Represent the president s council on sports, fitness and nutrition has submitted written testimony which will appear in the record alongside other testimony from the session. As a reminder all witnesses are asked to keep to five minutes for the prepared testimony. And as you can see if the timers on the wall in front of you we are doing our best to keep to that. I will now yield each of you five minutes. Good afternoon distinguished members of the commission. Project manager with the Sport Society program of the aspen institute. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in the future sports in america particularly the state. Admittedly bring a diverse perspective to the states hearing when i started coaching at 18 although i found a service to many families particularly underserved communities coaching quickly became a calling than a career but not in the way i thought. Rather than learning an inning living as a coach i became a Coaching Researcher first at uc barkley than internationally. My quest was to understand how we develop the next generation of coaches, educated, youth focused and well folk verse two. Ive lived in new zealand, the pacific nation Coaching Research and recognize International InnovationCoach Development. While in his own and earned a phd in coaching worked and set coaching sector including a coach and trainer and consulted on National Coaching strategy. Assure the and help you understand the context of my testimony i help my Perspective Agency important work of this commission. To begin lme to briefly step back and set the scene on youth sports physical activity in america. First the research is unequivocal. After kids a better life there once had this likely have obesity, more likely to go to college, most likely just have a range of chronic chronic and cancer and active appearance and role models more likely to have active kids. Mental Health Crisis get to play sports are less likely to suffer from anxiety and depression were likely to enjoy life. Breakthroughs Healthy People 2030 initiative federal government set a target of 63. 3 participation in organized sports for youth ages six 17. Only 50. 7 of children played in 2021 most recent year available federal data. That is the middle of the pandemic even before the rate was just 56 . Now, lets look at the population of interest to the commission. Female, minors individuals with disabilities. Only 40 of girls played from a five Percentage Points less than boys. The gaps are wider among minorities included black 42 . Hispanic 40 , native american and native hawaiian youth 34 among youth with special needs just 43 of kids played. Now, improving the state of youth coaching is not only solution to listen these numbers it is an important one though because coaches are key agents in keeping kids involved in sports and lemon the benefits of participation we seek. In Fact Research concisely demonstrate how coaches shape the expensive sport strongly influences the decision to join, stay, quit. For example when a lack of enjoyment is a major factor in youth sports dropout. Interestingly when research act makes it fun they point at coaching behavior such as praise, think positive through mistakes, make easy to talk to but regardless of ability to know coaches impact motivation. However to meet coaches behave in destructive ways including but not limited to abuse. Site of climate support they can kill the intrinsic motivation needed to reach ones personal best often through favoritism or being too controlling. Given the incredible power coaches can wield over aphids or system could not continue to take their work for granted. Unfortunately our sports ecosystem has never truly made Coach Development a priority. Especially the Grassroots Level. Relative to other leading nations this leaves us behind. To illustrate this point consider new zealand and asked to dance aside to the new zealand slide. Sport missoula is a National Agency responsible for grassroots development. Including coaching. Partnership with Agency Responsible for highperformance sport their affiliated National BodiesNational Government bodies develop a Community Sports coaching plan i whined to a highperformance coaching plan. Important both plans are underpinned by his Coach Development and aligned to National Coaching strategy which outlines coaching communities and pathways. Other sport governing bodies drop on the plans to build Development Programs for their coaches including licensing requirements, online resources and correct on Ground Support. Helps reach targeted outcomes and the recruiting into coaching western democracies coordinate interagency planning is indicative of welldeveloped sport coaching policy. But not in the u. S. Especially for community coaches. I have many training courses, programs and resources of the ecosystem they operate in silos. Devoid of guiding policy program or system is especially true in the world of coach licensing and recertification and db are widely in their requirement for equipment delivery the result not enough coaches training key issues like Mental Health, and recent National Survey of 10,000 coaches we found 70 cited low confidence in their ability to help athletes navigate social media and linked to Mental Health resources. It is not have to be this way the u. S. Is home to incredible thought leadership in both coaching and Coach Development. Time for a serious National Dialogue on how we improve our system piglets are the clear overarching vision for coaching in this country. Drawing in our asset such as American Development model or center for sports coaches natural coaching strategies what should they be competent and when and how . And partnership of the governing by the creation of coaching plans are for Recreation ClubSchool National team setting from common sense minimum standard and benchmarks for continuing education. National registry can help track progress will also generate Database Research and coach demographics training in these outcomes explore ways to better support coaches. For example Tax Deductions for coaching costs such as gas, equipment, training. Ease the burden on primarily volunteer workforce. Simulate stop leaving coaches on an island growing their own grassroots workforce would go a long way toward providing the on the Ground Support wheat no help coaches learn and grow. Finally close the gaps in access reference at the top which increases size and diversity of the Coaching Community. That begins with putting more wind, coaches for disabled youth, minorities and people from low income backgrounds. The time is now to build a Coaching Community the reflexive committees they serve and can deliver on the promises for american society. Thank you. Hello, it is really an honor to be a part of this process. Not only represent my organization but representing the wider sports communities. I am the coexecutive director. Our mission is use the power sport to equip young people with the resources, skills and experiences for their communities to build more peaceful more Thriving Communities but we did this by increasing access to highquality committee basketball programming centered on Leadership Development conflict transformation and in andglobal engage my purse i word an sport social impact and Community Development for over a decade. Both here in the u. S. And globally. Our awardwinning programs are one of few yearround no cost programs serving young people have been left behind by the current. I share my testimony today is aleve an organization that makes sports assessable to over 2000 young people, across five major cities some of the least resource neighborhoods in our country. I also share my testimony as an immigrant kid who grew up in ine youth sports system for middle school all week to college i can attest to the barriers are also the life changes having access to sport has had on me. I youth sport system in america has availed millions of young people. Overinvestment competitive athletics marginalizes the late bloomer marginalizes young girls who do not