Sports association: How can we make sporting activities more accessible?

We all know that sport is beneficial for children, both psychologically and physically. It builds confidence and independence, develops coordination and builds relationships. However, for some families, enrolling children in sporting activities has become prohibitively expensive.

According to a CIBC survey, Canadian parents spend an average of $953 per young person, per year, to get them involved in organized sport (2015). One in three Canadian families cannot afford to enroll their children in organized sports. That’s about 750,000 kids who can’t play even if they wanted to (Canadian Tire Jumpstart Foundation).

Here are a few tips you can implement in your sports association to help make physical activity more accessible to disadvantaged young people.

1) Organize a used sports equipment sale

One of the reasons why parents are reluctant to enroll their children in a sport is the price of equipment. Children grow up fast, and most of the time, their equipment is still good enough to fit them.

At the start of the season, you can encourage parents and players to bring in equipment that’s too small, so that you can organize a sale of used sports equipment at low prices to benefit the families in your association. To do this, you could organize a festive day with music, hot dogs and inflatable games so that families can bring their unused equipment to you. Organizing a festive day will encourage families to have a good time, while giving back to their community. It might also be a good idea to leave a place year-round where parents can come and donate equipment on a regular basis. Whether it’s a shelf or a small chest, it would be interesting to give parents the chance to donate shoes at any time.

2) Allow members to pay part of the membership fee

Some families are better off than others. In the registration form, you can add a field that allows parents with means to donate a larger amount to reduce the bill of disadvantaged families.

The aim is to set up ways of facilitating mutual aid between members of your association. Small gestures can have a big impact on the daily lives of other families. By reducing the cost of sporting activities, sport becomes more accessible for them.

3) Organize fundraising activities

At the beginning of the season, your club can organize fund-raising activities to help children reduce their registration fees. For example, you could let kids sell tickets for a raffle. There are tons of original fund-raising activities to help reduce costs.

4) Volunteer to lower membership fees

A recurring problem for sports associations is the difficulty of finding volunteers. One way of solving this problem and helping underprivileged families is to organize volunteer activities to reduce the cost of membership.

For example, during your tournament, you need volunteers to manage the canteen. You can make an arrangement with the parents to take care of the canteen, and in exchange you can take $30 off their registration bill.

The Canadian Tire Jumpstart Foundation helps remove the financial barriers that prevent families from registering their children in sports. Low-income families can apply for the Individual Child Grant.

There’s also a Children’s Activities Tax Credit to help low- and middle-income families offer their school-age children activities that develop their skills and abilities through sport.

All of the above actions can give children access to sport, and give all children the chance to have fun and discover their passion.