On October 26, 2026, the United States Mint published the first designs for the 2027 Youth Sports quarters, the opening year of a new circulating coin program that will run through 2030. From next year, five quarter reverses a year will celebrate sports played by American young people, and the Kennedy half dollar takes on a companion role, carrying one Paralympic sport each year. The 2027 lineup is baseball, golf, soccer, softball and snowboarding on the quarter, with wheelchair basketball on the half.
The program, which the Mint calls the Youth Sports Coin Collection, takes over from 2026’s semiquincentennial quarters and hands collectors a new five-coin annual set to pull from pocket change. It also brings a new portrait of George Washington to the quarter obverse and a new portrait of John F. Kennedy to the half dollar, so both sides of both denominations change at once.
From an act of Congress to a public survey
The authority for the series is the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, Public Law 116-330, signed into law on January 13, 2021. The sports themselves, though, were shaped by the public. In early 2025 the Mint asked Americans which sports they wanted to see on the Nation’s quarters, working from a candidate list developed with the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The survey ran from January 22 through February 20, 2025.
Announcing the designs, Mint Director Paul Hollis framed the program around what youth sport teaches, citing teamwork, perseverance and “the value of working toward a common goal.” It is a deliberately grassroots brief. These are coins about playing a sport, not winning one.
A new Washington, and the Mint’s fifth
The common obverse of the 2027 Youth Sports quarters carries a new likeness of Washington created for this program. The Mint describes him in civilian attire at a three quarter angle. On the published proof image, his head is lifted and turned to the left, the gaze directed upward, with LIBERTY sweeping down the left rim and E PLURIBUS UNUM following the right. IN GOD WE TRUST sits on the coat at the shoulder, and the denomination appears on this side as 25¢, which leaves the reverse free for the sport, the date and the country name.
The Mint counts this as the fifth unique depiction of Washington on a U.S. quarter. Variations of John Flanagan’s portrait served from 1932 through 2021. That same year Washington moved to the reverse on the Crossing the Delaware quarter. A right-facing bust carried the American Women Quarters from 2022 through 2025, and in 2026 Joseph Menna’s Washington portrait appeared on the Revolutionary War quarter. For a coin that went nearly 90 years with essentially one face, that is a lot of change in a short span.
Five sports, five snapshots
Each 2027 reverse captures a moment rather than a pose, and the figures are children rather than champions.
Baseball shows a young batter loaded in the stance, bat cocked over the shoulder, with a masked catcher crouched behind and a textured backstop filling the left side of the field. BASEBALL arcs across the top and the date rests on a strip of ground at the base.
Golf catches its player at the finish of the swing, club wrapped over the shoulder, set against a field of golf ball dimples. The date sits in a notch cut into the edge of the ball, and GOLF runs along the lower rim.
Soccer is the most joyful of the set: a girl in pigtails, arms flung high in celebration, beside an oversized ball that fills the left half of the coin.
Softball drives through the swing, ponytail flying, as the catcher reaches for a pitch that is already on its way out. The date is struck onto home plate itself, a neat piece of design economy.
Snowboarding puts its rider in the air, one hand on the board, hair streaming behind the helmet, with pines and a mountain ridge below and flecks of snow scattered across the field.
Three of the five reverses feature girls, and none features a stadium, a trophy or a crowd. The emphasis is participation, which matches the brief.
The four year lineup
The Mint has published the full roster through 2030:
| Year | Youth Sports quarters | Paralympic Sports half dollar |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Baseball, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Snowboarding | Wheelchair Basketball |
| 2028 | American Football, Swimming, Gymnastics, Lacrosse, Track & Field | Para Climbing |
| 2029 | Basketball, Wrestling, Tennis, Cheerleading, Karate | Para Ice Hockey |
| 2030 | Figure Skating, Skiing, Skateboarding, Volleyball, Ice Hockey | Para Snowboarding |
That is 20 quarter reverses and four half dollar reverses over the life of the program, 24 designs in all.
