September 15, 2026 at 2:03pm EDT

Girls play sports for a whole host of reasons, but the most vital driving force is not about victory, a new Girl Scouts survey has found.

Instead, 83% of girls 5 to 13 cited “having fun” as more important than winning.

Which shouldn’t be so shocking, right? Still, the survey also found a disconnect between parents and daughters, with 77% believing that winning or doing well is key to their child’s enjoyment of sports — an expectation that’s even more common when describing a daughter who is 8 to 10 (81%) or 11 to 13 (80%).

“Girls thrive when they have the freedom to try, learn and grow without feeling that success is measured only by winning,” said Bonnie Barczykowski, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, in a press release about the survey. “When supportive peers and trusted adults encourage girls to take on challenges at their own pace, they gain the confidence to keep going and discover what they’re capable of.”

The findings are not unique to girls. Previous research, including a spring survey of 4,000 kid athletes ages 10-17 conducted by Aspen Institute’s Project Play, found that the top reasons kids play sports are to have fun (48%) and play with friends (47%).

The survey by Girl Scouts — which is about to launch a modernized sports and recreation theme, complete with new badges — queried 1,000 parents and 1,000 Girl Scouts nationwide, and found there is also a disconnect when it comes to parents understanding how insecure their kid can feel out on the field or court. Because while just 19% of parents say their daughter has asked to quit a sport or activity after an adult made her feel she didn’t measure up, the truth is that nearly one-third (32%) of girls have at one point wanted to quit for that reason. That rises to 42% among girls 11-13 — but goes down to just 16% specifically for Black girls.

Finally, it found that 58% of parents feel the time and financial commitment to sports — though beneficial — feels unsustainable, especially in families with a household income below $50,000.