Participation in kids’ sports in Manitoba back up to pre-pandemic numbers

From football to lacrosse, Manitoba offers kids the chance to play a variety of athletic activities.

“There’s so many benefits to being involved in sport. It empowers kids with so much,” said John Blacher, the director of sport at Sport Manitoba.

Blacher says during the COVID-19 pandemic, participation numbers dropped dramatically in the province. Five years later, those numbers have finally rebounded.

“The general trend overall in sport is that we are back to pre-COVID participation levels compared to 2019,” Blacher said.

Some sports in the province have seen a huge increase in new athletes.

“Boys’ basketball is considerably growing, girls’ volleyball, football with flag. There is other sports like lacrosse and golf,” Blacher said.

But with all this growth comes challenges. Blacher said this includes access to facilities, qualified coaches and rising costs.

The City of Winnipeg has a partnership with Sport Manitoba called Sports Programming in Inner-City Neighbourhoods (SPIN). Through this program, the city connects community organizations in the inner city with certified coaches and provides equipment to the organizations at no cost.

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Other assistance for young athletes in the province is through KidSport Manitoba.

The nonprofit provides grants to help cover the costs of registration fees and has helped nearly 1,800 kids this year.

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“We had a huge surge in numbers in the first quarter and due to that surge, we had to reduce our max grant from $500 down to $300,” said Dustin Ehr, coordinator for KidSport Manitoba.

It was a difficult decision for the non-profit, but necessary to ensure as many kids as possible get access to sport.

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“Our number one sport is soccer again this year. It’s generally soccer, gymnastics, football, hockey, and then there will be baseball and softball to round out the top five,” Ehr said.

KidSport doesn’t expect this demand to go down anytime soon.

“Signing up as a monthly donor, even just $2 a month, you’re still going to get a tax receipt for the year but that something that really benefits Kidsport Manitoba because it really helps us see what our breakdown if going to be for the year,” Ehr said.