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Children's participation in organised sport in NSW

In the 12 months to April 2006 -

  • 572,900 children aged between 5 and 14 years participated in organised sport and physical activity in NSW
  • this was 64.7% of all children in NSW in this age group
  • this was a 4% increase from April 2003
  • there were 321,900 (70.8%) boys and 251,000 (58.2%) girls

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

  1. soccer (outdoor) had 175,500 participants or a participation rate of 19.8%
  2. swimming had 154,000 participants or a participation rate of 17.4%
  3. netball had 80,900 participants or a participation rate of 9.1%
  4. rugby league had 68,100 participants or a participation rate of 7.7%
  5. tennis had 56,600 participants or a participation rate of 6.4%
  6. cricket (outdoor) had 45,500 participants or a participation rate of 5.1%
  7. martial arts had 39,400 participants or a participation rate of 4.4%
  8. basketball had 33,600 participants or a participation rate of 3.8%
  9. athletics, track and field had 26,800 participants or a participation rate of 3.0%.
  10. gymnastics/trampolining had 26,500 participants or a participation rate of 3.0%

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

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