Rec Sports

Parents: When you’re eating a ham sandwich on the soccer sidelines at 3 p.m., is it time to reevaluate your life?

Welcome to May-cember, my friends, the month in which parents relinquish all earthly responsibilities to spend more hours than a five-star Uber driver in their car or else idle in grim middle school gyms, holding iPhones in the air like lighters at a Phish concert, scouring for reliable Wi-Fi. Get Starting Point A guide through […]

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1 month ago

May 23, 2025

Your Sports Nation

“I have a hard time understanding how sports trump sleep and health. Full stop,” says Arlington’s Dana Lynne Varga, a mom of two neurodivergent elementary schoolers. Both play spring sports. The games start late and run long, upending dinner and crucial downtime.

“I expressed my frustration with the late start times for games for kids so young and was met with lots of camaraderie and a lot of ‘get over it.’ … The late games are a huge lift,” she says.

Her kids’ routines are disrupted; everyone is grouchy. She understands that many coaches are volunteers who can’t arrive until evening — they double as working parents! — but this means that games seem to finish when bars close. She‘s reconsidering her kids’ participation in certain sports because it’s untenable.

What’s going on here? Do kids with extracurriculars belong to a leisure class of parents with ultra-flexible jobs — or no jobs at all — with infinite time to chauffeur, cheer, and coach? Don’t the Sports Gods know that people work?

“In my town, it feels like [sports are] social hour for parents who have too much free time: It’s a battle of judgment on both sides, which is so unfair and ultimately makes kids feel like they aren’t as supported as other kids. I think youth sports organizations need to better support families,” says one Freetown parent.

Organized sports are increasingly becoming the realm of the well-off, with parents who can afford to pay hefty club fees and maintain autonomous schedules.

A recent study of US sports participation over the last 60 years from Ohio State University found a significant increase in kids playing organized sports, particularly among more privileged, educated families.

The study found that about 70 percent of Americans born in the ’90s, reaching age 18 by 2015-16, said they took part in organized sports through recreational, school, or club teams, while slightly more than half of those born in the ’50s reported participating in organized youth sports.

However: For kids born in the ’50s, there were few class differences in who played organized sports. For kids born in the ’90s, the share of those who played organized sports were 24 percentage points higher when they had a college-educated parent. The average family paid $883 annually for one child‘s primary sport in 2022, according to Project Play by the Aspen Institute.

“For most of us who are single parents, poverty, a lack of time, an always messy home, a lack of support in emergencies, and loneliness is enough of a burden. We don’t need the responsibility of providing more play and activity as well to keep our kids at a baseline level of health. The ironic thing is that most schools have plenty of playground space and wouldn’t have to do much to provide the physical activity kids need to be healthy. I truly hope someone takes this seriously at some point,” says Cambridge’s Pam Cash.

One interesting factoid: This disparity is particularly noticeable for kids ages 6-12, where sports participation in homes earning $100,000 or more increased 6 percent from 2023 to 2024 — but actually declined 2 percent for the wealthiest youth ages 13-17.

Why? Too much pressure, maybe. Instead of choosing one sport, some kids are loading up on two or three. Or else they’re specializing in one sport so narrowly, competing on so many teams with so many conflicting schedules, that they’re run ragged before they’re old enough to drive to a 9 p.m. practice themselves.

“These kids are often being fed sports with a fire hose,” said Tom Farrey, Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program executive director. “There is lots of pressure on them to play one sport year-round, traveling all over the place. Some are burning out or are just too injured to continue playing.”

Their parents are burned out, too, and this is true even for activities that kids enjoy. Westwood‘s Patrick French found time to weigh in on the extracurricular conundrum mid-afternoon, while driving his son to an a cappella lesson. Both he and his wife have full-time jobs with on-site components; she serves on their town’s school committee, and he performs in community plays. Their teens participate in soccer (school and club), theater, and voice. Occasionally, the couple finds time to watch a TV show; they’re midway through four different series and will finish one, hopefully “The Wire,” when they find time.

