Boston looks to strengthen local sports options for youth – The Boston Globe

“When the people around you are pushing sports, it definitely makes you feel seen,” Cabey said.

In May, Mayor Michelle Wu announced the launch of Boston’s first Youth Sports Hub, an online directory where families can find nearby sports leagues and programs for children in elementary school through high school.

The Youth Sports Hub allows users to search for nearby sports facilities and organizations by using their neighborhood as a starting point. Users can search the directory by specific sports offered like basketball, rugby, baseball, martial arts, lacrosse, and gymnastics. The directory also lists seasonal availability, gender accommodations, level of engagement, language, age group, and costs for each program.

The directory is part of Wu’s Connect, Learn, Explore initiative, launched in 2024, which provides youth with access to sports, the arts, gardening, and other forms of community involvement.

The sports database comes at a time when youth involvement is down. According to Boston’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), 34 percent of high school youth were involved in at least one sports team in 2021 — a 10 percent decrease from 2019.

“This give kids the access to top-tier equipment to playing sports at a high level and keeping them safe,” Cabey said.

The hub — which includes Boys & Girls Clubs and Boston Centers for Youth and Families — also provides information on statewide recreational sports news, city-run sports programs, and space for organizations to find more resources to expand their reach in communities.

Along with the directory’s launch, the city hired its first youth sports initiative manager, Tyrik Wilson, earlier this year and invested $100,000 into local sports leagues via small grants to pay for equipment upgrades and travel.

“We’re trying to figure out through these conversations with different programs — in what kinds of ways are you retaining your athletes in your program,” Wilson said. “It becomes more than dropping your kid off and leaving.”

Wilson said he wants youth sports programming to be able to offer opportunities for actual competition, academic support outside of school hours, and community-building for youth.

Obie Christmas, teen director at the Berkshire Partners Blue Hill Club, said the directory will keep families from traveling far into the city to find quality sports programming and training.

“All these kids have to outsource and go 30 minutes out to go to training with an indoor turf or a nice turf facility where it’s safe,” he said. “They have to go to their local — or not-so-local — gym to get a weightlifting session in.”

Christmas has been working at Blue Hill for seven years and leads sports training. He has been working with some of his students, who are now headed to college, since they were in elementary school.

“The goal right now is to reach out into the community and just get people to buy into the system and get people to understand that they don’t have to go all the way to Newton or wherever for good programming,” Christmas said.

Blue Hill offers a plethora of sports like basketball, football, swimming, tennis, and soccer with recently renovated and quality courts, and equipment and training space for students. Christmas said the city’s efforts help families and organizations like Boys & Girls Clubs get kids started in sports and keep them involved throughout their development.

“This means we can now compete when we put kids in our programming. We are helping young athletes get started and keep growing,” he said.

Cabey said Boston’s youth should have easy access to sports programming whether they want to play in college or play recreationally.

“It teaches you discipline you may not get at home or anywhere else,” he said. “It also opens up opportunities to get in a new environment and meet new people and network.”

Auzzy Byrdsell can be reached at austin.byrdsell@globe.com.