Because of the high cost of playing sports, many high school students are unable to participate, even on their public high school tennis teams. Through no fault of their own, these students are at a huge disadvantage both mentally and physically from those who can afford to play.
Tennis, like any sport, costs money to play. It can cost a lot of money to play. Racquets can run up-wards of $250 each, tennis shoes cost around $100 per pair and tennis bags range from $50 to $150. Those numbers quickly total up to $500–before anybody even steps on the court.
Mobilize the greater-Phoenix community to build healthy lives for disadvantaged youth through access to and participation in team tennis.
Advantage-In was created to remove those hurdles and get kids on the court.
Without exception, all the research and every single study reach the same conclusion: playing sports improves adolescents’ physical and mental health. Other benefits of participating in sports:
Engaging in athletics also enhances emotional regulation, problem-solving, goal attainment and academic performance.1
These benefits ultimately result in increased college enrollment.2
Sports is a one, two punch: participation results in positive effects, while mitigating many negative ones. It lowers crime, teen pregnancies, delinquency rates, and drug use. Students participating in sports also experienced fewer symptoms of depression.3
Bottom line? Sports positively change lives.
This link is even stronger for youth from lower social and economic status schools.4 Sports participation is particularly critical for this group because the personal and social benefits would likely not otherwise be experienced.5
Unfortunately, these students are the ones with the lowest participation rates.6 Lower income families report cost as the number one reason for non-participation.7 61% of high school athletes are charged a pay-to-play fee. This fee, however, is only one of many school sports’ costs. Between equipment and uniforms, the average cost to play a high school sport is $381–per sport.8
Sports are crucial for under-privileged students.