Sports-Based Youth Development

Afterschool and summer learning programs that incorporate sports are uniquely positioned to create supportive environments where youth can grow, thrive, and realize their full potential. Here you’ll find program spotlights and best practices to help you leverage sports activities to promote positive youth development.

Spotlights

318 Foundation

The 318 Foundation is empowering girls through basketball. Founded by former WNBA player for the Washington Mystics and Los Angeles Sparks, Alana Beard, this afterschool program provides basketball training, leadership development, and mentorship for high school girls in northwestern Louisiana.

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Lakeshore Foundation

The Lakeshore Foundation is making play possible for everyone. This afterschool program in Birmingham, Alabama is adapting programming and breaking down participation barriers to ensure young people with disabilities have inclusive opportunities to engage in sports.

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Boys & Girls Club Collaborative of Western New York

By offering sports in a supportive environment under the guidance of caring mentors and coaches, the students of the Boys & Girls Club of Holland and Boys & Girls Club of Elma, Marilla, and Wales are gaining essential life skills, building connections, and boosting their academics.

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Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program

Research has shown that kids who are physically active are less likely to be obese, produce higher academic test scores, have lower levels of depression and higher self-esteem, have better long-term health, lowering healthcare costs and the risk of severe diseases. These findings underscore the critical role that physical activity plays in shaping the lives of young people.

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Downtown Boxing Gym

At Downtown Boxing Gym, they don't train champions for the ring; they equip young people to become champions in life. Their program combines sports sampling, academic support, skill-building, and team bonding to transform futures for youth in Detroit.

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Project Play

Our partners at the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program have been developing a robust set of resources for building positive youth development-focused youth sports ecosystems through their ambitious Project Play initiative for more than a decade. Below you can find a few of their resources that can help afterschool programs around the country learn about what it takes to do this work well, and initiatives they are leading to bring high-quality, youth-development focused youth sports to all young people:

Afterschool Webinar: Leveraging Youth Sports to Support Positive Youth Development

Physical activity has the power to unlock transformative benefits for young people—fostering connections with peers and caring mentors, improving mental health and mood, boosting academic performance, and promoting healthy lifestyles. Out-of-school time programs that incorporate sports are uniquely positioned to create supportive environments where youth can grow, thrive, and realize their full potential.

We invite you to join us for a webinar featuring presentations and a panel discussion with experts from The Aspen Institute, Lakeshore Foundation, and the 318 Foundation. See how these programs have successfully integrated sports into their programming and hear strategies for implementing or enhancing sports programming to support positive youth development.

Watch the webinar