Kansas City Magazine: Kids in Kansas City aren’t as active as they should be. Fixing that requires major change.

By Emma Flannery

Kansas City is a sports town—there’s no denying that. Championship teams, devoted fans and world-class arenas have deeply ingrained a love for sports in Kansas City culture. Despite that, a new study says kids in Kansas City are among the most inactive in the country, and that can have serious implications on their self-esteem, mental health and social lives. 

Four in every five Kansas City-area kids get less than the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity a day, according to the Aspen Institute’s annual State of Play study, done in partnership with Children’s Mercy Kansas City. It’s a problem everywhere, but Kansas City’s numbers put it below the national average, which is already low. Just 24 percent of kids across the country receive 60 minutes of physical activity per day. In Kansas City, the number is 20 percent. 

Inactive kids aren’t just seeing less sunlight; their mental health suffers, too. Inactive youth were nearly twice as likely to report daily feelings of depression than active youth, and just under half of kids spend three to five hours a day online. 

So why aren’t kids in Kansas City playing sports? According to Dr. Robin Shook, director of the Kansas City Healthy Lifestyles Collaborative at Children’s Mercy, the city lacks the infrastructure needed to support youth sports. 

Read the full article via Kansas City Magazine