The Adult Rec-Sports Boom

Fed up with phones, Canadians are making friends on the field

- By Kristi Herold

AFTER I GRADUATED from Queen’s University in 1993, I moved to Toronto. I couldn’t believe how hard it was to meet new people as an adult. My initial plan was to join a soccer team, but all I could find were super-competitive leagues, and I hadn’t played since I was eight. Then I heard about casual recreational leagues for adults in other cities, like Chicago and San Francisco. That inspired me to build my own. JAM Sports was born out of my basement apartment nearly 30 years ago—a multi-sport league accessible to former varsity athletes and total newbies alike.

The first sport I joined was coed ultimate frisbee. It changed everything. Initially, my teammates were just nacho-and-beer buddies. Over time, they became concert and weekend-getaway buddies and, eventually, some of my closest friends. In JAM’s first year, we had 250 teams; today, there are 15,000 across 25 cities. Even with the pandemic shutdown, we've experienced a 25 per cent jump in members since 2019. Interestingly, Gen Zs are the fastest-growing demographic across all of our leagues.