Chris Cristian runs i9 Sports, a youth sports franchise in Washtenaw County.

Laura Blodgett | AnnArbor.com

For Ann Arbor-area parents, there’s no shortage of team sports that children can participate in. And slow economy or not, youth sports participation is still popular. “There’s definitely not been a downturn — if anything, more people prioritize sports participation over taking something else out of their lives,” says Craig Coleman, marketing director at WideWorld Sports Center in Ann Arbor, which focuses on soccer.

Since November 2008, WideWorld has seen an increase in participants. Its soccer camp had almost 200 more kids participating this past summer — more than 700 kids total.

This year, the center has doubled its number of house teams with both youth and adult.

“Last winter, we might have had one youth team and now we have four teams,” says Coleman, who adds that the center's developmental program for ages 4 through 10 sells out almost every session. “Overall, kids want to play and it‘s not that expensive.”

Kids have a lot of options, from recreational to travel teams.

“Most kids want to play with their friends up until sixth grade,” says Coleman. “When they get into junior high, they narrow down their choices and pick one sport. Most kids drop out of sports competitively at 13-14 and then play for fun. You’ll see kids who can’t necessarily stay at the competitive level or don’t want the headache of the coach or parent yelling at them all the time, but want to play for fun with their friends again. It’s not unusual to see kids come here at age 7, 8, 9 and then again at 13, 14, 15 with their friends.”

The increases aren't across the board, however.

The Ann Arbor Public Schools Community Education and Recreation is always looking for new ways to attract participation to combat decreases in certain sports, such as girls’ basketball.

“We are consistently trying to find new ways to get people through the door,” says Sean Williams, recreation specialist in charge of youth sports. “We survey folks to see what people are interested in and try new things.”

Futsal, indoor soccer played on a basketball court, is the newest sport the recreation department is trying to grow.

As far as participation, Williams sees more of a scheduling conflict than a financial one: “People have so much going on that sometimes flag football participation is the first thing to go.”

The sports organizations, including travel and private sports groups, have no problem coexisting, says Williams.

“There is room for everybody. With us, kids get to play with their classmates, there are no cuts, everyone gets to participate. We have participants that may go the travel team route at some point if that is what looking for in their sport experience,” he says.

Although the organization is a relatively low-cost alternative and relies on volunteer coaches, it doesn't find organization or accountability to be a problem.

“We receive a great deal of compliments from people who are impressed with how organized we are when dealing with the numbers like we are,” says Williams, whose fall soccer program had more than 2,300 boys and girls on close to 200 teams. “Although we do our best, it’s hard to please everyone. But it seems from what we hear that folks are satisfied with our program.”

Williams says Ann Arbor is an active town, a culture that leads to an interest in youth sports.

“People want their children to be active, and sports are an obvious way to do that," he says. "I think some of the appreciation for our program is that it is an opportunity to stay active, and not about having to try out or only being able to participate if you are an all-star athlete.”

The city has been conducive to another youth sports business, too.

When Chris Cristian moved from New York City to Ann Arbor six years ago for his growing family to be closer to their grandparents, he looked into buying a franchise business.

“I knew I wanted to do something active while providing something beneficial to the community,” says Cristian.

He settled on i9 Sports, a youth sports franchise that runs recreational sports programs for kids in local communities. Open since June 2006, the Washtenaw County i9 Sports program offers flag football, instructional basketball, and soccer and summer basketball camps. It uses local gym facilities such as Wide World of Sports and Ann Arbor Christian School.

Cristian says i9 Sports offer parents a choice between parks and recreation programs and highly competitive travel teams.

“We want kids to be active but in a positive way, not ‘winning at all costs,’ he said. "It’s not about getting into the NFL; it’s about kids being active and having fun. By the age of 13, many kids quit because they don’t like the coaches or the parents screaming — there’s too much pressure. We want kids to continue to play sports all their life.”

Each week, i9 Sports features a different sportsmanship value, such as listening or having a positive attitude, and children who represent that particular value in the game are awarded a medal.

With busy parents juggling multiple kids and activities, the program focuses on convenience. Practices are held right before the games, which are on the weekends only. Cristian attends every game as program manager.

The program has grown steadily, from 100 kids on the first flag football team in 2007 to close to 200 kids and 18 teams this winter season.

Cristian says revenue is up 18 percent this year over 2010's figures, and registrations are up 20 percent. "The fact that the number of registrations is slightly higher than revenue indicates that more families are taking advantages of discounts provided for registering early," he explains.

Cristian would like to do more partnerships with other local businesses to help promote their efforts.

“When I first started, we would do in person registration at places like at mc sports, Jump City or Jungle Java that have the same type of clientele. Tower Inn of Ypsilanti sponsored one of the games, and provided pizza for playoff championships.”

One of the things Cristian would like to offer again that parents really liked was coffee.

“Once we got bigger we couldn’t keep doing it, but I’d like to get a coffee sponsor for our outdoor games.”

A key component to the program is to help kids be successful in life through sports and make sure that every child has a good experience.

“I love hearing from parents about how this program has changed their kid and given them more confidence," he says. "To see that we were able to touch one child this way makes a big difference.”

Laura Blodgett is a freelance reporter for AnnArbor.com.