OK, so none of these platforms are going to lift a finger to address declining sport participation in children. But that's where kids' attention is, and there's a lot we can learn from them.

There are some core truths as to why kids (and let's be real, adults too) are addicted to screens. If you're designing or delivering sport experiences for children, understanding the principles around WHY these apps elicit so much dopamine can help you retain kids in sport for longer.

TikTok

Kids want to be creators

To tap into this desire, find ways to include children in the design of individual sessions or complete programs. Building creativity and physical expression into the program can be achieved by:

Team-building activities that allow kids to create their team handshakes or dances.
Giving freedom as to how participants achieve certain goals within activities by using varying skills and/or strategies.

Short, engaging content

The power of delivering sport in a ‘snackable’ and fun manner to children should not be underestimated. Attention spans are short, so it's best to avoid long instructions and demonstrations during practice sessions. Aim for brief, concise introductions (“reel-length” - max. 60 seconds) to maintain the energy and focus in the practice environment. The principle of “less is more” extends beyond the length of instruction to:

Session Length: Are you familiar with Parkinson's Law? 'Work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.' I think it’s rife in youth sport, with many two-hour practices conducted because ‘that’s how it’s always been’. I find that when coaches are prompted to reduce their training session by 30 minutes (from 120 minutes to 90, or 90 minutes to 60), they are able to achieve the same teaching outcomes but deliver a more effective and enjoyable teaching experience.
Activity Length: Activities should be kept to 7-10 minutes in length, with no more than 33% of this spent instructing. If children are becoming disengaged and bored - the deliverer needs to change the activity, or his/her/their delivery.

The practice environment has an energy to it which the participants can contribute to but it is ultimately enabled by the deliverer. So it’s important for the youth sport deliverer to have charisma and stage presence if it comes naturally to them.

Tailored content

TikTok is elite at serving up what users are seeking. Why? Because they listen! (we’ll leave the data privacy debate to others…). Sports need to think about how they replicate the 'FYP': For You Page on TikTok = For You Programming for sport deliverers.

It's all about 'likes'

Social media apps highlight young people’s desire to be noticed and receive gratification. The business adage 'what gets measured, gets done' rings true here, and could be re-framed for this context as ‘what gets praised by peers, gets done’. The opportunity for sport deliverers here is to set the tone on what behaviours are rewarded: by ‘catching children being good’, being intentional about the actions they reward on-and-off the sporting field, and allowing children to give their peers ‘likes’ by highlighting good sportsmanship or effort. The threat is that if deliverers aren’t intentional about how they positively reinforce behaviours, it gives rise to teammates and parents to drive the rewarded behaviours.

Video Games

1) Regular and progressive challenges

With rare exception, there’s no components of video games that doesn’t include challenge: a prompt to meet an objective or target that may require competition and/or co-operation. Deliverers should be intentional in the way they present activities, using ‘challenges’, ‘missions’, ‘levels’, and ‘targets’. Consider the following two instructions:

“I’d like you to pass the ball back-and-forth with your partner until you reach the other end of the court”
“Your mission is to get the ball to the other side within 20 seconds, without moving with the ball”

The first offers no challenge, simply instruction to complete a task. The second offers more lively and stimulating direction, and doesn’t hand the solution to participants on a platter.

2) Rewards for mastering challenges

Video games offer an array of reward systems such as points, achievements, leveling up, and unlockable content. I’m not advocating for 8th place medals in childrens sport, but some ways to incorporate rewards systems could be:

Points: Offering bonus points to teams or individuals who use a focus skill or value of the day.
Achievements: Having a series of ‘badges’ that children receive for accumulating a series of positive behaviours. For example, “The Sun” might be a trophy participants can receive by ‘lighting up a teammate’s day’.
Unlockable Content: Players can ‘unlock’ new skills, activities and superpowers by meeting specific requirements or completing certain challenges.

3) Multi-player action

Sport is better with a buddy, so the deliverer needs to offer high amounts of co-operative and team-based play within sessions, as well as opportunities to compete with and against friends.

4) Kids have the controls

There's a high level of autonomy and freedom in video games - particularly if you look at most modern games like Fortnite where kids can explore ‘open worlds’. Deliverers can accommodate this by providing elements of freedom within the sport session for children to choose their own strategies and/or objectives.

A simple, lo-fi version of how any sport can achieve this would be our version of ”BINGO”:

The coach draws a 3x3 or 4x4 grid on an A4 sheet of paper, and places a skill/action in each box. Each team (or for individual sports, each participant) is provided a sheet and given one minute to study it.
Participants then play the sport, and each time they successfully use the skill/action to score, they may cross off that box.
The first group to achieve a straight line, vertically, horizontally or diagonally…wins!
Using tennis as an example, the skills might include “forehand slice”, “ace”, “down the line”, and “volley”.
The coach is steering participants towards a range of desired behaviours, but the participant has autonomy and freedom to create their own path to victory.

Netflix

It’s an escape!

Children's sport should be a safe space where they can shed the pressures of the day (‘remove their armour’) and play without fear. As deliverers, it's essential to be emotionally equipped to manage children, avoiding fear and judgment-based tactics.

Larger-than-life Stories & Characters

Build characters, roles and stories into normal sports activities. These can be fictional (think Marvel Universe), our friends at MOJO are the G.O.A.T. at this and we’ve shared one example below in “Race Cars”.

But these characters and stories can also be non-fictional: weaving elite-level players, teams and their special skills into the session. Some examples of this in action might be:

“Today as you complete this kicking activity, you’re going to be Sam Kerr - how would she perform it?”
“You’re going to imagine you’re Emma McKeon, needing to swim her best final 50-metres to win the gold medal.”

Either way if we want children to aspire and exhibit confidence, we need to balance constructive feedback with a strength-based approach: making sure to recognise a participant’s unique superpower rather than constantly focussing on their kryptonite.

Shorter Seasons

We're in the 'limited series' era. It wasn't long ago that TV shows ran 22-episode seasons, but the norm now is to see punchier seasons of 6-8 episodes that leave you wanting more. It's a lesson that sport organisations need to remember particularly at the lower primary level (5-8 year olds). At this introductory level, deliverers are often much better placed to offer 6-8 week programs aligned with the school terms instead of 20-week seasons.

Key Themes

The keys to creating ‘binge-worthy’ sport experiences for children are therefore around:

Short, fast, gamified delivery formats;
Charismatic, inclusive deliverers;
Giving participants freedom during the experience;
Emphasis on enabling the social value of sport; and
Leaning into the imaginations of children.

How Youth Sport Providers Can Learn from TikTok, Nintendo and Netflix