, but also sane
enough that people can participate..., " Andreatta says. " This is
a big opportunity for recreational
leagues to step up. "

Embracing Inclusivity
in Youth Sports
Park and recreation professionals
say that the coronavirus response
and recovery provide them with a
chance to emerge as key leaders in
ensuring a more fair, just and inclusive model of youth sports.
In a recent survey by NRPA, the
report for which will be released in
November of 2020, 86 percent of
park and recreation professionals say
their role should include identifying
inequities in access to youth sports.
They also identify that they should
provide coach training on safety and

health for anyone using their sports
facilities (71 percent) and convene
partners to address access gaps to
youth sports (71 percent).
Park and recreation professionals
expressed less interest in managing
permits for other youth sports organizations (43 percent), convening youth
to help design the delivery of youth
sports (41 percent), and administering all youth sports in the community (21 percent). The most significant
challenges they cited in providing
community-based youth sports activities: not enough volunteer coaches
(59 percent) and competing with travel sports leagues (49 percent).
" This is the only country in the
world where you have to spend a
boatload of money and go play all
over the country, " Orlando (Florida) Mayor Buddy Dyer says. " If
you're in Spain, you're just playing
in towns around you.... I do think
it's a municipal government's responsibility to try to make sports
available for every child. "

Overcoming Financial
Obstacles
Many park and recreation officials
say they are rethinking how they
deliver youth sports. But doing so
comes as many face significant
budget cuts and uncertainty about
when and how to return to play.
Nationally, more than half of
park and recreation professionals
(58 percent) expect COVID-19 to
have a significant, detrimental impact on fall programming, according to the NRPA survey. Only 10
percent expect mild or no impact.
" The biggest challenge we're
struggling with [are] the finances, "

According to an NRPA survey, more
than half of U.S. park and recreation
professionals expect COVID-19 to have a
detrimental impact on fall programming.
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October 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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