Lombard Park District

Lombard Park District 54 Chapter Three As a nation, most active Americans do not plan to spend money on sports and recreation. Of those who do spend money on sports and recreation, they plan to increase their future spending. Increased spending will likely be seen in lessons, instruction, and camps (24.5%); individual sporting events (23.1%); and team sports at school (22.8%). In general the SGMA / SFIA Topline Report reveals: • Participation in outdoor sports, like camping and hiking, saw an increase in overall participation, and indoor fi tness sports, like yoga and boot-camp style classes remained the most popular fi tness activity with a participation rate of 60%. • Activities that remain signifi cant opportunities to engage inactive populations are swimming, working out with weights, working out with machines, and biking. These four activities remain the most popular "aspirational sports" for ages 6-45. Aspirational activities are those that respondents show a desire or demand to participate in the following year. • There is an expressed desire to increase the amount of travel done for participation in favorite sports and recreational activities. The SGMA / SFIA Report revealed that one of the best ways to increase activity and participation later in life is to encourage casual play at the younger ages and in school through Physical Education. The survey points out that an adult who participated in Physical Education while in school is four times more likely to participate in a racquet sports and about three times more likely to participate in team, outdoor, winter and golf. Through the institution of more opportunities for casual play, there is strong correlation that it translates the casual play into a core activity later in life. In particular, the survey examined the diff erence between Generation X and Generation Y population. Generation Y (born 1980-1999) are twice as likely to take part in team sports then Generation X (born 1965-1979). Although much is explained by the age diff erence, the psychological tendency of Generation Y is more positively disposed to team sports than their Generation X predecessors who are more individual in nature. Generation Y are also more social in their interactions in terms of: • The way they play (gravitating towards team sports) • The way they exercise (including a tendency to participate in group exercise) • The way they communicate (Social Networking, Facebook, Twitter) Fitness sports remained the most popular physical activity. The participation rate has held steady at 60% over the last 4 years. There are also opportunities to engage the inactive populations. Swimming ranks as a popular "aspirational sport" for inactive participants ages 6 to 12 and 45 and older. Working out with weights and fi tness machines are the top "aspirational sports" for inactive participants ages 13 to 44. The economy has also had a slight impact on sports and recreation spending. While many active people are still not spending money on sports and recreation, more people spent the same amount or increased spending, rather than spending less. In order to increase participation, knowing the trends and what various users groups are interested in participating is crucial. Signifi cant changes in specifi c activities (both increases and decreases) over the past two years are summarized and listed below. This data in extracted directly from the PAC study, 2012, SGMA Participation Topline Report © 2012 SGMA Research. Walking, Running and Jogging ar ar ar ar ar a e the most popular outdoor ac ac ac ac ac acti ti ti ti ti ti tivi vi vi vi vi v ti ti t es among the U.S. Po Po Po Po Po Po Po Po Popu pu pu pu pu pu pu pula la la la la la lati ti ti ti ti ti tion on on on on on on on o , , , , ac ac ac ac ac ac acco co co co co co cord r in i g to the h SG SG SG SG SG SG SG SG SG SGMA MA MA MA MA MA MA MA M and nd nd nd nd nd OIF IF IF IF IF IF.

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