Jon Solomon

Pilot a regional adventure club to grow social interactions among children

The Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys are filled with wonderful opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Yet these opportunities often exist in silos based on geography, socioeconomics and culture. Community leaders could pilot a summer adventure club that samples various outdoor activities from all corners of the region.

Provide coaching education for positive youth development

At all age and competitive levels throughout both valleys, we heard a strong desire from coaches and administrators for more education and professional development. Alternatively, there are children who feel unwelcome in sports, so they turn to other physical activities such as theater and dance. Some sports coaches need a better understanding of skill development related to their sport or activity. An even greater need: Coaches must understand how to make youth sports and recreation safe places physically and emotionally for children while using these activities as tools for developing children’s social, emotional and cognitive skills. In schools, fewer teachers serve as coaches given the pressures and expectations on their classrooms, meaning schools now rely more on community members to coach.

Create a scholarship portal for underserved children to access sports and recreational opportunities more affordably

The wealth gap is massive in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys. Opportunities for children to play sports or engage in outdoor recreation often come down to costs. Many sports and recreational organizations generously provide scholarships for children to play. However, many sports and rec providers and some parents — especially those who are Latino/a — described trying to navigate a confusing flood of scholarship applications.

Improve transportation to and from sports and rec programming

Transportation is one of the most significant barriers preventing more children in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys from accessing sports and other forms of physical activity. RFTA recently began offering a $1 fare for youth 18 and under on all regional routes. As of March 2022, children under age 16 comprised less than 2% of all RFTA bus ridership, and youth ages 16-18 made up 5%. In our survey, 11% of youth from Roaring Fork School District and 9% from Aspen School District said they usually travel to their sports or organized athletic activities via RFTA — far higher than youth ridership from Garfield School District Re-2 (4%) and Garfield School District 16 (1%).

Use the power of soccer to grow educational opportunities for Latino/a youth

The Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys provide many opportunities for children to recreate. Yet only 15% of surveyed Latino/a youth in the region get 60 minutes of physical activity daily, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s nearly half the percentage of White children (27%) who meet the recommendation.

How Baltimore is improving sports access for children

Baltimore has a rich history of developing its children and communities through sports – from the childhood of Babe Ruth to the proliferation of recreation centers in the 1960s and ‘70s, from the rise of decorated Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to the basketball successes of Carmelo Anthony, Angel Reese and many others. The Aspen Institute recognized as much in State of Play Baltimore, the first community landscape analysis from our Project Play initiative, which included findings and recommendations shaped by an eight-member local advisory board that included then-City Council member Brandon Scott. Since 2017, Scott - now Mayor - and local leaders have worked hard to make Baltimore’s children active through sports.

Maryland pioneers model that brings soccer into high-poverty schools

TAKOMA PARK, Maryland – It’s 3:40 pm on a fall afternoon, and as classes let out, about 40 children flood into the outdoor patio at Rolling Terrace Elementary School. They come for snacks and soccer and receive life lessons along the way.

On this day, many are antsy to play soccer, tying their free cleats and chatting loudly with friends rather than listening to their mentors discuss what optimism and persistence mean. Lukas Barbieri, a high school student who is the youngest of Rolling Terrace’s soccer mentors, eventually quiets the kids down.

“Does anyone remember what optimism means?” Barbieri asks.

“Helping your friends,” says one child. “Being thoughtful,” adds another.

“Sort of,” Barbieri replies. “Optimism means you have to believe in yourself.”

In a sense, this scene represents what optimism for youth sports looks like.

Olympic and Paralympic commission hears reform ideas

Rewarding National Governing Bodies that best support grassroots sports and tying financial incentives to coach training were among the ideas heard Sept. 6 by an independent commission studying entities that shape the sport ecosystem for 11 million Americans.

The Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics (CSUSOP) was established by Congress in 2020 to study recent reforms after the Larry Nassar sex-abuse scandals and make recommendations for policy changes in governance and oversight of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and its affiliated NGBs. After funding delays, the commission began its work in early 2023 and will deliver a final report to Congress and the public in the spring of 2024.

Project Play Summit recap: Olympic reform panel explores big changes

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – The independent commission set up by Congress to review recent reforms and governance of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and its affiliated National Governing Bodies of sport plans to do so with an eye toward how those organizations fit into and contribute to the larger sport ecosystem, a co-chair of the commission said at the Project Play Summit.

In a livestream session, Dionne Koller discussed the scope of the work of the Commission on the State of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics, and the need for better sports policy. The USOPC and NGBs get their statutory authority from the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, the law that created the current U.S. Olympic system in 1978.

Health experts: It’s time for more high schools to budget money for athletic trainers

“We have to change the mindset. The priority has to be the health and safety of the athletes.”

Although about 80% of high school athletes have access to an athletic trainer, just 56% of schools have one, down 10% since 2017, according to the Korey Stringer Institute. Rural and inner-city schools have far less access than those in the suburbs.

What youth sports can learn from Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest

The tragic collapse of Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin highlighted the need for a quick response to help cardiac arrest victims. An NFL stadium provided just that environment.

Trained emergency personnel were on the sideline and within seconds of where he fell. An automated external defibrillator (AED) was quickly available to restore Hamlin’s heartbeat. An ambulance was nearby and took him to the hospital, following steps documented – and practiced – in an emergency action plan.

Summit recap: National soccer leaders call for more local play

Top soccer leaders endorsed the creation of more local programs as a solution to the often expensive travel team model that has come to dominate the youth soccer ecosystem, limiting access to a sustained experience for low-income youth, including many minorities.

USA Gymnastics adopts Athlete Bill of Rights amid turmoil

“It’s a north star as to how we feel athletes should be treated by all of our community members,” USA Gymnastics CEO Li Li Leung said at the Aspen Institute’s Project Play Summit, noting that gymnasts were a vital voice in creating the document. “It’s about the right to participate in an environment that’s safe for them.”

Jeremy Lin: Here’s how youth sports can tackle racial bias and mental health

Basketball star Jeremy Lin’s message to kids: Every athlete faces fears. “Courage is what allows people to fight through their fear,” he said. “It’s not that you don’t feel fear at all. You’re going to feel fear and that’s OK. It’s whether that fear cripples you and doesn’t allow you to move forward.”