City of Morgan Hill Bikeways, Trails, Parks and Recreation Master Plan

Section 6: Participatory Sports Trends | May 2017 Sports Market Business Strategy – Morgan Hill, CA PAGE 90

years. From 2009 to 2014, team sports lost a net of 1 million youth participants or 3.7 percent, with the number of sports played by each youth participant also declining 5.9 percent. The overall summary of the team sport youth participants is displayed in the Figure 6-3 below.

Figure 6-3

Team Sports Participation Rate Ages 6-17 - U.S.

2009

Change

2014

-3.7%

27.6 million

Participants

26.6 million

Sports per Participant

-5.9%

2.14

2.01

-9.3%

53.2 million

58.9 million

Total Participants

Sources: SFIA, Johnson Consulting

TOP SPORTS BY VENUE & CIRCUMSTANCE

Team sports are held at a plethora of venues and participated in under various circumstances. Due to this variance, participants are grouped within three categories based on the level of formality and organization of their team. The description of these categories is as follows:

 CASUAL/PICK-UP PLAY: Informal participation that can be attributed to a casual, social, community- driven atmosphere.

 SCHOOL/COLLEGE PLAY: Formal participation, involving student-athletes competing for an extracurricular, scholastic organization.

 LEAGUE PLAY: Semi-formal participation in organized leagues that are offered prior to school, during school years, and post-graduation. These leagues are recreational competition that is not affiliated with a school or university.

The following table breaks down the ten sports with the highest participation rate for each venue & circumstance category.

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