Big Brothers Big Sisters Launches Game On, a Sports-and-Mentorship Initiative, to Get 500,000 Young People "in the game" by 2035

The effort invites brands, teams, coaches and fans to give more young people a chance to play, a mentor in their corner and a bigger future

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA), the nation's preeminent one-to-one youth mentoring organization, today unveiled Game On, an initiative designed to harness the cultural power of sports to create more connection, belonging, mentorship and opportunity for young people. Through Game On, BBBSA aims to engage 500,000 young people in sports-centered mentoring by 2035.

"Too many young people today are sitting on the proverbial sidelines, battling loneliness, a lack of confidence and uncertainty about their future," said Artis Stevens, president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. "Game On is about using the connective power of sports to get them the in the game – building meaningful human connection with mentors, discovering new opportunities and forging pathways to what's next. Every young person deserves a champion in their corner, and through Game On, we're asking the sports world to join us in making sure they have one."

BBBSA recognizes sports as one of the broadest forms of common ground in American life. Two in three Americans are fans of at least one sport, and more than three in four sports fans ages 12 to 17 typically watch games with other people. Parents see the benefits of sports as well: 98 percent of sports parents say organized sports helps their children make friends.

Beyond social connections, sports cultivate life skills and attitudes that produce long-term benefits for young people, like confidence, teamwork, resilience and a greater sense of what's possible as they grow into adulthood. Research bears out that these life skills are more likely to transfer beyond sport when adults explicitly teach and model them, create opportunities to practice them and help young people to connect those lessons to school, work and life. 

But access to sports is uneven. Children in the lowest-income households play organized sports at less than half the rate of children in the wealthiest households, which represents a potential relationship gap.

Game On is built to close that gap. Sports create the opening for connection while intentional mentoring relationships, like those BBBSA has facilitated for more than 120 years, determine the outcomes.

Game On brings sports and mentoring together in three fundamental ways, each of which present a path for partners who want to join the effort:

• Play – Game On gives Bigs (mentors) and Littles (young people) shared time through sports, e-sports, movement and competition. Partners can support community play days and ongoing sports experiences, lower the cost of entry for young people who would otherwise sit out, create more places for girls to play and lead, and support e-sports experiences that help young gamers level up with a mentor beside them.
  
  
  
  
• Coaching – Working through youth sports leagues, camps and other sports organizations Game On aims to recruit and train new volunteers (including employees, athletes, alumni and fans) as mentors and to help the adults already inside youth sports become more confident mentors through short, customizable training modules.
  
  
  
  
• Career Pathways – As part of BBBSA's broader Big Futures commitment to career discovery and future readiness, Game On connects young people to sports jobs, networks and skills. Partners host on-the-job experiences that turn game-day passion into career possibilities in fields such as media, operations, hospitality, merchandising, analytics and coaching.

"Game On is more than a program. It's a call to action," said Adam Vasallo, chief marketing and communications officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. "To reach 500,000 young people through sports-based mentoring, we need brands, leagues, teams, community organizations, and individuals to step onto the field with us. Together, we can harness the power of sports to create connections, build confidence, and change the trajectory of a generation."

BBBSA's new Game On initiative builds on the organization's track record of successful sports partnerships and initiatives, including a multi-year partnership with the NFL's Inspire Change initiative. Together BBBSA and the NFL created The Big Draft, which tuns the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft into a nationwide mentor-recruitment drive. The nonprofit has also previously partnered with Gillette on 10-city flag football events and Dove to promote girls' sports and confidence.

Learn more about Big Brothers Big Sisters' Game On at BBBS.Org/GameOn.

About Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Founded in 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) is the largest and most experienced youth mentoring organization in the United States. The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. Big Brothers Big Sisters' evidence-based approach is designed to create positive youth outcomes, including educational success, avoidance of risky behaviors, higher aspirations, greater confidence, and improved relationships. Big Brothers Big Sisters serves more than 5,000 communities across all 50 states. For more information, visit: www.bbbs.org.

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SOURCE Big Brothers Big Sisters of America