SAM Magazine-Mount Prospect, Ill., July 13, 2009-According to data in the NSGA Sports Participation survey, there were 6.5 million Americans age 7 or older who skied more than once in 2008, along with 5.9 million snowboarders. Those figures represented increases of 1.9 percent and 15.6 percent, respectively, from 2007. Snowboarding was one of six sports, out of 41, with a growth rate of more than 10 percent.

Cross-country participation fell by 5.2 percent, to 1.6 million, according to the survey. Cross-country was one of 13 sport and recreational activities that experienced a decline.

Overall, Americans report that they are more active than many experts think. NSGA reported that among Americans age seven and older, 78.7 percent (212.7 million Americans) participated more than once in at least one of the 23 sports and recreational activities included in its Series I report, which includes team sports, fitness activities, outdoor recreation activities (except shooting sports and boating activities) and traditional individual sports.
Among the 56.9 million who "did not participate" in 2008, 60 percent were female, 40 percent male.

Household income has a small impact on participation. Households with incomes of less than $15,000, 10 percent of the population, had a participation rate of 84 percent. At the other end of the economic spectrum, households with incomes of more than $100,000 (22 percent of the population) had a participation rate of 87 percent. The figures showed no significant regional variations.

Age is another matter. Fifty-five- to 64-year-olds represented the highest percentage of non-participants, 17 percent, although they make up just 12 percent of the U.S. population. Forty-five- to 54-year-olds comprised 15 percent of the non-participants, while accounting for 16 percent of the overall population.
The youngest Americans, not surprisingly, had the highest participation rates. Children age 7 to 11 represented just 4.5 percent of non-participants; teenagers 12 to 17 years old, 7 percent.

Despite all this exercise, NSGA notes that the proportion of U.S. adults who are obese increased to 26.1 percent in 2008, compared to 25.6 percent in 2007. The data come from the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), which collects health information from adults ages 18 and over.

In six states-Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia-more than 30 percent of adults are obese. Thirty-two states had an obesity rate of 25 percent or more. Only one state, Colorado, had a rate below 20 percent, and none of the 50 states or the District of Columbia has achieved the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing obesity to 15 percent or less of the population. \

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