I ask French how we got here. I tell him that I remember my own childhood — when the highlight of my week was riding a pink Huffy to New London Style Pizza with my best friend, Vicky, and when extracurricular activities were held right after school, at the school. Seems quaint now.

“We’re often signing our kids up for all these structured activities in the hopes that, by doing all these things, they’re going to continue to really develop as human beings,” he says. “I think it’s probably peer pressure. If you’re not participating in as many things, then maybe, in some ways, you’re worried about your kid being left out.”

FOMO is real. Parents who weighed in for this piece underscored that the meteoric rise of club sports — with weekends-long travel tournaments in towns you’ve never heard of, often populated by college recruiters — are a presumed necessity for kids who long to compete at a higher level. Which, fine: But for every budding Jayson Tatum, there are thousands of anonymous athletes riding the bench and devouring 12 straight nights of Chipotle while their parents do off-camera Zoom calls from a hot spot in the parking lot.

Then there’s the mental load: the logistics, the carpool strategizing, the remembering which bag goes with whose cleats and which car goes to which field. New research from the University of Bath and the University of Melbourne, published in the Journal of Marriage & Family, reminds us that mothers overwhelmingly carry this mental load.

The study found that American moms take on seven in 10 of all household mental load tasks, ranging from planning meals and arranging activities to managing household finances. This comes as no surprise to any mother who has six different league-scheduling apps on her phone, a carpool text thread with 12 unknown numbers, and a rickety foldable chair with a cup holder rattling in her trunk, ready for action.

Emily Sheff, an assistant professor of nursing at Rivier University, has a PhD in burnout among nursing faculty. Expertise aside, the Bedford, N.H., mom is a work in progress as she navigates extracurriculars for her teenagers; in fact, she transitioned to a work-from-home teaching position to keep up with their schedules.

To maintain some shred of balance, Sheff wakes up at 5:10 a.m. for a morning boot camp to meet friends.

“That’s where we stress about our days ahead. I need to have fellow moms and friends in the trenches with me, and it helps to debrief and de-stress,” she says.

Meanwhile, pulling her kids from activities — even inconveniently timed ones — doesn’t feel like an option, either. Success favors the flexible.

“Then they miss out on an opportunity, which leads into the tryouts in two months, and that means they don’t make the team,” she says. “What I’ve been doing for the past 17 years is just taking on the burden, and then once every six to eight months, I have a huge cry session. I break, and then I pick up the pieces, and I start all over.”

Once a month, she joins friends for margarita lunches to vent about the inequity of it all, even though she has a helpful partner who pitches in. The household systems are so entrenched that it doesn’t much matter.

“My husband always says: ‘What can I do? How can I help? Let me know what to do.’ But again, it goes back to the mental load: If I have to know what to do in my head and then communicate to you what to do and then check after it’s done, that doesn’t even help,” she says.

Hingham’s Cam Smith, who has a fairly autonomous work schedule — and three kids in a total of 20 activities, many of which meet multiple times per week — sees the double-standard firsthand. Although he‘s the point person for most activities, many messages are still reflexively channeled to his wife, whose job is less flexible.

“I do think there’s a deeply unfair mental load which still gets put on mothers every time in this. The sports tend to be a little better, but all these activities take [my wife’s] contact info because they just assume she needs to be the primary contact. Our daughters have been competing in Irish step dance for more than six years, and we have tried numerous times to get their Irish dance school to add my contact to all their correspondence. They just don’t do it,” he says.

Brookline’s Julie Starr, a single mom who works full time as a nutritionist, relies on carpools and ride-sharing for her high-school athlete, who runs track and plays soccer. She outsources where she can because she has to: At a certain level, deprioritizing practices or games just isn’t an option.

Her work vacations don’t match up with her daughter’s vacations, but sports schedules don’t match working realities, either. So she improvises.

