Running, camping, yoga and road biking were among the big gainers in participation in 2009, according to the SGMA’s Sports, Fitness, and Recreation Participation Overview [2010].  While the growing popularity of group exercise and the health & wellness movement appears to be driving participants to many of these activities, SGMA found many Americans were just looking for more bang out of their exercise buck.

 

“Feeling more pressure from diminished disposable income and leisure time, people looked in 2009 to get the best workout and most enjoyment possible from the money, time and physical exertion they put into their sports and fitness activities,” said SGMA President and CEO Tom Cove.

 

Other positive participation gains were seen in skiing, perhaps benefiting from the early and long winter; as well as strength training. On the downside, it was a tough year for nearly all team sports outside lacrosse. Core action sports (skateboarding, surfing, BMX) also lost ground and golf was down yet again. Hunt also had a tough year.

 

But momentum around running/jogging continued. Participation grew 6.7% to 43.9 million and has now expanded 39.8% since 2000.

Particularly encouraging was a 9.8% jump in frequent participants (+10 times a year). Smart gains were also seen in both off-road triathlon participation (up 10.6% to 666,000) and road triathlon (11.1% to 1.2 million). Trail running participation was down 0.5% to 4.8 million but still up 16% since 2000.

 

Yoga participation increased 13.2% to 20.3 million in 2009 with a 13.3% gain in frequent participants (100+ times a year). Pilates training gave back 2.6% to 8.7 million but remains up 456% since 2000. Tai Chi participation was down 6.4% to 3.2 million.

 

Among gym-type activities, elliptical motion trainer participation increased 4.9% to 26.5 million and is up 259.8% since 2000. Treadmill use was up 4.1% to 51.4 million and is ahead 37.9% since 2000. Both treadmill and elliptical saw double-digit increases in frequent participants (100+times). Step aerobics, high-impact and low-impact aerobics also saw solid increases in overall and frequent participation.

 

Fitness activities losing participants included upright stationary cycling, stair climbing machine, abdominal machine use, aquatic exercises and cross-country ski machine. Fitness/competition swimming participation was down 8.4% to 17.4 million.

 

In strength activities, gains were seen in the use of barbells, dumbbells, hand weights, and weight/resistance machines-with each showing a nice gain in frequent participants (+100 times a year) and building on gains seen since 2000.

 

In the team sports category, lacrosse added 6.2% in participants to 1.2 million and is now ahead 131.1% since 2000. Frequent participants (25+ times) vaulted 49.7%. Ice hockey participants increased 12.2% to 2.1 million in 2009 although it remains down 12.3% since 2000. Rugby participation grew 8.7% to 750,000. 

 

In the downside, baseball participation was down 7.9% in 2009 to 13.9 million, and is now off 12.7% since 2000. Outdoor softball declined 3.7% to 13.7 million while indoor softball grew 3.7% to 4.9 million. Basketball was off 8.6% to 24 million participants in 2009 and is now off 8.4% since 2000. In football, tackle was down 11.7% to 6.8 million participants last year with touch and flag seeing similar declines. Indoor soccer participants gained 3.7% to 4.9 million but outdoor soccer participants slid 3.7% to 13.7 million.                     

 

Besides lacrosse, team sports seeing notable gains in frequent participants included beach volleyball, indoor soccer, fast pitch softball, ice hockey, field hockey and cheerleading. Team sports suffering notable erosion in frequent participants included baseball, basketball, court volleyball, wrestling and slow-pitch softball. Frequent participants in tackle football eased 0.2%.

 

In Racquet Sports, tennis participation was flattish last year (up 0.1% to 18.5 million) but has gained 42.9% since 2000. Table Tennis, squash and badminton also showed gains while racquetball lost some ground.

 

Among individual sports, golf participation was down 5.1% to 27.1 million and is now off 6% since 2000. Inline skating also lost more ground (down 13.9% to 8.3 million). Skateboarding participation was down 5.8% to 7.4 million and is off 25.4% since 2000. Given the MMA hoopla, martial arts participation surprisingly shrank 3.8% to 6.5 million although it’s up 5.8% since 2000. Boxing participation grew 6.4% to 2.9 million but is still down 28.2% since 2000. Also losing participants in 2009 were billiards/pool, darts and horseback riding.

 

In outdoor sports, two big winners were camping (up 5.6% to 17.4 million) and road biking (ahead 5.3% to 40.1 million) while most other activities declined. Activities losing participants included BMX (down 4.9% to 1.8 million); mountain biking (5.9% to 7.1 million); traditional climbing (19.8% to 1.8 million); fly fishing (down 6.3% to 5.6 million); and saltwater fishing (10.9% to 12.3 million). Small gains were seen in freshwater fishing and hiking.

 

Participation in nearly all water sports activities were also down sharply, including boardsailing/windsurfing, rafting, surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving and water skiing. Canoeing grew 1.2% to 10.1 million but remains down 7.6% since 2000. Other gainers included white water kayaking, wakeboarding and sailing. In Winter Sports, alpine skiing participation increased 5.5% to 10.3 million. Smart gains were also seen in cross-country (up 8% to 4.2 million) and freestyle (8.8% to 3.0 million) with a more modest gain for snowboarding (3.7% to 7.4 million).

 

In hunt & fish activities, gains were seen in rifle hunting participants (+7.4% to 11.1 million) and bow hunting (+13.5% to 4.2 million.) However, declines were seen in handgun hunting, shotgun hunting, sport clays shooting, trap/skeet shooting and hand target shooting and rifle target shooting.