The first day of September marked the beginning of the National Recreation and Park Association’s (NRPA’s) seventh annual Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz, celebrating pollinators and raising awareness and community involvement across the country to help mitigate the pollinator crisis.

Participation in high school athletics was up by more than 200,000 in 2024-25, continuing its post-pandemic increase and registering an all-time high. That’s according to the NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, which found that 8,266,244 participants were involved in high school sports in 2024-25.

Various industry groups, including the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the Health & Fitness Association, and the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, among others, announced their support of the president’s executive order to reestablish the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, and to reinstate the Presidential Fitness Test for U.S. schoolchildren.

Foot traffic at U.S. fitness facilities increased 3.5% in the first half of 2025, according to a new data resource from the Health & Fitness Association (HFA). 

The bipartisan Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety (VGB) Reauthorization Act, which aims to help decrease preventable drownings and suction entrapment, was recently reintroduced by U.S. Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, John Carter of Texas, and Donald Norcross of New Jersey. 

The number of high school sports officials grew by 6% during the 2024-25 school year, according to a follow-up survey of 36 NFHS member state associations. 

While Americans registered a significant increase in aerobic and strength activity, other external factors, including smoke-filled air and a lapse of a food program, may be leading to lower fitness scores overall. 

A new Trail Map for Rural Development in America offers guidance to federal, state, local, tribal, and philanthropic leaders in harnessing the power of outdoor recreation to strengthen rural economies, improve community resilience, and enhance quality of life.

A coalition of sports medicine, public health, academic, athlete-representation, and policy organizations came together to sign the 2025 Hamburg Declaration on Sport, Health and Human Performance recently.

Promoting Character Through Counselors-in-Training Programs at Medical Specialty Camps, a three-year initiative of the American Camp Association (ACA), in partnership with Abt Global and SeriousFun Children’s Network, has culminated, advancing the field of youth development by exploring how character strengths can be cultivated in adolescents and young adults living with disabilities and illnesses.