“If you go on vacation, you’re not going to play. During her school vacation, practices are during the day, so she takes an Uber sometimes,” Starr says. “The vacation weeks are horrible.”

Sometimes Starr takes client calls from the parking lots of games; other times, she skips games entirely (and hopes other parents let themselves off the hook, too). But she insists on serving a nutritious dinner no matter what — “we’re humans, not raccoons,” she says — but that requires conscientious meal prep on Sundays: sweet potatoes, pre-chopped salads, and roast chicken play starring roles. Even when she’s not working, she’s working.

Starr has advice for parents just now wading into the madness, wondering if their kids are benefiting from this whirlwind.

“Notice: ‘Are they happy? Do they really enjoy doing this?’ And don’t get too crazy before they’re in seventh grade, especially with the club and the travel teams — and find somebody to carpool with,” Starr says.

Needn’t be a friend, just a sentient being with access to a driver’s license.

Another key tip: Keep perspective.

“Having so many sports all at once is too much on their bodies as well. It’s about keeping in mind that, when they’re 25 years old, the bulk majority of these kids aren’t going to be professional sports players,” says Lakeville’s Krista Allan, a single mom who was widowed several years ago.

Time is precious. And so, when deciding how to occupy her kids, she thinks: “This is really about learning teamwork, learning how to take guidance from other people, and thinking through the real purpose of sports and activities for kids. I think it’s important to level-set.”

Wise words, but hard to remember when you’re driving from Raynham to Rowley in the hopes of seeing your child compete for 10 seconds in the high-visibility lacrosse tournament while eating a Chipotle burrito with your one free hand.

“I personally always feel like I’m running from one thing to the next and hardly ever taking time to just stop and — I don’t know — look at a flower blooming for a second,” says French, the Westwood dad.

That is, unless he‘s stopped in traffic on the way to a game at rush hour.

Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Follow her @kcbaskin.

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Rec Sports

Families and businesses are concerned about the effect of tariffs on youth sports

CHICAGO — Youth sports are a big part of Karli Casamento’s life. Her son, Jax, 15, golfs and plays on three baseball teams. Her youngest son, Colt, 6, plays baseball and basketball. The costs, especially for Jax, add up in a hurry. That’s why Casamento, 48, and her husband, Michael, 46, are watching closely for […]

Published

8 seconds ago

June 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

CHICAGO — Youth sports are a big part of Karli Casamento’s life. Her son, Jax, 15, golfs and plays on three baseball teams. Her youngest son, Colt, 6, plays baseball and basketball.

The costs, especially for Jax, add up in a hurry. That’s why Casamento, 48, and her husband, Michael, 46, are watching closely for the ramifications of tariffs on their rising youth sports budget.

“All of their equipment I’m sure comes from China,” said Karli Casamento, a second-grade teacher in suburban Philadelphia. “As they get bigger, they need new equipment. So that is definitely a concern.”

For families like the Casamentos and businesses in the marketplace, there is continued uncertainty surrounding the possible effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs — the 10% baseline tariffs, along with a 30% rate on Chinese goods — on youth sports.

Nike, Adidas, Under Armour and Puma were among 76 companies that signed an April 29 letter to Trump asking for a footwear exemption from reciprocal tariffs. The Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America letter warned tariffs would “become a major impact at the cash register for every family.”

Amer Sports, the parent company of Wilson Sporting Goods and Louisville Slugger, downplayed the effect of tariffs when it announced its first-quarter earnings on May 20. But looking beyond this year, chief financial officer Andrew Page mentioned pricing as one way the company could offset higher import tariffs.

Dick’s Sporting Goods reaffirmed its earnings guidance for 2025 when it provided its first-quarter update on May 28. CEO Lauren Hobart said Dick’s had no plans to trim its product assortment in response to tariff costs, and that its guidance confirmation was based on its belief it can manage the situation.

