In a recent opinion piece in the New York Times William C. Rhoden argues that if soccer is to attract young Hispanic and African Americans to the sport, serious economic and racial issues must be addressed. "... we have created a system that produces not so much the best players, but the best players who can afford to play," he writes.

Rhoden gets at the heart of a problem that plagues many sports: How can you offer opportunity to disadvantaged youth in a sport that requires significant financial and parental resources?

A recent Women's Sports Foundation study illustrates the point. Only 59 percent of urban girls between third and fifth grade compete in organized sport compared to 81 percent of girls in suburban areas.

In its exploration of the growing participation gap between urban and suburban girls, New York Times reporter Katie Thomas writes, "In the suburbs, girls' participation in sports is so commonplace... But the revolution in girls' sports has largely bypassed the nation's cities, where public school districts short on money often view sports as a luxury rather than an entitlement."

Thomas also found that many immigrant and lower-income parents support their sons' extracurricular athletics, but not their daughters'. Often parents depend on the girls to fill in as babysitters or complete other household chores to keep the house running while the adults work long hours.

The problem may not be with the sports themselves, rather with the institution of organized youth leagues. Soccer, for example, is cheap to play, but the leagues that offer opportunity for competition are often costly.

Sports like golf bring another challenge. Golf is an expensive sport and courses aren't like basketball courts--they require massive amounts of green space, which isn't too common in urban areas where there are high populations of Hispanics and African-Americans.

The solution, Rhoden suggests, may be in leagues like Harlem Youth Soccer--a non-profit league designed to offer recreational and competitive soccer teams to urban youth.

Getting more minority youth participating in non-traditional sports will only benefit the college ranks. What solutions do you see?