To assist readers who have specific interests, the WSF has created a series of research briefs from Go Out & Play: Youth Sports in America.

Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in America is a comprehensive research report that covers a range of topics including how athletic participation impacts children’s health. The report explored a variety of ways that sports involvement intersects with the overall development of girls and boys. Here “health and well-being” are broadly defined to include physical health, emotional health and successful social adaptation in school. The results show that for many U.S. children, athletic participation contributes to general health and body esteem, healthy weight, social relationships, higher quality of life, and educational achievement.

This study measures the nationwide participation rates of girls and boys in exercise and organized team sports. The central focus is on how the intersections among families, schools and communities are related to children’s involvement and interest in athletics and physical activity. Some of the personal and social benefits associated with children’s athletic participation are also identified and discussed. The athletic interests and involvements of girls and boys are examined from childhood through late adolescence, including entry into sport as well as drop-out patterns.

Read the Executive Summary here.

To assist readers who have specific interests, the WSF has created a series of Research Briefs from Go Out and Play on the following topics:

Go Out and Play – Athletic Participation and Children’s Well-Being
Go Out and Play – Entry Into Sports, Dropping Out of Sports
Go Out and Play – Gender Equity in Sports
Go Out and Play – Interest in Sports and Physical Activity
Go Out and Play – Participation in Sports and Exercise Activities
Go Out and Play – Participation in Team or Organized Sport
Go Out and Play – Physical Education
Go Out and Play – Sports, Exercise and Family Life
Go Out and Play – Understudied Populations
Go Out and Play – Conclusion and Policy Recommendations
Go Out and Play – Youth Sports in America – Full Report One Pager

This report examines girls’ level of participation in sports and physical activity in the Boston metropolitan area and its relation to girls’ health. Girls’ sports and physical activity delivery systems, as well as public policy affecting the availability of such systems are reviewed.

Read the Executive Summary here or the full report below.

This report highlights key indicators of the status of both physical activity and health for Hispanic female youth in Texas with particular emphasis on the San Antonio metropolitan area; these indicators are then compared with national averages in order to contextualize the results.

The health of today’s girls is threatened by inactivity. Physical activity plays a significant role to reduce health risks such as obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, breast cancer, unintended pregnancy and lack of self-esteem among others. Hispanic girls are at greater risk than non-Hispanic girls for most of these health risks and more likely to be sedentary. Very little research has focused on the relationship between physical activity and health within the young Hispanic population, with the exception of the groundbreaking Women’s Sports Foundation Report: Minorities in Sports (Sabo, Melnick and Vanfossen, 1989). The current report highlights key indicators of the status of both the status of physical activity and health for Hispanic female youth in the Chicago metropolitan area; these indicators are then compared with national averages in order to contextualize the results.

Wilson Sporting Goods and Co. and the Women’s Sports Foundation have commissioned a major nationwide survey to study the influence of parents and family factors on girls’ participation in sports. The Wilson Report: Moms, Dads, Daughters and Sports marks the first large-scale, nationwide and inter-generational survey of the female sport experience.