Project Play is an initiative run by The Aspen Institute in partnership with ESPN, Nike, Amazon, MLB, NBA and more. It’s designed to encourage kids to be active and stay in youth sports. Research by The Aspen Institute shows that 62% of kids have given up on sports, citing mounting pressure and a general lack of enjoyment. To combat this downward trend, we set out to create work that drew attention to the pressure adults place on children who participate in youth sports, specifically coaches and parents in control of the organizations and demanding schedules. The objective of the work was to generate a call to action to infuse healthy and youthful play back into youth sports.

To raise awareness of the role adults play in the decreasing participation in youth sports, we created #DontRetireKid, a first-of-its-kind integration with ESPN SportsCenter. When viewers tuned into breaking news expecting to see a story about a star, they found 9-year-old Derek announcing his retirement from sports. The typical athlete press conference format highlighted how children are expected to play like pros as Derek spoke of the pressures that all kids face.

Then one of the biggest sports stars, Kobe Bryant, appeared on a live ESPN segment to offer solutions to the problem. From there, other huge names in sports joined the #DontRetireKid movement. Some planned, most organic. Even legends like Billie Jean King and Wayne Gretzky rallied behind the #DontRetireKid effort to keep kids in the game.

62% of children are dropping out of sports by age 9. This mass exodus is not only unprecedented, it’s changing the way kids grow up. They’re missing out on all of the physical, mental, and social benefits of playing sports.

The reason they’re dropping out is simply because kids aren’t having “fun” playing, and parents and coaches have prioritized winning at all costs.

The Aspen Institute wanted to disrupt the multi-billion-dollar youth sports industry by giving these kids a voice. We had to speak directly to adults in sports in a provocative way, treating a young kid like a pro athlete, much like they’re already doing on the field. And we did this by putting a 9-year-old on ESPN SportsCenter to announce his retirement and call out parents, coaches and leagues for taking the youth out of youth sports.

#DontRetireKid launched as a breaking news story on ESPN SportsCenter. Kobe Bryant immediately tweeted the video with the hashtag #DontRetireKid which ignited a conversation around the state of youth sports.

A day later, the film version launched on ESPN SportsCenter and ended with a simple question, “If 62% of kids are dropping out of sports, what are we doing wrong?” To help answer, Kobe appeared in studio to discuss the problem and offer Project Play’s solutions.

While the conversation grew online, other sports stars (Mike Trout, Blake Griffin, Wayne Gretzky and more) created video messages for any thinking about dropping out by sharing what they love about sports beyond winning. A groundswell took place, more stars joined in organically, #DontRetireKid trended across social media and the effort was boosted even more by segments on major news stations.

The campaign garnered 322,651,169 total impressions in the first month, which includes TV promotions, social, magazine ads and vignettes. In the first two months, the ESPN exclusive period, there were 167 million social impressions with a 99% positive sentiment, and Project Play saw an 898% increase in site traffic. Additionally, we had many professional athletes who responded to the spot with their own content, furthering the movement and the reach of the message. Some kids saw the content from the athletes and posted their own response, saying that they were thinking about quitting but had reconsidered thanks to the #DontRetireKid message.