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This report looks at sport participation by Canadians. It is based mainly on data from the 1992, 1998 and 2005 General Social Survey (GSS) on time use, including information on sports activities of household members. In addition to how they spent their time, respondents aged 15 and over in the 10 provinces were asked whether they or any other household members had regularly participated in any sport during the previous 12 months. Regularly means at least once a week during the season or for a certain period of the year. They were also asked whether they or any other household member had participated in amateur sport as a coach, sports official/referee/umpire, administrator or helper.

Sport: mainly team or organized activity such as hockey, baseball, basketball, golf, competitive swimming, soccer, downhill skiing, volleyball and tennis. A number of popular recreational physical activities were not defined as sport by the survey. It excluded activities such as non-competitive aerobics, aquafit, bicycling for recreation/ transportation only, body building/body sculpting, car racing, dancing, fishing, fitness classes, hiking, jogging, lifting weights (non-competitive), motorcycling, snowmobiling, and non-competitive walking.

Respondents classified as non participants or inactive may in fact be very physically active in activities that were excluded from the survey's definition of sport.

The target population included all people 15 and over, except full-time residents of institutions and residents of the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. The responding household member provided information on behalf of children aged 5 to 14.