Sprocket Sports Publishes Updated Benchmark Report on Player Retention in Youth Soccer & Hockey Clubs

Chicago, IL – May 21, 2025 – Sprocket Sports, a leading technology platform for youth sports clubs, has published a new report titled “Player Retention in Youth Sports: Soccer and Hockey.” This report follows Sprocket Sports groundbreaking study on “Player Retention in Youth Soccer Clubs,” published in November 2023, which provided a comprehensive analysis of why player retention matters and what clubs and coaches can do to improve retention. That study was the first data-based study of its kind to present national benchmarks for player retention in youth soccer clubs in the US.

The updated April 2025 report provides updated player retention data for soccer and hockey clubs based on 2023-24 and 2024-25 club-specific registration data available as of December 2024.

To calculate the benchmarks, Sprocket Sports aggregated retention data from clubs across the country. The findings are particularly significant because the data is not self-reported from clubs. Instead, Sprocket Sports uses proprietary data from its player registration database of large and medium-sized competitive soccer and hockey clubs and associations across the country with a median size of approximately 500 players. 

“At Sprocket, our mission is to help youth sports clubs thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” says Rich Gallun, CEO of Sprocket Sports. “Player retention has become recognized by leading clubs as a critical success factor. We are excited to help track and improve clubs’ performance on this KPI – and to provide updated benchmarks each year. Our report also provides useful tips and best practices for any club to improve retention. This year’s report incorporates youth soccer and ice hockey clubs, and Sprocket looks forward to including other sports in future studies.

Key Findings:

National Benchmarks - Soccer
For the younger age groups, player retention in soccer remained relatively high at 78% for Girls U8-U13 and 77% for Boys U8-U13, which is slightly higher than last year’s Sprocket benchmarks. For the older age groups, the benchmark was 67% for both Girls and Boys U14-U17, again slightly higher than last year.

National Benchmarks - Hockey
For hockey clubs and associations, player retention was higher for the younger age groups and also higher for Girls. U8-U13 Girls came in very high, at 84%, whereas the U8-U13 Boys generated a 75% player retention rate. For the older kids, Girls U14-U17 came in at 68% whereas the Boys U14-U17 were at 58%.

5 Critical Success Factors
Sprocket’s research included dozens of interviews with soccer and hockey club leaders across the country to discuss the most important factors that influence player retention. Many of these clubs are community-based organizations that are feeling increased pressure from the trend in youth sports towards more “elite” and “competitive” leagues yet manage to defy this trend and retain players year after year. How? There are many common denominators among high performing clubs that appear to be making the difference. The report discusses these five critical success factors and includes quotes from prominent club leaders.

For a copy of the complete report, please download here.