An analysis based on SporttiData shows that the vast majority of Finnish children and adolescents hold a licence in only one sport each year. Participating in multiple sports is most common among primary school-aged children but declines steadily with age.

The Finnish Olympic Committee’s SporttiData provides an overview of the percentage of children and young people who participate in one or more sports each year, based on licence data, as well as how participation in multiple sports varies by age group and region. The analysis is based on data from more than 420,000 licence holders.

For example, about one-fifth of 8- to 9-year-old licence holders participate in more than one sport, but among 14- to 15-year-olds, that proportion drops to about 7 to 8 percent.

There are also significant regional differences in participation in multiple sports. Participation in multiple sports is most common in Southern and Central Ostrobothnia, where about a quarter of 9–13-year-old licence holders hold licences in more than one sport each year. Participation in multiple sports is lowest in the Uusimaa region, where the corresponding share is about 11 percent.

People who participate in multiple sports are more likely to continue participating in sport

SporttiData’s data also shows that participating in multiple sports is significantly linked to continued participation in sport. Among 9- to 13-year-olds who participated in multiple sports, approximately 94 percent continued to hold a licence the following year, while the corresponding figure for those who participated in a single sport was 76 percent. Participants in more than one sport were thus significantly more likely to continue holding a licence than those who participated in only one sport.

SporttiData’s findings support previous research evidence on the benefits of participating in a variety of sports. At the same time, SporttiData provides the sports community with new insights into which types of participation pathways within licensed sport appear to support long-term involvement in organised sports clubs.

This analysis is the second installment in the SporttiData Insight series, which examines key phenomena in sports based on data from the SporttiData report. The first article in the series focused on retention.