What Kids Actually Do in NSW (Boys and Girls, 2025 Data)
13 September 2026
The most common organised activity for children in New South Wales is Swimming, which 23.9% of all children take part in outside school hours. For boys the most common is soccer (26.6%), and for girls it is Swimming (24.3%).
These are not our numbers. They come from AusPlay, the Australian Sports Commission's national participation survey, covering January to December 2025 and released on 30 April 2026. We have pulled the New South Wales tables directly and, importantly, printed the margin of error next to every figure - because in a state this size some of them are shakier than they look.
Key takeaways
- Swimming leads, at 23.9% of all New South Wales children (give or take 7.5%).
- Cricket is the most male-dominated of the common activities here - 5.6% of boys against 1.2% of girls.
- Netball leans the other way - 8.9% of girls against 0.6% of boys.
- Participation peaks at ages 5 to 8 and changes by -55% by ages 12 to 14.
- New South Wales does Touch football about 1.5 times as much as the national average.
What the whole state does
25 activities in New South Wales have a sample big enough to report reliably. Here they are, with the survey's own margin of error.
| Activity | All children | Boys | Girls | Margin of error |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swimming | 23.9% | 23.4% | 24.3% | ±7.5% |
| Soccer | 18.2% | 26.6% | 9.3% | ±8.8% |
| Recreational dancing | 7% | 1.4% | 13% | ±14.2% |
| Gymnastics | 6.1% | 2.2% | 10.2% | ±15.6% |
| Basketball | 5.4% | 7.4% | 3.3% | ±16.9% |
| Netball | 4.6% | 0.6% | 8.9% | ±18.4% |
| Athletics | 4.3% | 3.7% | 5% | ±19% |
| Cricket | 3.5% | 5.6% | 1.2% | ±20.6% |
Read the last column before you read anything else. An estimate of ±7.5% on the top activity is solid; one of ±20.6% further down means the true figure could be meaningfully higher or lower.
Boys and girls are not doing the same things
The sharpest split is Cricket: 5.6% of boys and 1.2% of girls, a ratio of about 4.7 to 1. In the other direction, Netball runs 14.8 to 1 towards girls.
This matters practically rather than politically. If your daughter wants to play a sport where girls are outnumbered four to one, she may be the only girl at training - which is fine for some children and miserable for others. Worth asking the club how many girls are actually registered in her age group before you sign up, rather than after.
What NSW does differently
- Touch football - 1.8% here against 1.2% nationally, about 1.5 times the national rate.
- Rugby league - 2.5% here against 1.7% nationally, about 1.5 times the national rate.
- Athletics - 4.3% here against 3.2% nationally, about 1.3 times the national rate.
Every state has a sport it takes more seriously than the rest of the country does, and it usually shows up in what is available locally rather than in what children prefer. A child in a state where a code dominates will find more clubs, more grounds and more people who can coach it.
When children start, and when they stop
Swimming in New South Wales peaks at ages 5 to 8 (31.8%) and moves to 14.3% by ages 12 to 14 - a change of -55%.
That is a steep fall, and it is the single most useful thing on this page. Whatever your child is doing at eight, the odds are against them still doing it at thirteen. The window where a habit forms is narrow.
The teenage drop-off is not unique to New South Wales - it happens everywhere and in almost every activity. What varies is how steep it is.
The voucher that pays for part of it
Active and Creative Kids gives $50 twice a year - one voucher from 15 January, one from 15 July - to families receiving Family Tax Benefit.
Correct as at 13 September 2026. Amounts and rounds change every year, so check the scheme's own page before you budget.
Where your child can actually do this
Knowing that 23.9% of children swim tells you nothing about what is within driving distance of your house. That is the part we hold.
Across New South Wales AroundSchools lists 8,396 parks and reserves, 506 swimming venues, 410 tennis facilities and 541 martial arts providers. Browse them on the NSW activities hub or the whole kids' activities directory. The counts behind them come from our Kids' Activity Index.
Where our data is weak, and we would rather say so. Our coverage of parks, swimming, tennis and martial arts is good. Our coverage of club sport is patchy and uneven between states - we hold far more listings for some codes than others in ways that reflect how the data was gathered, not what exists on the ground. Use the directory to find places, and your state association to find clubs.
Providers listed with us in New South Wales
These are New South Wales providers who keep their listing current - photos, a description and in some cases their actual class times:
- Ishinryu Karate Australia - Menai - Karate, Menai
- Hunter Valley Martial Arts Centre (Cardiff South) - Jiujitsu, Karate, Cardiff South
- NumberWorks'nWords Wollongong - Maths, English, Wollongong
- Gracie Barra St Peters - Jiujitsu, St Peters
- Academy of Acrobatics and Gymnastics International - Gymnastics, Brookvale
Browse the rest on the NSW activities hub.
What is on in New South Wales right now
Events listed with us and still open as at 13 September 2026:
- School Holidays: Chinese Lantern Papercraft (5-12 years) - Georges River Council - Hurstville, until 2026-09-28, ages 5-12
- School Holidays: Make A Pocket Monster at Kogarah Library (5-12 years) - Kogarah, until 2026-09-29, ages 5-12
- Science Circus School Holiday Camp - Science Circus | 29-Sep to 02-Oct-2026 - Carss Park, until 2026-10-01, ages 6-12
- Baby Explorers: Senses By Hurstville Museum & Gallery | 15-Oct-2026 - Hurstville, until 2026-10-14, ages 0-1
These move quickly, so check the date on the listing before you set out.
How much to trust these numbers
AusPlay surveys a sample, not every family, so every figure is an estimate with a range around it. We have only published activities where the relative margin of error is under 50%, which is the standard the Australian Bureau of Statistics treats as reliable enough to use.
For New South Wales that leaves 25 activities. Activities below that line exist and children do them - there simply are not enough survey responses to state a rate with confidence.
One more caution from the Sports Commission itself: the 2023 to 2025 data is a new baseline and cannot be compared directly with AusPlay figures published before 2023. If you see an older percentage quoted somewhere, it is not a like-for-like comparison.
Questions parents ask
What is the single most popular activity for children in NSW? Swimming, at 23.9% of all children, outside school hours.
Do boys and girls do different things? Yes, and the gap is wide in specific activities rather than across the board. Cricket runs about 4.7 to 1 towards boys here. Swimming is the notable exception almost everywhere - it is close to even.
At what age do children drop out? Participation in Swimming peaks at ages 5 to 8 and falls through ages 12 to 14. The early teens are when most children who stop, stop.
Does this count school sport? No. These figures are for organised activity outside school hours, which is why they are lower than you might expect for a country where most children do some sport at school.
Where can I check the raw numbers? The AusPlay state tables are published free by the Australian Sports Commission. We pulled the New South Wales file directly rather than quoting a summary of it.
Before you sign your child up
Ask the club three things: when training actually is, what the season costs in total including uniform, and how many children are registered in your child's age group and sex. The third question is the one most parents forget and the one that most often decides whether a child stays.
Compare your state with the rest of the country in what Australian kids actually do, which has the national table, the gender-split ranking and links to all eight state breakdowns.
Participation figures: AusPlay, Australian Sports Commission, January to December 2025, released 30 April 2026, New South Wales tables. Margins of error are from the same release. Facility counts are AroundSchools data as at 13 September 2026. Voucher terms checked 11 to 13 September 2026.
