This summer, fields, gyms, and playgrounds across Chicago became places for young people to play, connect, and discover something new through Urban Initiatives’ Summer of Sport.
Over five weeks, 470 young people participated across 17 Summer of Sport sites, sampling different sports while building relationships with coaches and one another. From soccer and basketball to baseball, flag football, handball, kickball, and more, every week brought another opportunity to learn a new skill, take a healthy risk, and have fun.
And young people kept coming back. Summer of Sport maintained a 71% average attendance rate, with 84% of young people staying engaged throughout all four weeks of camp.
More Than Learning a New Sport
Trying different sports is at the heart of Summer of Sport, but what happens between the games matters just as much.
Coaches intentionally create spaces where young people can practice teamwork, build relationships, manage emotions, show respect, and make thoughtful decisions. Those lessons showed up in what campers had to say about their summer.
When asked about their experience, one young person shared:
“How we play soccer a lot and making new friends was my favorite part of it.”
Another offered a simple lesson that captures what it means to have a safe place to learn and try:
“It’s alright if you mess up.”
That sense of safety and connection showed up across the summer. Among 229 young people surveyed across 14 schools, 85% said they felt very safe, 84% described camp as very fun, and 79% said they felt very included.
When asked about the most important things they learned, young people talked about much more than sports. Their responses included making friends, teamwork, kindness and inclusion, safety, listening, and trying their best.
One camper put it this way:
“Everyone is different in different ways but that doesn’t mean you be mean to them; treat them how you want to be treated.”
New Experiences, On and Off the Field
Summer also created opportunities for young people to take their experiences beyond their regular camp sites.
Young people from Spencer, Greene, Logandale, and Brennemann participated in three special Cubs experiences at Gallagher Way, giving campers another way to experience sport together outside their school communities.
Through our partnership with Chicago Stars FC, young people at Nixon and Saucedo also participated in four youth soccer clinics throughout the summer. Each school hosted two clinics, giving campers the opportunity to learn, play, and connect with the professional soccer community right here in Chicago.
These experiences were exciting additions to camp, but they were also an extension of what happens every day at Summer of Sport: relationships creating opportunities for young people to explore what comes next.
Play Is Serious
A summer camp can look like soccer games, relay races, laughter, and a gym full of bouncing basketballs. And it should. Joy is part of the point.
But within all that play, young people are also practicing how to work with someone new, recovering after making a mistake, building confidence to try something unfamiliar, and discovering that there are caring adults and teammates ready to support them.
That is why play is serious.
This summer, 470 young people had five weeks to move, play, connect, and grow together. And whether a camper discovered a new favorite sport, made a new friend, or simply learned that “it’s alright if you mess up,” each experience represents another opportunity created through play.
Special shout-out to Camp Out for Kids, one of our partners, for funding this work!