“We are constantly assessing our pricing down to the item level, SKU level, and we do that based on consumer demand and the profitability of the business,” Hobart said in response to a question on possible price increases. “We have a very advanced pricing capability, much more advanced than we used to have, and much more enabled to make real time and quick decisions.”

The U.S. has been the largest importer of sporting goods since 2010, accounting for 31% of the world’s imports in 2022, according to a 2024 World Trade Organization report. Boosted by racket sports, China is the most significant exporter of sporting goods at 43% in 2022.

Fueled by golf, badminton and tennis equipment, Vietnam and Taiwan experienced rapid expansion in exporting outdoor sports equipment to the U.S. from 2018 to 2024, according to data from the consulting firm, AlixPartners. Vietnam increased 340% to $705 million, and Taiwan was up 16% to $946 million.

Tariffs of 46% for Vietnam and 32% for Taiwan could go into effect next month after a 90-day pause.

Hockey skates, sticks and protective gear are often imported. Same for baseball gloves and composite and aluminum bats, which are often imported or use materials that are imported, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. Soccer goals, lacrosse nets and cones are often sourced from low-cost labor markets.

“You can’t get around the fact that a lot the stuff that we use in youth sports is coming from abroad,” said Travis Dorsch, the founding director of the Families in Sport Lab at Utah State University. “So surely if the tariffs go into effect and in any long-term or meaningful way, it’s going to affect youth sports.”

The Casamento family cheers for the Philadelphia Phillies, and that’s how Jax and Colt got into baseball. Karli Casamento called sports “a safe way to socialize, and it gets them active.”

But equipment has become a major expense for the family. Jax has a $400 bat and a $300 glove, Karli Casamento said, and his catching equipment is $700. There is an additional cost for registration for his travel team, in addition to what it costs to travel to tournaments.

“We’ve tried to say to Jax, ‘Well, you’re in ninth grade now, do you really need to play tournament ball? You’re not going to grow up and be, you know, the next Mike Schmidt,’ things like that,” Karli Casamento said, “because it’s just, it’s $5,000 a year and now we have two kids in sports.”

That effect most likely will be felt by middle- and low-income families, threatening recent gains in participation rates for youth sports.

The Sports & Fitness Industry Association, which tracks youth participation by sport, found in 2023 there was a 6% increase in young people who regularly participated in a team sport, which it said was the highest rate (39.8%) since 2015. An Aspen Institute study released in October showed participation for girls was at its highest levels since at least 2012.

“I’m really concerned that we’re going to spike this great momentum because families, who are already saying that sports is getting increasingly more expensive, equipment’s getting more expensive and they’re continuing to stretch to make that work, like this might be the one that just kind of puts them over the sidelines,” said Todd Smith, the president and CEO of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.

Smith was in China in April for a World Federation of Sporting Good Industries board meeting. He visited some manufacturing facilities while he was in the country.

“The ones that I went to are really, really impressive,” Smith said. “First class, high tech, like highly skilled. And the thought that tariffs are all of a sudden just going to allow a 10-plus million dollar facility to just pop up the next day in the U.S. is just, it’s not feasible.”

Low-income families were already feeling a financial strain with youth sports before Trump was elected to a second term. According to the Aspen Institute study, 25.1% of children ages 6-17 from households earning under $25,000 played a sport on a regular basis in 2023, down slightly from 25.8% in 2022. That’s compared to 43.5% of children from households earning at least $100,000, up slightly from 42.7% in 2022.

Youth sports participation has a wide range of ramifications for public health, said Tom Farrey, the founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program.

“This incredibly virtuous cycle can be engaged if you can simply get kids off their phones and off their couches and into the game and they have a sustained experience into adolescence,” Farrey said. “And if you don’t, then you’re at risk for a range of health consequences, including obesity.”

Going along with playing on three baseball teams, Jax Casamento has workouts for his travel squad and also takes hitting lessons. The Casamentos turned a baseball trip to South Carolina into a family vacation last year.

