Children and youth in sport

The early years of a child’s life, as well as the transitions from adolescence to independent adulthood are crucial to establishing lifelong behaviours. ¹

Playing sport during these years can provide lifelong benefits to physical, mental, social, and economic wellbeing. Children and youth who grow up playing sport are more likely to remain active as adults and to have improved resilience and social connectedness. ^{1, 2}

In line with the AusPlay survey and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) reports we have defined children as those aged 0-14, and youth as those aged 15-24.^{3, 4, 5} These ages cover important milestones, up to and including university studies and early employment when sport participation can drop significantly. There will be some cross-over between groups depending on research and data available.