When a sports fan becomes a parent, his or her favorite athlete often ceases to be that NFL, NBA or tennis star they have followed all these years. It becomes the athlete who is sleeping down the hallway. That's who parents invest most deeply in – emotionally, financially and otherwise – the one they most want to find success in sports, even if it's just having the opportunity to play in high school.
When kids are pushed out of the game early, that's not good for anyone.
That's especially not good for ESPN, which recognizes that children who play sports are far more likely to become avid fans of sports.
It's that rationale that led ESPN to support Don't Retire, Kid, a public awareness campaign that launched on SportsCenter in August and was inspired by Project Play 2020, a group of mostly industry organizations convened by the Aspen Institute to develop mutually reinforcing actions to grow sport participation and related metrics among youth.
ESPN's representative on Project Play 2020 is Kevin Martinez, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship, who since taking the division in 2013 has transformed the department’s role within the company. Through grant-making, convening, and strategic initiatives that cross the ESPN universe of properties and partners, Martinez has created a unit to develop the next generation of fans, with special attention given to the underserved.
It's complex work that positions ESPN not just as a producer of sports content but catalyst for changing our sport ecosystem at the base. Tom Farrey, executive director of the Sports & Society Program and a former ESPN reporter, talked with Martinez about his plans, the role he sees Project Play 2020 playing in advancing efforts, and what motivates him. Below are excerpts of their conversation.
Tom Farrey: What was your childhood sports activity like?
Kevin Martinez: I grew up in the amazing state of Hawai'i because my dad was in the military. He trained Navy Seals in underwater demolition. I went to a large public high school, Radford. We were Punahou's rival – Obama's school. Hawai'i has such a unique culture. It's about pride and integrity and honor, and sport was a way to show that.
My dad was huge sports fan, as was I – especially of the Olympics. I thought the Olympics were peace on earth. I enjoyed watching tennis and track field, so I did those sports in high school. I especially loved gymnastics, but since they didn’t offer that sport, I was on the cheer team as well. The coed squad required that male members represent their sport and have represented their school in state playoffs in their sport, so it was considered a great honor to be part of the team. It was an important experience for me, as I wasn't out at the time. What it taught me is sport is the great equalizer if you use it correctly. If you use sport as way to create level playing field, all boats tend to rise.
Farrey: What do you see as the greatest challenge in building a sport ecosystem that meets the needs of children?
Martinez: I think the first thing we need to understand is there is a problem. That's why we wanted to be leader in the Don’t Retire, Kid campaign. There is clear lack of understanding that our sport system is failing many young people. We're producing some amazing athletes, but many kids have been left behind or just did not buy in. Overall, our society is moving away from using sports as a way to build the human potential of youth and our communities as a whole.
Farrey: Why does ESPN care to address that challenge?
Martinez: Our mission is to serve sport fans anytime, anywhere. Our research department will tell you that if by the age of 5 you are not engaging in sports in some way, you are much less likely to be an avid fan as an adult. We need to be part of the solution. From the corporate responsibility perspective, it's essential ESPN help build equitable, diverse, safe communities where that human potential can be developed.
Farrey: What is ESPN doing to tackle that challenge?
Martinez: We believe access to sport is important. We know from the Project Play framework that there are eight reasons why kids don’t play, and over the past five years we have developed strategies to address those challenges. We ensure our grants tie to key KPIs. In five years, we’ve enabled 1.7 million people access to sports. We also believe it’s important to build empowerment and leadership skills through sports. One of the programs that we fund in this area is Special Olympics Unified Sports, which helps to foster social inclusion by pairing athletes with and without intellectual disabilities. Since we became global presenting sponsor of Unified Sports in 2013, the number of participants has grown 172%. Today there are 1.8 million athletes and teammates, and 119,000 coaches.
Farrey: Don’t Retire, Kid has made quite a splash, not just domestically but also internationally. I’ve been in Romania, Mexico City, and Puerto Rico in recent weeks, and they all had seen the PSAs. Even New Zealand – I just got off the phone with sport leaders there and they were fans. What do you hope the campaign achieved?
Martinez: The campaign helped to center ourselves in communicating effectively about the core issue. The tagline and call to action (“If 62% of kids have quit spots, what are we doing wrong? Go to ProjectPlay.us to give sports back to kids”) gave us an elevator pitch to talk with parents and others. You need that today, when you have to message in 14 seconds or less.
Farrey: To get and keep more kids playing sports, how much help does ESPN need from other influential organizations?
Martinez: It’s like any other major societal issue. There’s no way one organization can do it alone. What works is people coming together for common cause. That’s where Aspen has been valuable. For Don’t Retire, Kid, we are partnering with 20 organizations, some of them our competitors, most of which have activated on the campaign. I call it “coopertition.” Sometimes we need to come together meaningfully to create new, strategic narratives. ESPN wants to help convene organizations and as a media company bring these stories to life. It can be hard to do as everyone comes at corporate social responsibility differently, but we want to feed that model.
Learn more about Project Play and Project Play 2020.