Sturgeon Bay Youth Baseball President Mike Propsom hopes your kids decide to get outdoors more often this summer. The Los Angeles Times reported last December that youth participation in organized sports regularly dropped from 45 percent in 2008 to 38 percent in 2018. According to the Aspen Institute, the pandemic caused those numbers to tumble even further, leading to 30 percent of kids who previously played a team sport saying they are no longer interested in doing so. High costs, time commitments, and hyper-competitiveness are all reasons why some sports have seen double-digit participation rate losses in recent years, including baseball at 10 percent. Propsom fondly remembers playing baseball with his friends non-stop on fields in Sturgeon Bay. Now, he says it is something else that has their attention.

He hopes events like next weekend’s youth baseball tournament at Sunset Park and West Side Field inspire more kids to grab a mitt and play ball and for parents and other adults to lend a helping hand to volunteer.