Parental Support and Youth Sport Dropout

How involved are you in your child’s sport? Researchers found that when parents attend practices and games, their children are less likely to drop out and attribute more value to sport. A key factor however is that encouragement needs to be positive and supportive rather than feeling like a source of pressure for the child.

Specialization in Youth

Growing up many youth athletes goals and aspirations are to be professional or high performance athletes later in life. This fixation on wanting to be high performance often leads them to want to specialize in sport as early as possible. However, a recent study suggests that to maximize athletic development youth under 12 should avoid…

What is eSport?

With the rise of technology, video games have become an incredibly common past-time for many people all around the world. As technology advances, the lines between what is considered ‘real’ or ‘virtual’ can begin to blur. One example of this is whether or not video games, at a high-level, can be considered sport. This article…

Schools play a key role in supporting youth physical activity

For over a decade now, Canadian children and youth have received an overall physical activity grade of ‘D’ or worse according to the ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity (ParticipACTION, 2022). Only 28% of children and youth currently meet the Canadian Physical Activity guidelines of at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day…

The physical and mental health benefits of youth athletics

Throughout youth a key part of childhood for many people has been sports. Sports are a key part of the schooling experience and create an opportunity for play and have many positive mental and physical benefits. A recent study shows that school athletes often reported higher academic achievement, decreased levels of anxiety and depression, and…

Facilitating physical activity and physical education participation in autistic children and youth

Introduction and context  Participation in physical activity (PA) and physical education (PE) is very important for all children and youth (C&Y) because it helps with physical, social, affective, and cognitive development (Bailey, 2006). Autistic C&Y especially gain from PA and PE as it may help develop their physical and social skills, including cooperation and personal…

Cognitive benefits of exercise in youth

When we think about physical activity we often only think of the physical benefits. Recent research also highlights the cognitive benefits. Exercise can increase blood flow to the learning centers of the brain by up to 30% and has a positive association with academic behaviour in 86% of cases.

Family sport culture impacts participation

In modern times many of us lead busy lives and it can be difficult to encourage youth to find time to participate in sport. Recent research shows that family sport culture has a consistent influence on young people’s sport participation.

What parents and guardians need to know to create positive youth sport experiences

In Canada, youth sport is often coupled with incidences of poor parent or guardian behaviour. News reports of parent or guardian arrests and verbal as well as physical altercations around their children’s youth sporting events are, unfortunately, common (Bell, 2020; Crosier, 2022; Kaufmann et coll., 2019). Further, for many young athletes, dealing with pressuring, loud,…

The intersectional cost of youth sport participation

The increasing cost of youth sport participation has long been a concern for parents and policymakers alike. How issues of affordability show up varies depending upon intersectional realities of income, geography, ability, accessibility of appropriate spaces and more. This blog draws on recent insights from the Change the Game open data portal. We reflect on…