Michael Casamento is a physical education teacher in an elementary school, so the family’s concerns about the effect of tariffs on the cost of youth sports go beyond their two boys.

“I work with a lot of kids that are a lower socio-economic status,” Karli Casamento said. “It really makes it harder for those types of families to be able to afford to play sports.”

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

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Rec Sports

Families and businesses are concerned about the effect of tariffs on youth sports

CHICAGO (AP) — Youth sports are a big part of Karli Casamento’s life. Her son, Jax, 15, golfs and plays… CHICAGO (AP) — Youth sports are a big part of Karli Casamento’s life. Her son, Jax, 15, golfs and plays on three baseball teams. Her youngest son, Colt, 6, plays baseball and basketball. The costs, […]

Published

20 minutes ago

June 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

CHICAGO (AP) — Youth sports are a big part of Karli Casamento’s life. Her son, Jax, 15, golfs and plays…

CHICAGO (AP) — Youth sports are a big part of Karli Casamento’s life. Her son, Jax, 15, golfs and plays on three baseball teams. Her youngest son, Colt, 6, plays baseball and basketball.

The costs, especially for Jax, add up in a hurry. That’s why Casamento, 48, and her husband, Michael, 46, are watching closely for the ramifications of tariffs on their rising youth sports budget.

Many of the US’s most popular sports rely on imported equipment

Tariffs of 46% for Vietnam and 32% for Taiwan could go into effect next month after a 90-day pause.

The Casamento family cheers for the Philadelphia Phillies, and that’s how Jax and Colt got into baseball. Karli Casamento called sports “a safe way to socialize, and it gets them active.”

Tariffs may not impact all sports families equally

That effect most likely will be felt by middle- and low-income families, threatening recent gains in participation rates for youth sports.

Smith was in China in April for a World Federation of Sporting Good Industries board meeting. He visited some manufacturing facilities while he was in the country.

Youth sports participation has a wide range of ramifications for public health, said Tom Farrey, the founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program.

Michael Casamento is a physical education teacher in an elementary school, so the family’s concerns about the effect of tariffs on the cost of youth sports go beyond their two boys.

“I work with a lot of kids that are a lower socio-economic status,” Karli Casamento said. “It really makes it harder for those types of families to be able to afford to play sports.”

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

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© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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PE Firm Led by Ex-NHL Star Invests in CCM Hockey

PE Firm Led by Ex-NHL Star Invests in CCM Hockey Privacy Manager Link 0

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6 hours ago

June 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

PE Firm Led by Ex-NHL Star Invests in CCM Hockey

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Northwestern University marks 1 year of construction for new Ryan Field facility, Wildcats football team playing at temporary site

EVANSTON, Ill. (WLS) — The new Ryan Field facility is slated to open September 2026 at Northwestern Univeristy. When it makes its debut, the expectation is that it will be a space for Northwestern Wildcats and also a resource for the whole community. ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch It’s been […]

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6 hours ago

June 26, 2025

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EVANSTON, Ill. (WLS) — The new Ryan Field facility is slated to open September 2026 at Northwestern Univeristy.

When it makes its debut, the expectation is that it will be a space for Northwestern Wildcats and also a resource for the whole community.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

It’s been exactly a year since Northwestern University broke ground on a new Ryan Field, and it continues to take shape.

University officials marked the construction anniversary with an announcement that the arena will be a shared space with several community groups.

“We won’t have football games and large crowds most days, but you wouldn’t build something like this to not have it be an asset that is used broadly,” said Pat Ryan, Jr. with Ryan Sports Development.

While the first tenant for Ryan Field will be Northwestern athletics, university officials announced the second anchor tenant will be a conglomeration of community partners, such as Evanston Township High School athletics, the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, the Fellowship of Afro-American Men, or FAAM, and Kuumba Evanston.

