Hatboro Little League Collecting Gear for Area Youth Players

Today, especially with COVID isolation, there are major issues impacting the welfare of children related to their physical fitness and mental health. According to The Aspen Institute's Project Play, this issue has been amplified by the fact that youth sports participation in sports among families earning less than $75,000 annually has been declining since 2011. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association only about 38 percent of kids aged six to 12 are playing team sports on a regular basis, down from 45 percent in 2008.

Beyond this, the cost of team sports has been increasing with the average American family spending approximately $700 per year on their child's sports activities, according to Project Play. These increasing costs related to youth sports are a major factor for families earning $50,000 or less indicating that growing costs is the top reason their kids don't participate in organized sports, according to the Rand Study. And the challenges of COVID are perpetuating this issue even more.

Two years ago, Play It Forward was launched to help address these issues by collecting and distributing unneeded and outgrown baseball and softball gear to area youth Horsham Little League players. Last year it expanded to support Horsham Soccer Association players. And earlier this month it announced its partnering with Horsham Lacrosse Club. Now, it is teaming with Hatboro Little League to help players across the Hatboro, Warminster and Southampton communities.

To date, the program has collected over 3,000 pieces of donated sports equipment and has helped equip over 200 youth players in the area providing them with free equipment to play the sports they love.

According to Katie Harrington, a Hatboro-Horsham High School sophomore and the founder of Play It Forward, "I initially wanted a way to help kids strengthen their physical and mental health, and sports are a great way to accomplish this. I had so many cleats and bats that I had outgrown over the years that I would give them to younger kids in our neighborhood. I knew there had to be many other families who had unneeded or outgrown equipment that could find new life in the hands of young athletes, so I started Play It Forward to collect and donate them. So many kids love baseball and softball, which are the sports we initially launched Play It Forward with. With the reach Hatboro Little League has with players and families across Hatboro, Southampton and Warminster it was an ideal partner to assist more kids in the community.”

As Lisa Banks, Hatboro Little League Secretary explained, “Since kids outgrow their gear so quickly, this equipment recycling program makes so much sense to help our players defer some gear costs and keep them playing. Keeping them involved in sports is so important to their health and happiness, especially with the challenges of today. We are very excited to have Play It Forward team up with Hatboro Little League in order to help more kids get into and stay in the game.”

The first Play It Forward donation station for Hatboro Little League will take place Saturday, March 20 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at the clubhouse parking lot of Hatboro Little League fields at 2 Blair Mill Road, Hatboro, PA 19040. If you have unneeded or outgrown baseball or softball gear, including cleats, gloves, helmets, balls, bags or bats you are invited to stop by to donate them to get it into the hands of a youth player in the community.