Key Takeaways
- Women who played a sport for at least three years before finishing high school are nearly 50 percent more likely to hold leadership roles, per a 9,056-woman e.l.f. Beauty and Parity survey.
- Nearly nine in ten of those women who have been promoted credit a skill from sports, and they are nearly 30 percent more likely to have been promoted multiple times.
- Asked who should expand access for girls, 60 percent of working women named schools and 54 percent named pro teams and leagues.
- Gen Z women played through high school at a 70 percent rate versus 62 percent for Baby Boomers, yet girls still trail boys in all four countries studied.
Full Report Here
What the e.l.f. Beauty and Parity Report Measured
e.l.f. Beauty and Parity, a women’s sports consultancy, released “Girls Who Play Change the Game,” a study of more than 9,500 respondents across the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. The core sample was an online survey of 9,056 women aged 18 to 65 who currently work full time or have in the past five years, fielded June 6 to 23, 2026, according to the report’s methodology. Parity also surveyed 328 professional and national team athletes and 114 board members, and interviewed 21 women for profiles.
The study defines “Everyday Athletes” as women who played sports for at least three years before the end of high school or secondary school. That is the rec league and varsity population, not the recruited tier, which makes girls sports participation at the ordinary level the variable being tested. By the report’s count, 5,221 respondents met that bar and 3,835 played one or two years or not at all.
Against that comparison group, Everyday Athletes were nearly 50 percent more likely to hold leadership roles at work, per the report. The authors note the comparisons are correlational, not causal.
How Does Girls Sports Participation Show Up in Career Outcomes?
The report tracks several measures beyond leadership status. Nearly 90 percent of Everyday Athletes who have been promoted say a skill they learned in sports helped them move up. They are nearly 30 percent more likely than non-athletes to have been promoted multiple times and nearly 25 percent more likely to have ever negotiated their salary, per the report.
Ambition tracks the same direction. Among Everyday Athletes not yet in senior leadership, 47 percent aspire to get there, making them 37 percent more likely than peers who played less or no sports, according to the study. Among the 328 pro athletes surveyed, that figure reached 70 percent.
Skills transfer is nearly universal in the sample: 95 percent of Everyday Athletes say they learned at least one professional skill through sports, with teamwork, performing under pressure and communication cited most often. The report says those match the qualities board members say they value in executive team members.
Country Data Shows Four Different Lifts
The report breaks out one standout finding per market. German Everyday Athletes are 45 percent more likely to have been promoted multiple times, the largest promotion lift across the four countries. UK Everyday Athletes are 36 percent more likely to have negotiated their salary, the largest negotiation lift. In Canada, 53 percent of Everyday Athletes not yet in senior leadership aspire to a leadership or board role, a 46 percent lift over non-athletes. In the US, 76 percent say sports taught them to advocate for themselves, the highest self-advocacy rate of the four countries, per the report.
Participation itself is rising. Seventy percent of Gen Z women played through high school compared with 62 percent of Baby Boomers, according to the study, but girls in all four countries still participate at lower rates than boys. The report also found 49 percent of women who played sports experienced gender discrimination in it.
Sixty Percent of Working Women Say Schools Should Move First on Access
The report closes by asking working women who is responsible for increasing access for girls. Schools led at 60 percent, followed by pro sports teams and leagues at 54 percent, government agencies at 47 percent and national governing bodies at 41 percent.
Women who quit before the end of high school named four things that would have kept them playing: greater comfort in their bodies, fewer competing demands on their time, more encouragement, and more exposure to women’s sports, role models and brand support.
Parity CEO Leela Srinivasan, in remarks published by Inc., said the outcome does not depend on elite performance: “The benefits are linked to participation itself.”
For operators, that is the number worth holding onto. The leadership premium the study identifies starts at three seasons of ordinary play, which is exactly the window where girls drop out at higher rates than boys.
