Why this matters, with sources
We make claims about access to sport on this site. These are the studies behind them, what they actually say, and where they stop.
findings
Income decides who plays
Research from the Aspen Institute's Project Play has repeatedly found that children from lower income households participate in organised sport at a substantially lower rate than children from higher income households, and that the gap has widened rather than closed. Cost is consistently named as the leading barrier by parents.
Sport does more than sport
UNICEF's report Getting into the Game links participation in organised sport to improved academic outcomes, better mental health and stronger social development, particularly for children who face disadvantage elsewhere.
Hockey is the expensive one
Within Canadian youth sport, hockey sits at the top end for cost. Registration, equipment, ice time and travel compound, and equipment has to be replaced as a child grows. A family that can afford one season cannot necessarily afford the next.
How we choose who to serve
We do not guess at need. Two public datasets do the work.
Learning Opportunities Index
The Toronto District School Board ranks its schools by external challenges affecting student success, drawing on income, education levels and other census measures. It is the best available proxy for where a free programme is needed most.
Neighbourhood Improvement Areas
The City of Toronto designates neighbourhoods with the greatest gaps in health, social and economic outcomes. Our five target neighbourhoods sit inside or beside these designations.
Neither dataset tells us anything about an individual family, and neither is used to refuse anybody. They tell us where to go looking.
stops
What we cannot claim
The honest limits of our own evidence.
We can tell you how many children we put on the ice, how much equipment went home and what it cost. We cannot yet tell you how many of them were still playing a year later, because we have not been running long enough to know and we will not invent it.
Following our first campers through their second year is the single most useful thing we could measure, and it is the thing we are building towards.