Strategies to strengthen youth sports and recreation programs.
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In May 2002 the Department of Sport and Recreation (DSR) conducted a workshop of key stakeholders within youth sport to discuss issues and strategies to enhance youth sport programs within WA.
The workshop identified the difficulty of retaining youth in their sport as a major issue. Research into the drop-out rates of youth from sport echoes these concerns. A survey of WA school children in 1996 (Taggart and Sharp) found that although 80 per cent of children aged 11-12 participated in sport, by the time they reached 16-17 years the figures had dropped to 57 per cent. These figures include school, club and social sport.
This survey also acknowledged that of the total number of youth who dropped out of sport, 42 per cent did so during the transition between Years 7 and 8.
More recent research indicates these trends are continuing. At the end of 2003 a large scale survey of WA children’s physical activity levels and sports participation will be conducted by the Premier's Physical Activity Taskforce.
To ensure sport is attractive to young people, organisations delivering youth sport must fully understand why young people participate in and drop out of sport.
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