Why Sports?
At the Mirnahill Foundation, we envision a world where every child has access to the benefits that we believe sports and play can offer: healthy activity in a safe space with positive adult role models that teaches important life skills like resilience, leadership, confidence, teamwork, and community engagement.
“Active kids do better in life.”
A 2020 study by Laureus USA analyzing data representing over 60 sports-based youth development (SBYD) programs nationwide surveying nearly 10,000 young people found that youth who attend SBYD programs are more likely to exhibit positive social and emotional learning outcomes and far more likely to experience key positive youth development practices than those who attend non-sports programs.
The problem we’re trying to solve.
The average child today spends less than 3 years playing a sport, quitting by age eleven, and there are significant disparities in access and participation based on income, race, gender, geography, and for youth with disabilities.
Since the pandemic began, nearly 3 in 10 child athletes have lost interest in playing sports. The pandemic has also disrupted the supply of local sports programs with 44% of families saying that their community-based program has closed, merged, or returned with limited capacity. The loss of sports has impacted children in may ways including mental health, physical fitness, emotional control, and social well-being. One in four parents believe that their child’s mental health suffered, although nearly half say that has improved since restrictions on sports has been lifted and a majority believe physical fitness, emotional control, and social well-being have improved as well.
Source: Aspen Institute Project Play 2021 State of Play Report