We mentioned last week how retention disparities — real or perceived — in youth sports between boys and girls have become an industry focus.
Case in point: The Women’s Sports Foundation recently published "From Sidelines to Center Court: Empowering Women Coaches and Girls in Youth Sports" following a three-year research initiative in two regions — southeast Michigan and western New York.
About a quarter of girls teams nationwide are coached by women (28%), a figure that “has not budged in decades” according to the report
Sports participation rates for ages 6-12: Boys 52%, Girls 34%
The sports participation rate for HS girls was 43% despite having five more team sports available to them
Girls basketball had a 64% attrition rate between eighth and 12th grades; boys was 36%
Boys had over 1M more estimated HS sports opportunities nationally in 2024, which may reflect a lack of Title IX compliance at local levels
Coaching has an outsized impact on girls’ experiences and participation, as does social connection and being with friends
Participation in physical activities that do not fit traditional definition of sports — i.e. Zumba — could result in retention undercounts
The project was funded by the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, hence the unique geography — the late former Buffalo Bills owner grew up and lived in the Detroit area.
The point on women in coaching is not new — we wrote in May about an initiative in Washington D.C. focused on growing those ranks. But it does seem like perhaps the most important takeaway from this report — coaching and experiences appear to go hand-in-hand in terms of impacting retention.
Everyone may have different numbers, and participation among girls at private and for-profit venues may differ greatly than in these two areas.
But it’s data like this that proves the thesis that there is significant opportunity to grow girls sports, through participation, experience, investment.
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