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Playing sports has been a common childhood experience that has led to lifelong hobbies, exercise, and forming lasting friendships. However, it’s gotten less common in recent years. Sign-up fees, uniforms, and many other expenses have led to most low-income families unable to afford to have their kids play. With that in mind, the city of Oakland, California believes they found a solution: a library. No, not the book kind.

Officials are letting children check out soccer balls, footballs, yoga mats, tennis equipment, and other sports supplies at their newly opened Park Play Lending Library. Kids can also check out board games and card games like UNO as well. Using this library located at the Larry E. Reid Sports Center is absolutely free to anyone.

“Every child deserves the opportunity to play, learn, and thrive,” said Maribel Lopez, City of Oakland Recreation Supervisor said in a press release. “The Park Play Lending Library is an investment in our community and a step toward ensuring that all Oakland residents have access to the recreational resources they enjoy, regardless of their financial situation.”

Encouraging kids to socialize, play, and grow

Oakland residents and officials welcome this sports equipment library for a myriad of reasons. It’s not just to allow access to certain activities, but to help address the lack of third places and areas for children to play overall. Whether it’s through sports or games, face-to-face playing helps children’s social skills, combats loneliness, and expands the immediate world around them.

“We’re aware that sports can lead to social mobility,” Lopez told SFGate. “When kids are familiar with golf, tennis, soccer, and other, you know, games or sports that are more socially mobile, then they have access to different communities, different friend groups, different neighborhoods, and we want to be a vehicle for that. We want kids to be able to speak each other’s language and connect through sports.”

Expenses in youth sports has become a federal government issue

Children being priced out of local sports programs due to expense has been a rising issue across the country. It’s to the point where the federal government is looking to intervene.

Representatives of both Congress and the Senate have introduced the Let Kids Play Act bill to their peers. The purpose of the bill, according to Congressman Pat Ryan and Senator Chris Murphy among other authors, is to limit or outright remove private equity firms’ involvement in youth sports. The representatives state that the cost to participate in youth sports rose by 46% over the last five years. They also claim that many families are paying more than $5,000 per kid so they can play. By removing private equity involvement, the hope is to cut down on junk fees, stay-to-play schemes, data mining, and other issues that are making it harder for families to allow their kids to participate in local organized youth sports.

While the federal government debates on this issue, a local library or park allowing children access to sports equipment to have pick-up games may be a great first step to renew what was a common American childhood experience.