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Children's participation in organised sport in NSW

In the 12 months to April 2003 -

  • 548,300 children aged between 5 and 14 years participated in organised sport and physical activity in NSW
  • this was 62.3% of all children in NSW in this age group
  • this was a 3.5% increase from April 2000
  • there were 320,200 (71.0%) boys and 228,100 (53.1%) girls

The top 10 sports and physical activities for children in NSW were:

  1. soccer (outdoor) had 185,900 participants or a participation rate of 21.1%
  2. swimming had 162,000 participants or a participation rate of 18.4%
  3. netball had 82,400 participants or a participation rate of 9.4%
  4. tennis had 67,800 participants or a participation rate of 7.7%
  5. rugby league had 49,200 participants or a participation rate of 5.6%
  6. cricket (outdoor) had 43,700 participants or a participation rate of 5.0%
  7. basketball had 43,700 participants or a particiption rate of 5.0%
  8. athletics, track and field had 35,200 participants or a participation rate of 4.0%.
  9. martial arts had 32,700 participants or a participation rate of 3.7%
  10. gymnastics/trampolining had 27,100 participants or a participation rate of 3.1%

Source - "Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities," Australian Bureau of Statistics Catalogue Number 4901.0