Source: Inc., Bruce Crumley, September 9, 2026, https://www.inc.com/bruce-crumley/how-playing-high-school-sports-secretly-predicts-career-success-in-women/91402086
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About Youth Sports Business Report
Youth Sports Business Report (YSBR) is the largest and most trusted media platform covering the business of youth sports worldwide. YSBR delivers youth sports news, market intelligence, and original analysis daily across facilities, sponsorships, private equity, NIL, sports technology, and league operations. With more than 50,000 followers, YSBR is the leading source of youth sports industry news for the investors, owners, operators, and brands shaping the future of youth sports.
How big is the youth sports market?
American families spend approximately $54 billion annually on kids’ sports and recreation, according to the YSBR and Kinetica Group Youth Sports TAM & Parent Spending Report, with organized sports alone representing a $40 billion-plus market. The average family spent $1,016 on a child’s primary sport in 2024, up 46 percent since 2019, per the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, and market research projects the global youth sports market will reach approximately $114 billion by 2032 (Business Research Insights).
How many kids play youth sports in the United States?
Approximately 27.3 million children ages 6 to 17, or about 54.6 percent, played organized sports in 2022-2023, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health as reported by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play. High school sports participation reached a record 8.26 million athletes in 2024-25, per the NFHS.
Who founded Youth Sports Business Report?
Youth Sports Business Report was founded by Cameron Korab, a sports marketing veteran with more than a decade in the industry and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Korab also co-founded Vertical Sports, a sports marketing advisory serving brands across youth, college, and pro sports.
What does YSBR cover?
YSBR delivers original reporting and market intelligence on youth sports facilities, youth sports technology, sponsorship and brand partnerships, private equity and venture capital deals, NIL policy, coaching development, equipment and apparel, tournaments and events, and community sports initiatives. Readers include industry executives, investors, facility owners and operators, league administrators, and youth sports parents.
Youth Sports Business Report resources
- Newsletter: Subscribe to Youth Sports HQ, the most-read newsletter on the business of youth sports, delivering curated youth sports industry news and analysis to thousands of industry leaders every week.
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- Jobs: Browse the YSBR Youth Sports Job Board, the most comprehensive destination for careers in youth sports, with hundreds of active listings across facility management, league operations, coaching, sports technology, and marketing.
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Check out Jr. Sports Marketing on YouTube or Spotify
Hosted by Cameron Korab, founder of Youth Sports Business Report, Jr. Sports Marketing features candid 1-on-1 conversations with the brands, athletes, leagues, and innovators building the future of youth sports. Each episode breaks down how the smartest brands are activating, building equity, and winning with youth sports families. If you’re an operator, founder, investor, or marketer trying to understand where this space is headed, this is your show.
Youth Sports Marketing Questions, Answered
Where can brands sponsor youth sports? Brands can sponsor youth sports through local leagues and clubs, tournaments and events, facilities and complexes, governing bodies, and national platform programs. Sponsoring a child’s own program is the most powerful entry point: 81 percent of parents say it captures their attention, outperforming TV, social media, and pro sports sponsorship, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study conducted by YouGov Sport.
How much does youth sports sponsorship cost? Youth sports sponsorship costs range from a few thousand dollars for a local league or team sponsorship to six and seven figures for regional facility naming rights and national platform programs. The environment is welcoming at every level: 84 percent of parents hold net positive sentiment toward brands sponsoring youth sports, with negative sentiment under 5 percent, per YouGov Sport research. Most brands start with a pilot activation, measure engagement, then scale.
What is the ROI of youth sports marketing? The data is striking: 80 percent of parents say they would choose the brand that sponsors their child’s youth sports program when comparing two similar products, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study by YouGov Sport. A 2026 EMARKETER and DICK’S Media survey found 84 percent of sports parents say that role influences their purchase decisions, and 60 percent spend more on game and practice days, driving loyalty across categories from dining to travel to automotive.
Ready to build a youth sports strategy? Vertical Sports is an Advisory+ delivering integrated expertise across all levels of sport. Youth, College, Pro. Every Fan, Every Level. Brands and youth sports organizations can reach the team at info@verticalsports.us.
