Oct 23, 2020 • 4 min read
From big announcements and commitments like Project Play 2024, TeamSnap’s $1M Pledge to Underserved Youth Athletes and the Million Coaches Challenge, to new resources like the Middle School Sports Best Practice Guide and the expanded Calls for Coaches, to the lively Q&As and workshops, the Aspen Institute Project Play 2020 Summit was four exciting days dedicated to building America’s new state of play.
The Summit had a record 2,500+ attendees, and TeamSnap was thrilled to be a part of the discussions as a sports technology leader and driver of change for equal access to youth sports.
Missed any of the Summit? Catch up with daily recaps and and over 25 session recordings HERE.
Missed our TeamSnap and HomeCourt Panel? Watch as Dave and Alex discuss the importance of teamwork in sports technology innovation. View the entire “Building the Capacity of Community Providers” session with opening remarks from Soccer Superstar Alex Morgan HERE.
Notable Summit Quotes:
“In those losses is where you get the greatest runway to catapult to have the greatest wins. If you don’t want to touch that pain and let it go, that’s where the mistake is. … You’re molding these young athletes not to just be great at sport but be great in life. That’s really cool. It gives me goosebumps thinking about it.”– Apolo Ohno, Olympic speed skating gold medalist, on life-building lessons good coaches can communicate to athletes in defeat
“Access to youth sports can really be a way of addressing the problem of implicit bias. It can help young people develop an awareness of other backgrounds than their own, which they then bring into life.”– Dan Porterfield, Aspen Institute CEO, on the societal value of sports
“As a Black girl, my first coach was a woman. I think that made me comfortable. ‘OK, here’s this 22-year-old redhead girl who’s helping me to swim.’ It was a big deal for me. All my youth sport coaches were women and seeing someone who can do it so well was like, ‘Oh, if she can do it, so can I.’”– Char Barnes, Columbus (Ohio) Recreation and Parks Department youth sports manager, on the value of female coaches
“We spend $60,000 over the lifespan of sports hoping for a $10,000 scholarship to some of our colleges. I think we need to put that in perspective and have youth focus on what’s important, and that’s playing, having a good time and hanging out with their friends.”– Gabe Albornoz, Montgomery County (Maryland) Councilman, on the pay-to-play model
“Access to quality sports is a very personal initiative for me. Playing team sports had an incredibly positive impact on all aspects of my life; they taught me key life skills and laid the foundation for a healthy lifestyle. I believe all children should have the same access to sport that I had growing up. I am immensely proud that TeamSnap is doing everything it can to support access to sport and our $1 Million commitment will go a long way towards helping ensure more young athletes get into the game.” – Dave DuPont, TeamSnap CEO, on the importance of equal access to sports
“Developing a standard of care is important. As a sector, we need to align on issues of safety, health and quality. Until we have a baseline, efforts to make progress in some of these areas are going to be challenging. Developing standards will help risk mitigation. Therefore with issues of insurance, for example, there could be a reduction in costs. So there’s an economic call to action for organizations to participate.”– Wayne Moss, executive director of the National Council of Youth Sports