The Paralympic Sports half dollar
The half dollar gets its own new obverse, a Kennedy portrait created for the program. The Mint describes a warm, hopeful expression with the President gazing skyward; the published proof image shows a right-facing profile beneath a widely spaced LIBERTY, with E PLURIBUS UNUM to the left, IN GOD WE TRUST to the right and HALF DOLLAR along the lower rim.
Each reverse will feature a sport adapted for athletes with a range of disabilities, including physical, vision and intellectual impairment. The 2027 Paralympic Sports half dollar opens with wheelchair basketball: a player driving forward with the ball held high, the large spoked wheel of the sports chair dominating the lower left of the design, and WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL following the right rim with the date set inside it. For a denomination that has spent most of its life since 1964 with a fixed reverse, a design that changes every year is a genuine change of pace.
What collectors should watch for
The October 26 release covers designs only. The Mint has not yet announced product formats, release dates or pricing for any 2027 Youth Sports quarters or the Paralympic Sports half dollar, and has pointed collectors to its sign-up page for product notifications. The published images are proof renderings with an S mintmark on both obverses, which tells collectors how the designs will look, not what the product line will be. Although based on previous years and established product lines from the mint, we should expect circulating, proof, silver proof versions of these coins in a multitude of offerings. Including in circulation, rolls and bags and sets.
The bigger picture
Commemorative circulating programs have mostly asked collectors to look back: at parks, at states, at history, at notable women. The Youth Sports Coin Collection looks sideways, at the Saturday morning field and the local rink. Whether that resonates as strongly as national parks or the semiquincentennial did is an open question, but the 2027 Youth Sports quarters arrive with something those programs did not have, a theme nearly every family can find itself in. Over four years and 24 designs, that may prove to be the program’s strongest asset.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 2027 Youth Sports quarters? The 2027 Youth Sports quarters are the first issues of the U.S. Mint’s Youth Sports Coin Collection, a circulating program running from 2027 through 2030. Each year five quarters feature a sport played by American young people on the reverse, paired with a common obverse showing a new portrait of George Washington. The 2027 sports are baseball, golf, soccer, softball and snowboarding.
What is on the 2027 Paralympic Sports half dollar? The 2027 half dollar features wheelchair basketball on the reverse and a new portrait of John F. Kennedy on the obverse. The reverse changes every year of the program, with para climbing in 2028, para ice hockey in 2029 and para snowboarding in 2030.
How were the sports chosen? The Mint developed a candidate list with the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Members of the public then shared their preferences through an online survey that ran from January 22 to February 20, 2025.
Is the new Washington portrait the first change to the quarter’s obverse? No. The Mint counts the 2027 portrait as the fifth unique depiction of Washington on a U.S. quarter. Earlier versions include variations of John Flanagan’s portrait from 1932 through 2021, a reverse appearance on the 2021 Crossing the Delaware quarter, the right-facing bust on the 2022 to 2025 American Women Quarters, and Joseph Menna’s portrait on the 2026 Revolutionary War quarter.
Why does the new quarter show 25¢ on the front? On the 2027 design the denomination appears on the obverse as 25¢, alongside LIBERTY, E PLURIBUS UNUM and IN GOD WE TRUST. That leaves the reverse for the sport, the date and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Which sports will appear on later Youth Sports quarters? The 2028 quarters feature American football, swimming, gymnastics, lacrosse and track and field. The 2029 issues cover basketball, wrestling, tennis, cheerleading and karate, and 2030 closes the program with figure skating, skiing, skateboarding, volleyball and ice hockey.
When can I buy the 2027 Youth Sports quarters, and what will they cost? As of the October 26, 2026 design announcement, the U.S. Mint had not announced release dates, product formats or prices. Collectors can register for the Mint’s product notifications to be alerted when 2027 products go on sale.
What law authorizes the Youth Sports Coin Collection? The program is authorized by the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, Public Law 116-330, which was signed into law on January 13, 2021.
