To cement Gatorade’s commitment to transforming participation in sport across the world, the iconic PepsiCo drinks brand is launching its global programme, Fuel Tomorrow, by committing to help 2,500,000 teens across the world access the life-changing power of sport by 2030.
The programme, originally Gatorade’s US equity in sport platform, is being expanded globally following research conducted by Gatorade. It surveyed 2,500 parents of teens aged 13 to 17 from numerous markets and identified the biggest barriers preventing teens from playing or staying in sport. These include:
- The cost of the activity or equipment – 55 per cent of respondents highlighted the cost of the activity or the equipment as a barrier to sports participation. This is noted as the top barrier to access in sports for lower-income households across surveyed markets.
- The lack of confidence – 41 per cent of those surveyed share a concern that a lack of confidence or self-esteem stops their teens from taking part in sport.
- The safety of sport spaces – 54 per cent of parents point to the safety of sports spaces as a barrier and interestingly, is felt only marginally more strongly amongst girls (56 per cent) than boys (52 per cent)
- Visible role models – Across all markets, 44 per cent of parents point to a lack of visible and relatable role models as a key barrier to their children taking part in a sport, most notably, in team sports.
- The lack of sporting facilities or inability to physically reach them – 52 per cent reported there was a lack of sport facilities or an inability to physically reach a sports facility.
As a result of the survey, the Fuel Tomorrow global platform will roll out three international programmes to address the barriers and gaps found within the research. Kicking off in May, the brand’s renowned grassroots football tournament for teens aged 14 to 16, 5v5, will take place in Bilbao with an all-female tournament and in London with both male and female tournaments.
Designed to promote and showcase equal opportunities for young talent, the tournament – now in its seventh year – has been delivering positive formative sporting experiences to thousands of young amateur athletes from all over the world, providing over 151,000 young adults from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to excel to date. This year sees 25,000 teens participating alone!
May will also see an extension of the brand’s ‘Confidence Coach’ initiative following the successful launch with Rachel Yankey and Andriy Shevchenko in 2023. Fuelled by the finding that a lack of confidence among teens has a huge impact on the drop-out rate of sport, this innovative programme aims to inspire future generations by partnering with some of the world’s most iconic football players as Confidence Coaches to share their experience first-hand and motivate aspiring players.
The final programme coming later this year will be the ‘Fuel Tomorrow Fund’. Created to encourage community integration to cover the cost of equipment and spaces to play sport in low-income areas in key markets.
Speaking about the Fuel Tomorrow programme, vice president of marketing at Gatorade, Bart LaCount, says, “Gatorade’s Fuel Tomorrow platform embodies our core mission – that is to ignite the potential that is inside each one of us, that can be unleashed through sport and being active. Unfortunately, not everyone has equal access to those opportunities – but at Gatorade, we believe everyone should be able to access sports and we firmly believe that barriers to participation should not exist. Gatorade looks forward to a future in which everyone, everywhere, can unlock the life-changing power of sport.”
Gatorade continues its mission to increase participation and to inspire future generations to get active. A brand created, and continuously fuelled, by some of the best scientists in the world – many more programmes are coming this year to help young people discover the joy of sport and where it can take them.
Source: Gatorade (Press Release)
