Sports Accessibility for Young People: A Tale of Two Cities
Access to sports plays a crucial role in young people’s physical health, social development, and emotional well-being. Yet, despite the universal benefits of staying active, participating in sports is far from equally accessible. Costs, equipment, and limited support programs create barriers that prevent many children, teenagers, and students from joining the activities they love. After exploring personal experiences in Utrecht and comparing them to those in Brussels, a mixed picture emerges, one where scholarships, discounts, and community initiatives help, but often not enough.
One of the most telling stories is that of Valeria, a 20-year-old student from Brussels studying in Utrecht. Her experience highlights how financial support can make or break a young person’s ability to continue practicing sports. In Brussels, she danced almost every day thanks to affordable prices and local assistance. Arriving in Utrecht, however, she immediately felt the financial pressure.
Signing up at Olympus, a popular sports facility for students, was significantly more expensive than what she was used to. The only reason she managed to keep up her lifestyle was because her Erasmus scholarship helped cover the €22 monthly fee. “Without it, I couldn’t maintain my lifestyle,” she explained. Her words reflect a reality many students face: the desire to stay active exists, but the cost can be discouraging. Even small discounts can create a real difference in motivating young people to participate.
Valeria also noted that in Brussels, despite the availability of assistance programs, the barriers remain higher for many young people. She regularly sees friends who would love to join a dance class or a sports club but simply cannot afford it. The opportunity is there, she said, but the cost becomes a wall, one that financial aid programs only partially break down.
Her story illustrates a broader truth: for students, financial support is often the decisive factor between staying active or being forced to give up sports. But students are not the only ones affected.
Beyond university gyms, local community sports clubs in Utrecht face similar issues. A football coach we interviewed described the challenges many families face. The cost of basic gear, boots, protective equipment, training clothing, can already be overwhelming. When additional fees for travel or tournaments appear, the financial strain intensifies.
To prevent children from dropping out, clubs often show remarkable flexibility. Delayed payments, the availability of second-hand equipment, and close collaboration with support programs such as Jeugdfonds Sport & Cultuur (Youth Fund for Sport and Culture) are some of the strategies used. These efforts allow many children to continue playing, even if their families struggle financially. Yet the coach highlighted that yearly membership fees, rising equipment costs, and lack of awareness about support programs remain persistent obstacles. At the core of his message was a simple belief: no child should miss out on sports because of money.
Utrecht’s well-equipped gyms tell another side of the story. At Olympus, accessibility depends largely on student discounts. A gym employee explained that while Olympus offers many activities, from gym sessions to climbing and group lessons, formal scholarships do not exist for people outside the student ecosystem. Students benefit from a dramatic discount on an annual pass (€175 instead of €430), but low-income families, young adults not enrolled in university, and teenagers transitioning into adulthood have limited access to similar benefits.
This gap is not unique to Utrecht. Across many cities, gyms rely heavily on student membership models, leaving non-students behind. Even when facilities technically exist, they remain out of reach for many due to financial limitations.
The consequences are personal and often painful. A young woman we interviewed shared that she had to stop dancing after turning 18 because the youth discounts she relied on were no longer available. Dance had been a big part of her life, yet once she crossed the age threshold, prices jumped to a point she simply could not sustain. Her story exposes an overlooked issue: age can be as much of a barrier as income. The moment young people transition from “youth” to “adult,” many support programs vanish, leaving them without assistance at a time in life when financial stability is rarely guaranteed.
Across all these testimonies, a common pattern emerges. Support programs do help: Erasmus scholarships allow students like Valeria to continue their routines; youth funds help children access sports clubs; and student discounts at university gyms open doors for many. But these programs are unevenly distributed and sometimes poorly communicated. Too often, a young person’s ability to join a team or take a class depends not on motivation, but on whether they fall within the right demographic category.
The mixed landscape highlights a crucial question: how do we ensure that every young person, not just students, not just children, not just those lucky enough to access certain programs, can participate in sports?
Achieving this requires cooperation on multiple levels. Schools, clubs, gyms, and funding organizations need to work together to expand the reach of existing programs and to develop new ones. Awareness campaigns must ensure families know where to seek help. Gyms could explore sliding-scale pricing, while cities could co-finance memberships for low-income youth and young adults. Community sports clubs, already doing their best with limited resources, could benefit from more structural support to continue offering second-hand equipment and flexible payment options.
Sports are more than just activities; they are part of a healthy youth environment. They build confidence, friendships, discipline, and a sense of belonging. No young person should lose these benefits because of financial barriers.
The stories from Utrecht and Brussels are a reminder that while progress has been made, accessibility remains far from equitable. True equal opportunity in sports will only be achieved when every child, teenager, and young adult, regardless of age, income or background, can participate freely without financial fear.