READ MORE | Northwestern University breaks ground on new Ryan Field facility

“The new Ryan Field will be a place for you young people who have all this opportunity and potential will have a place to build and expand that,” said Dave Davis with Northwestern University.

The new Ryan Field is not just a stadium, but a way to strengthen ties between the university and the community.

“We’re hopeful to partner with northwestern athletics and the office of community relations to find ways to dismantle systemic barriers to youth sports,” said Chris Livatino, Evanston Township High School athletic director.

The goal is to also bring more people together around shared experiences, like movie nights on the plaza and ice skating in the winter.

“What’s happening here is creating opportunities for communal magic in ways that are going to be inspiring in ways that are going to lift up whole community,” Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said.

When completed, Ryan arena will be the first NFL-style stadium at a college.

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Lakeshore Foundation receives ESPN Innovation Challenge grant

The Lakeshore Foundation has received a $100,000 grant from ESPN’s inaugural Take Back Sports Innovation Challenge. Take Back Sports is a new youth sports initiative created by ESPN and Disney to expand access to sports for youth. They launched their official website on Monday. On top of ESPN’s $5 million charitable investment in the program […]

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7 hours ago

June 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The Lakeshore Foundation has received a $100,000 grant from ESPN’s inaugural Take Back Sports Innovation Challenge.

Take Back Sports is a new youth sports initiative created by ESPN and Disney to expand access to sports for youth. They launched their official website on Monday.

On top of ESPN’s $5 million charitable investment in the program to reimagine youth sports, ESPN announced the Take Back Sports Innovation Challenge at the Aspen Institute’s Project Play Summit in March. Through cutting-edge training models, inclusive programming and community-rooted solutions, the Innovation Challenge aims to spotlight approaches that reimagine how kids engage with sports — fostering a more accessible and positive youth sports experience for all. ESPN doubled its original investment from $50,000 to $100,000 per grant in response to more than 150 compelling applications from across the country, and the Lakeshore Foundation was named as one of 10 recipients.

Lakeshore’s Super Sports Saturday pilot will bring inclusive, Paralympic-style sports to youth with physical disabilities in underserved areas of Alabama. As the only multi-adapted-sports organization in the state and a national Paralympic training hub, Lakeshore is uniquely equipped to deliver high-impact, free programming that blends fun, fitness and skill development. With ESPN’s support, the pilot will host five events in Montgomery, train local mentors and lay the foundation for a scalable model that creates access, independence and a culture of multi-sport play for youth with disabilities across the Southeast.

This year’s other Take Back Sports Innovation Challenge recipients include:

The Center for Healing and Justice through Sport (CHJS) received a grant for Collective, a first-of-its-kind digital credentialing platform that brings visibility, accountability and trust to youth sports coaching. Developed in partnership with RAIS3 Partners, Collective allows families and organizations to see who’s coaching their children, what training they’ve completed, and whether they’re equipped to foster safe, inclusive environments. With ESPN’s support, CHJS will onboard 2,500 coaches, parents and programs in Boston — making it the first fully “trackable” city for coach credentials — setting a new national standard for quality, transparency and equity in youth sports.

City Parks Foundation’s impactful “Everyday Play” program delivers free, daily, multi-sport programming to underserved youth in New York City parks. By offering equitable access to tennis, soccer, track & field, golf, and more — along with trauma-informed coaching, career pathways for alumni, and extended summer play — CityParks is addressing systemic barriers to youth sports while keeping kids active, engaged, and supported where they live. This grant will directly fund operations at Kaiser Park in Brooklyn, serving children with high needs and helping sustain a proven, community-rooted model that prioritizes fun, health and opportunity for all.

Let Her Play has a proven, scalable model that connects young girls with collegiate female athletes to inspire sports participation and leadership. They uniquely address the gender gap through a groundbreaking “Playing the Long Game” initiative that empowers former athletes as fun-focused youth coaches and mentors to keep girls engaged longer in sports. Their data-driven, community-rooted approach tackles critical participation drop-off and creates lasting impact by fostering role models who reflect and motivate the next generation.

