About Us > Who Needs CityKicks And Why?

Problem: Too much time, too little to do

Most of Boston's middle schools dismiss for the day at 1:30 PM! Though these 11 to 14-year-olds need constructive activities, physical exercise, and positive role models, what they mostly get instead are hours of unsupervised time, every afternoon. The after-school sports offerings of the school system accommodate only one-tenth of Boston's middle-schoolers; they provide nothing during fall, and they never offer the world's most popular game, soccer.

Problem: Too few sports opportunities

Boston kids get to play sports only one-third as much as suburban kids do. Boston girls are participating in sports only half as much as the boys are. And girls of color are even less active.

Problem: Parents are overburdened already

The Boston middle school population served by CityKicks is:

80% single-parent households
78% low-income
30% non-native English speaking
84% non-white

In contrast to the surrounding suburbs, few of our girls' parents have time or other resources they can volunteer to help organize, coach, equip, or transport kids in order to make youth sports happen. Most CityKicks players live or go to school in the inner sections of the city, where the fewest organized sports are available to kids.

Motivate...

[If I wasn't doing soccer after school,] I would be eating snacks and watching TV.