USTA Serves, recently released the report “More than a Sport: Tennis, Education, and Health” to sell the positive benefits of tennis. It identified the participation rates for the top nine community-based sports programs and the participation rate of adolescent boys by race/ethnicity.
Football and basketball are the top sports for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. The highest percentage of Blacks participated in basketball, football, and track and field, while the most popular sports for Hispanics were football, soccer, and basketball. The top three sports for Whites were football, basketball, and baseball.
As expected, participation in team sports was greater than individual sports.
Interestingly, 16% of Whites did not participate in sports and only 12% of Blacks did not participate. About 15% of the Hispanic adolescents did not participate in sports programs.
The data shows that Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics prefer different sports. As communities expand their variety of sports programs, more adolescents are able to benefit from participation in sports.
For a comparison to the girls go to the blog post What Sports do Adolescent Girls Play?
For additional information contact USTA Serves.
