A Roadmap to Building Sports People WANT to Play

Sports participation is declining. Technological advances may worsen this trend if we don’t act quickly. Here’s a snapshot of the current state of play:

• 70% of young people drop out of organised sport by their mid-teens. Most say they’re not enjoying it anymore.

• 82% of participants report experiencing abuse, harassment, or discrimination.

• Only 15% of Australians take part in organised sport at all. This means we are excluding a staggering 85% of the population.

  
  

While there are many barriers to acknowledge, a core issue is that our industry has been conditioned to deliver pathways with one primary aim: finding and nurturing talent as early as possible. This approach narrows opportunities as athletes mature. It concentrates resources on a shrinking pool and systematically excludes the vast majority.

A snapshot of organised sport participation by age, gender across our biggest sports, as reported by Ausplay (the national participation survey) in 2022.

As an industry, we must ask ourselves: Is it possible to turn around participation rates with this cultural conditioning in play? Or is it time for new foundations that enable us to embrace and nurture broader audiences?

What Other Industries Already Know

Other sectors have faced similar challenges. Retail once believed growth came from opening more stores. Now, brands like Apple and Lululemon focus on creating experiences that build loyalty. The music industry used to measure success in CD sales. Today, Spotify wins by curating personalised experiences that keep people coming back. The fitness sector no longer relies on gyms packed with treadmills. Strava and Peloton succeed by connecting people, using data, and fostering a sense of belonging.

Sport is still trying to build more fields, run more carnivals, and train more coaches- without asking the people walking away why they’re leaving.

A Roadmap for Growth and Relevance

From Now On's Four Pillars of Sustainable Growth

For the past 25 years, we’ve been monitoring global trends in sports participation. The answer is clear: We need to balance our focus on the supply side of sport—the programs, competitions, coaching, and officiating we deliver—with the demand side, the people and communities sport exists to serve.

That’s where From Now On's four pillars of demand come in. Together, they create a foundation from which sport can scale its reach and impact.

1. Participant Experience – The experience we create determines whether people stay, return, and bring others or walk away for good. When we amplify the voices of those walking away or never entering sport to begin with, we create an imperative to act on their feedback.

   
   

2. Inclusive Cultures – True inclusion requires us to identify and remove barriers faced by the 85% of the population currently not participating. Creating environments where anyone can belong and thrive is key to long-term growth.

   
   

3. Social Impact – Sport’s real value lies in the unique mix of personal, community, and societal benefits it delivers. If we don’t capture and tell this story, we bypass our reason for being and leave audiences, partners, and investment on the table.

   
   

4. Insights-Driven – Data takes us from guessing to knowing. It protects resources, builds trust, and gives us the agility to adapt in a fast-changing world.

   
   

Easier Than You Think?

Shifting focus to the demand side of sport may sound daunting. But the hardest part is the mindset shift. Once you start asking new questions—Why did they leave? What barriers are in the way? What impact are we really having?—change begins to flow quickly.

If you’re still reading, perhaps you see it. Perhaps you’re ready to step into the role of a game-changing leader who will shape the future of sport.

That’s why we’ve developed a simple 16-question scorecard to help you see where your organisation stands on these four pillars. It's free, takes five minutes, and you’ll receive a tailored report with practical steps to start moving out of the past and into a future of growth, sustainability, and impact.

Want to create the change you came into sport to deliver? Start here.