Mudsock Youth Athletics received a grant for its commitment to keeping teens engaged in community-based sports by making play fun, inclusive, and youth-driven. Through its “Mudsock Way” initiative, the organization is training coaches and expanding its Youth Action Board to ensure teen voices are centered in shaping programs — using the grant to deepen that youth leadership model and reduce burnout and attrition in year two.

The Official Leadership Network (OLN) uses a pioneering scalable, tech-driven solution to one of youth sports’ most urgent challenges: the critical shortage of trained officials — especially in underserved communities. Through a strategic partnership between UMPS CARE Charities, Sports Officials Care and RefReps, OLN is building a diverse pipeline of high school students trained not only in officiating fundamentals but also in life and leadership skills. With ESPN’s support, OLN will digitize its proven curriculum into engaging, multi-sport video modules — transforming officiating into a gateway for youth employment, confidence and long-term civic leadership.

Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative (PYSC) earned a grant for its transformative Game On Philly! initiative, which places trained community coaches and AmeriCorps members directly into neighborhood recreation centers to deliver high-quality, trauma-informed sports programming. The program’s innovative partnership with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation ensures scalable, sustainable recreation for youth ages 6–14 where they live, play and grow.

Shriners Children’s Portland creates lifelong athletes by proactively addressing injury prevention, sport burnout and early specialization. Leveraging its expertise as a nationally recognized pediatric orthopedic hospital, the organization will lead educational workshops and hands-on injury prevention programming for coaches and parents across Portland, equipping key community stakeholders with tools, resources and expert-led guidance. With ESPN’s support, Shriners will launch this first-of-its-kind effort in the region, helping ensure young athletes stay healthy, engaged and active in sports for years to come.

Volo Kids Foundation has an innovative, equity-centered approach to expanding youth sports access in under-resourced communities nationwide. By leveraging a unique partnership with its for-profit arm, Volo Sports, the organization activates a sustainable pipeline of trained volunteer coaches to lead free, multi-sport programming across eight cities. With a proven track record of engaging over 70,000 children and 15,000 volunteers, Volo Kids addresses both physical activity gaps and youth mental health challenges, while building character, confidence and community — making it a scalable and impactful model for reimagining accessible youth sports in America.

Women’s Coaching Alliance is tackling two major issues in youth sports: the lack of female coaches and the shortage of available coaches overall. Through its “Coach Today, Lead For Life” program, WCA is expanding a proven model that trains and pays young women to become leaders and role models in their communities — helping more kids, especially girls, stay in the game while creating a more equitable and sustainable coaching pipeline.

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Youth sports and military appreciation at ONEOK Field

TULSA, OKLA. (KTUL) — The Tulsa Drillers are set to kick off July with a series of home games against the Wichita Wind Surge, featuring three consecutive nights of fireworks in celebration of the July 4th holiday. The games will take place from Tuesday, July 1, through Thursday, July 3, at ONEOK Field. The Drillers […]

Published

7 hours ago

June 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The games will take place from Tuesday, July 1, through Thursday, July 3, at ONEOK Field.

The Drillers will wear special-edition holiday jerseys and caps for the series, which also marks the continuation of the Propeller Series against the Wind Surge.

Tulsa currently leads the series 7-5.

On July 1, the game will start at 7:00 p.m. and feature Youth Sports Night.

Young fans wearing sports jerseys will receive free tickets and can join a pregame parade on the field.

Then on July 2, it’s Military Appreciation Night, with current and retired military personnel eligible for two free tickets with proper identification.

The game will begin at 7:00 p.m.

The series finale on July 3, starting at 6:30 p.m., will include a blood drive by Our Blood Institute.

Donors will receive free tickets to a future Drillers game.

The night will also feature an all-you-can-eat buffet option for fans.

For more information, click here.

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