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CHANGING THE CULTURE OF YOUTH SPORTS

Life Sports inspires organizations serving youth sports to shift their focus from an athlete centric approach, to a family centric approach. By delivering a youth sports experience that engages the family in a positive safe environment, organizations of all sizes thrive.

We help sports organizations to grow by delivering a better family experience that highlights youth sports greatest value, the development of character, values and life skills.

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    YOUTH SPORTS TODAY

Youth Sports Has Been Kidnapped

Today youth sports has become a playground for adults, and for many of these adults, a vehicle to make money. Governing bodies view youth sports as a place to develop elite athletes, this thinking has led to an arms race among for-profit companies and entrepreneurs. Companies are making bigger and bigger promises about college scholarships and careers in professional sports.

Less than 2% of all youth athletes will participate in college athletics, and less than 1/10th of 1% will ever become a professional athlete.

Youth Sports is focused on athlete development, win-loss records, and the idea that a college scholarship is the only way to measure the value of a sport. As a result of this thinking, youth sport has become less enjoyable for many stakeholders. Somewhere along the way the idea that participating in sports was simply part of growing up, has been lost.

Less than 1% of all youth athletes will secure a college scholarship.

The average athletic scholarship is $3,500 a year.

Youth Sports Participation is Declining

According to a Sports and Fitness Industry Participation Study, youth sports participation in North America is declining. No major sport has avoided this outcome with the top 5 participation sports in the USA losing more than 5,000,000 players in the past 6 years.

Retention is How Families Voice Their Opinion

Youth sports organizations need to measure their retention – most don’t. Retention is the way families let youth sports organizations know how much they value the experience. If an organization is losing current members it needs to change.

Baseball and Basketball lose 18% of their players annually.

Football, Soccer & Volleyball lose 26% of its players annually.

Ice Hockey loses 33% of its core players every year.

Money Hasn’t Fixed The Problem

Despite billions of dollars being spent globally on youth sports, youth sports participation around the world is declining. Organizations serving youth sports are struggling to grow and retain members. The leaders of youth sports must recognize the need to create a new path if they wish to succeed in the effort to increase participation. A path that engages families in understanding the great value of participating in youth sports and the influence it has on the ability of their child to create a fulfilling and successful life.

Youth Sports Greatest Value

For too long youth sports has focused on player development as the value of youth sports participation. Life Sports believes that youth sports greatest value is the role it plays in the development of the character, values and life skills – we call that Sustainable Value - that provide the compass for success in life. Organizations must celebrate athletic achievement but not be defined by it.

Parents are Youth Sports Biggest Problem

The emphasis of player development and coach development has led many leaders of youth sports to believe that parents diminish the youth sports experience. In fact some believe parents are youth sports biggest problem. At Life Sports we believe that parents are in fact youth sports greatest asset.

If youth sports organizations are to thrive, they must understand this and engage parents by offering value that moves beyond the development of athletic ability. To achieve measurable success, an organization must create an experience that engages parents, promotes the importance of character values, and develops life skills in each child.

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    OUR MISSION

Our mission is to change the culture surrounding youth sports in order to make the youth sports experience more enjoyable for all stakeholders. We believe all stakeholders - players, parents, coaches, staff and volunteers all can experience youth sports in a positive, safe environment.


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IT’S WHAT EVERY PARENT WANTS

There can be no greater ambition for a parent than to see their child achieve a fulfilling and successful life. Regardless of the final destination the path to a successful life will be paved by the values and character that are developed during the early years at home, in school and in extracurricular activities.

Youth sports can play an important role in the development of such character and can provide skills that will stay with children through adolescence and into adulthood, including marriage, parenthood, work and the community commitments, all the while enabling them to cope with the pushes and pulls of everyday life.


Offer Every Family Equal Value

This positive character development could and should be provided to all families who participate in youth sports. This offers each family a far greater value than the distant prospect of a college scholarship or the false promise of a professional athletic career.

Less than 2% of all youth athletes will participate in college athletics.

Less than 1% of all youth athletes will secure a college scholarship.

The average athletic scholarship is $3,500 a year.

Less than 1/10th of 1% will ever play professionally.

Shift Stakeholder Behavior

Many youth sports organizations are managing stakeholder behavior, keeping a lid on the commonly accepted problems of youth sports today. To achieve success in today’s disruptive market, organizations must engage in offering value that SHIFTS stakeholder behavior.

Focus On The Controllable

To thrive in today’s disruptive youth sports marketplace organizations need to focus their efforts on the things that they can control. Many decisions made by governing bodies and the leaders of youth sports have a negative trickle down effect. Organizations need to focus on three key areas that they do control;


1. Differentiate the organization from others that it competes with in the same space.

2. Offer your customers greater value.

3. Create and highlight the organizations brand.

Age Specific Thinking

Youth Sports in the US serves more than 40 million families, including children as young as 3 all the way up to 18 years old, a 15 year age span. Despite this wide range in ages, most youth sports organizations apply the same basic principles of player development to all children. Offering an age specific experience allows players to graduate from one experience to the next. The graduation process maintains the excitement and develops their interest in the game.

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WHAT WE DO

Life Sports offers proprietary thinking, programs and services that are the tools that bring this thinking to life. The solutions and tools that Life Sports offer support the success of organizations serving all levels of youth sports. These tools help organizations to deliver a better youth sports experience to all stakeholders. They support changing the environment in which the game is played, and highlight the sustainable value that engages parents. Success in these key areas creates the platform for organizational success.

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    CONTACT US

Find out how shifting your sports organization’s focus to delivering sustainable value can help it reach a level of success it never thought possible. Contact Life Sports and find out how you can set a path to a more enjoyable youth sports experience.

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