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Every day, millions of young people around the world step onto playing fields, into gyms and onto courts. For some, sports become a source of joy, confidence and a sense of belonging. For others, sports feel rigid, full of pressure or disconnected from their daily lives. The key difference often lies in who has decision-making power and whose voices are heard.
This question of power is central to “Reimagining Youth Sport: A Decision-Making Playbook for Youth Agency,” a recently released report from Ashoka’s Reimagining Youth Sport Project. Ashoka is a global organization that supports social entrepreneurs and changemakers working to build more inclusive, youth-centered systems. Through its work in and through sport, education and community, Ashoka focuses on empowering young people to drive change and shape more equitable futures. The playbook compiles years of insights into practical guidance for these changemakers.
Developed in collaboration with changemakers from the World Freestyle Football Association, Ashoka Fellows, Young Changemakers, Education for Sharing, Adelphi University and the Youth Sport Trust, the report aims to empower leaders to create sports environments where young people can develop their voices and drive positive change.
Supported by the Collective365 initiative of the Olympism365 Innovation Hub—a collaboration between the International Olympic Committee, Beyond Sport and Women Win—the project examined how youth sports could evolve if young people were not just participants but also active contributors in shaping their experiences.
“Throughout this process, one truth emerged: youth sports are most powerful when they are fun, accessible, and transformative; when they promote positivity, welcome inclusivity, and encourage growth, connection, and empowerment. It is a space where every child can belong, every voice is heard, and the lessons of empathy, teamwork, and resilience extend beyond the field into everyday life.” — Reimagining Youth Sport: A Decision-Making Playbook for Youth Agency
A playbook for everyone
Speaking to the whole youth sports ecosystem, the playbook is a guide for those who want to create positive and more inclusive sporting environments. Coaches and parents are addressed as key to the success of young people in sport alongside administrators, policymakers, funders and investors. The premise is simple but far-reaching: every decision, from how training is structured to how success is measured, sends a signal about what and who is valued – and when young people are left out of the decision-making, sport programs miss a critical step.
The playbook introduces a decision-making framework that considers that young people’s experiences in sport are shaped not by one single person or situation, but by a web of varied relationships, contexts, and incentives. Each of these systems of influence addresses the root causes that limit sport from fully supporting young people’s agency and overall development.
“When youth agency is prioritized, young people not only shape their own sport experience but also carry that sense of agency into other areas of their lives.”
— Reimagining Youth Sport: A Decision-Making Playbook for Youth Agency
At the center of the playbook is a call to move beyond simple participation in sport and toward youth agency. That means creating conditions where young people can influence their own environments, express identity, take ownership and feel a sense of belonging, rather than simply following instructions or performing to external expectations.
To help decision-makers translate this idea into practice, the report outlines three “plays,” or strategic shifts, that challenge long-standing assumptions about youth sport.
The first encourages a redefinition of purpose, asking sport programs to intentionally develop agency alongside physical skills. The second promotes shared responsibility, shifting power from centralized control toward collaboration between youth, communities and institutions. The third invites a broader understanding of success, one that values collective wellbeing and long-term development rather than individual outcomes alone.
“Youth sport participants share responsibility with their communities and decision-makers in shaping the purpose and structure of youth sport.”
— Reimagining Youth Sport: A Decision-Making Playbook for Youth Agency
What this looks like in practice
For a coach, these ideas might show up in how to invite choice, reflection or leadership from young people during training sessions or by building in these moments intentionally. For parents and caregivers, it may mean rethinking how progress and enjoyment of a sport are measured. For organizations and governing bodies, it could involve revisiting policies, funding criteria or evaluation frameworks to better align with youth-centered outcomes.
For funders and investors, the playbook offers language and logic for supporting initiatives that prioritize long-term wellbeing and youth agency, even when outcomes are harder to quantify.
This systems-wide approach reflects the ambition of the Olympism365 Innovation Hub, which supports innovations that challenge entrenched practices and translate learning into tools that can be applied across diverse cultural and sporting contexts.
An invitation, not a conclusion
While Reimagining Youth Sport: A Decision-Making Playbook for Youth Agency marks the conclusion of the Reimagining Youth Sport Project, it is not intended as a final word. Instead, it is positioned as a living resource to guide young people towards finding their own agency, one meant to be discussed, adapted and tested within local contexts around the world.
Read the full report from Ashoka
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