October 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 63

Park and recreation professionals cite lack
of volunteer coaches and competing with
travel sports leagues as their biggest barriers to oﬀering community-based youth
sports activities.

Even before the pandemic,
Charlton says he constantly tried to
change public perception that the
best youth football coaches are in
private programs, not in parks and
recreation leagues.
" At the end of the day, this is
only recreational and it's honing and starting kids' familiarity
with the sport, " says Charlton, a
former college football and NFL
player. " Kids don't really know
who and what they are until they
get to high school. "

Inclusivity Builds
Conﬁdence
For more than five years, Nate
Baldwin led youth sports programming for the Appleton (Wisconsin)
Parks and Recreation Department.
The department's youth participation in four sports (basketball,
baseball, soccer and flag football)
increased by 70 percent from 2014
until early 2020, including gains of
188 percent in basketball and more
than 100 percent in baseball.
Baldwin grew community-based
participation by focusing on quality programming and not ceding
ground to travel teams. While travel teams spun inclusion at recreation programs as a negative, Baldwin opted to sell it as a strength.
His pitch: Regardless of someone's
financial background, ability, size
or experience level, there was a
place for that child in recreation
programming.
" We have some really talented
players, " Baldwin says. " But inclusion means giving kids some really
unique ways to develop their confidence, sense of empathy, mentor-

ship capability and leadership instead of participating in a program
where you're one of 10 clones. "
Baldwin, who no longer works
at Appleton, sees a unique opportunity for parks and recreation departments to play a major role in
establishing a more inclusive youth
sports model.
" They might get the initial wave
of kids who can't afford the elite
sports experience, " he says. " But
if they don't take this seriously
and provide an experience to stick
around for, that's going to be short
lived. I think there will be a gravitation back to community-based
leagues and they need to seize on
that opportunity. "

A Turning Point
Myisha Owens, the coordinator of
Broadview Park District in Illinois
and the mom of a 13-year-old girl
who plays multiple sports, understands firsthand this opportunity
for greater inclusion. Broadview
Park District, which operates seven
parks and three facilities, is opened

for kids who need access to WiFi
for virtual learning during the
pandemic. It's a partnership with
the local schools, which includes
lunches and breakfast, and a way
to help working parents.
" We're not only the park district, we're the school, " Owens
says. " Once the school day is over,
they'll still have recreation with
[park district staff]. "
Since the pandemic started, Owens has noticed many more kids
utilizing parks. They're walking,
riding bikes, exercising on fields,
shooting hoops, jumping rope and
riding skateboards.
" We used to beg and plead for
people to come out and get involved, and a lot of parents said
their kids didn't want to come
because they were playing video
games and watching YouTube, "
Owens says. " We were asking,
'What can we do for you?' Now
they're asking us what we have
for them. "
Jon Solomon is Editorial Director of the Aspen Institute's
Project Play initiative (jon.solomon@aspeninstitute.org).

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October 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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