have a safe space to learn where they are not judge. But marginalizes low income families and young people with disabilities. Cc the youth sports system is not just an access issue its a basic fairness issue. In fact its a social justice issue. You think about the young people who are not included and sports and do not have the opportunity to reap the social, economic and Health Benefits of having played sports. I have a 30 live from the adult version of young people were trying too and i can tell you its because i play sports that im the person i am today and feeling a sense of empowerment around pursuing my goals. For the system has fallen short, Committee Sports organizations are stepping into film barriers. The southside of chicago we readily provide transportation for young people to get to program in part because of safety issues and the shortage of facilities in the neighborhoods. In brooklyn, new york we have built for grassroots Girls Basketball pipeline from third grade all the way through high school that includes girls with very skill level also part of the wider ecosystem of organizations provided access to girls and adult women to sport our gross able to see what a trajectory of the sport looks like when they become adults have access to positive role models. In l. A. Many Community Centers have succumbed to the system costly books for private sessions. I have also been priced out of the local Committee Centers we are working with our local who offer programs to make their gyms accessible. In detroit we facilitate Quarterly Community conversation partnerships. In other local stakeholders with youth sports the wider detroit community. These are a few out of many examples of how other organizations like ours are putting a bandaid on the wound. Believe in the power of collective action across various stakeholders including government moving the needle toward more access for all young people. Especially young people of color, girls and youth with disabilities. Weve already begun the work over the last six plus years at this point to our partnership with Kellogg Foundation and a number of local stakeholders but we are censoring investment access and childhood all the way to early adulthood Economic Opportunity in supporting young people their journeys to leadership in your communities. All of what ive shared i would love to share a set of recommendations as you all build out your report to submit to congress. The sports based youth involvement the Community Sports organizations do not exist outside of youth sports ecosystem. We are part of it we are not adjacent to it its important we are integrated into those conversation and investment rates these organizations. It is important that we invest in local collective action efforts including youth sports access and quality of sporting experiences there number of these coalitions by slick six c, newark, new orleans where cities are working the coalition also serves massachusetts and maryland. Then lastly it supports the personal Health Investment today act which allows pretax flexible medical savings account to cover physical activity expenses effectively reducing outofpocket expenses for American Families and individuals for youth sports fees, health club dues costs and much more. I would love to close the story of the group of young people have the opportunity to coach a couple of years ago in brownsville, brooklyn. Brownsville at the you are familiar is a small neighborhood in brooklyn. It is the highest concentration and housing develop in the americas. Not a lot of activity in highquality spores not a lot of role models. I had the opportunity to coach to coach the middle school girls they want a place to play the rutgers Student Competition at the time just wanted to get better for sport they enjoy great overtime i got to learn about the challenges these young girls a face some people had experience homelessness at some point. Many were taking care of younger siblings and had barriers to show up. Those barriers include transportation we reduce those barriers by programs directly in the schools later on the principal would share with me being involved was by far one of the biggest impacts in their lives. This summer a lot of those girls graduate high school couple are going to university. Many were considering dropping out of school in six or seventh grade. This is the power of sport. A lot of the young people are trying to reach Economic Opportunity. Thank you, mr. Goldberg. Ladies and gentlemen. Let me start over at lady and gentlemen of the commission is an honor to appear before you today. More than 25 years ago i was roaming these halls on capitol hill when i had the privilege of serving as an intern for the late great senator from indiana and i had a critical responsibility as an intern. I was supposed to go reserve the softball field at 3 00 p. M. In the afternoon for a few hours in front of the Washington Monument and every week i was reminded of the power of sports to bring people together across every conceivable division. My own Sports Experiences will the data from leading experts make it clear that playing sports creates advantages that help you win at life. The data also tells us way too many children are not able to access those benefits. There is a reason white nelson men that della extolled passionately about the power of sports to change the world. I think the work of this commission, the work of all of us really reflects this critical question. If sports has this kind of awesome power, what does that say about the responsibility of all of those who have the power over sport . My insights and perspective on youth sports is reflecting all the different roles that i play i met youth sports appearance. Cofounder president of a Sports Technology company, started to nonprofits focused on access as cochair and cofounder. Play Sports Coalition and fun play Foundation Member of project play 2024 group. All of those different perspectives have given me conviction when that youth sports sector is discussed the focuses frequently on the National Governing bodies and association. To be sure theres a Critical Role for them to play. But often missed is the role of hundreds of thousands of youth sports organizations as the delivery mechanism for youth sports. The makeup of these organizations has changed dramatically. Youth sports is no longer largely driven by volunteer Led Community organizations comprising the majority of member organizations associate with National Governing body. Is that youth Sports Industry is in a transition from a hobby to a profession. You also the deeper engagement or professional leagues, professional takes as well as consolidation been driven by investment capitol the proliferation of franchise models. The structural shift in how youth sports is organized is being hastened by the way the organizations on technology to improve how they operate in scale, how they run their programs, how they are coach thats before the full impact of augmented reality ar Virtual Reality and even ai. Inevitable. The evolution of the Sports Industry has profound implications on the sector. To be sure the organization with greater capacity are investing more in coaching and training and safety. The vast majority are well intended im deeply committed. Its also clear there is no coherent youth sports system in this country. First there is a lack of governance with no structure or standards that stewards used for experiences in this country. Instead of the coveted pandemic offering a moment to reestablish the leadership and influence of governing bodies and the association, the crisis crystallized a lack of authority and resource capabilities which reveal itself every day and the inconsistencies around safety and quality for the second is a widening gap in terms of access for underserved sports sector severely under resourced both in terms of governance even more so the local level in terms of organizations. The promise of this commission is to address these issues and galvanize cross Sector Support fo