by BaseballSoftballUK, www.baseballsoftballuk.com
The latest Active People Survey released by Sport England on March 17 confirms that adult participation in baseball and softball is continuing to rise.
The survey, run on a rolling basis across nearly 200,000 people a year, shows an average over-the-year participation rate of 9,500 adults playing baseball or softball weekly. But the real figures are almost certainly higher because the sports are mainly played seasonally.
Compared to the last set of results, released in October 2010, there has been an increase of 400 participants, from 9,100 to 9,500. But compared to Active People Survey results published in January 2010, the figures have increased by well over 3,000 and this marks a substantial rise in the numbers of people playing.
These figures mean that there are 1,200 more people playing according to Active People criteria than the target of 8,300 for this year, and participation is just 400 shy of BSUK’s Year 3 targets.
The figures correspond with BSUK data showing a similar increase in the number of teams now playing the sports regularly.
Good News
John Boyd, BSUK’s Joint CEO and Head of Development, said: “It’s encouraging to see the latest survey results — they represent good news. Sport England uses this data as the primary assessment of how well sports are performing against their agreed targets, and we’ve seen an increase in line with our planned targets. The number of adult teams playing baseball and softball has increased from 493 two years ago to 681 and the number of youth teams from 85 to 190.
“That means that we are on target, halfway through our current four-year plan, to deliver planned growth in the sports.
“Much work has gone into achieving this from our staff and volunteers,” John continued. “The achievement so far has only been possible due to the continued hard work and support of those who volunteer their time to organise the sports on the ground. These figures are a testament to the buy-in and efforts of the whole baseball and softball community.”