The number of participants in high school sports increased for the 26th consecutive year in 2014-15–topping the 7.8 million mark for the first time–according to the annual High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS.)
Based on figures from the 51 NFHS members, which includes the District of Columbia, participants in high school sports reached 7,807,047–an increase of 11,389 from the previous year.
Boys participation dipped 8682 from the previous year. The boys participation total of 4,519,312 is No. 2 all-time, behind the 2013-14 total of 4,527,994.
Girls participation increased for the 26th consecutive year, with an additional 20,071 participants. This set an all-time high of 3,287,735.
Six of the top ten girls sports registered increases in participation this past year, led by competitive spirit squads (5170 additional participants) and cross country (3495). While track and field remained the No. 1 sport for girls with 478,726 participants, volleyball (432,176) moved ahead of basketball (429,504) to secure the No. 2 spot. Ten years ago, basketball was No. 1 for girls, followed by track and field, and volleyball.
Among the top ten boys sports, soccer registered the largest gain with an additional 15,150 participants, while wrestling (11,306) and 11-player football (9617) had the largest declines in participation. Besides soccer, other top ten boys sports that had increases in the number of participants were baseball (3938) and basketball (425.)
Bob Gardner, NFHS Executive Director, stated, “And while football participation dropped this past year, the decrease is not that significant, when you consider more than 1.1 million boys and girls are involved in the sport at the high school level.”
“Despite other out-of-school opportunities that exist in some sports, this year’s survey is yet another confirmation that our model of education-based sports within the high school setting is the No. 1 choice for boys and girls Nationwide. We applaud the more than 19,000 high schools across the country for continuing to provide these important programs, despite the funding challenges that exist in some areas.”
Eleven-player football remains the runaway leader in boys participants with 1,083,617, followed by outdoor track and field (578,632), basketball (541,479), baseball (486,567), and soccer (432,569). The remainder of the top ten is wrestling (258,208), cross country (250,981), tennis (157,240), golf (148,823) and swimming/diving (137,087.)
After outdoor track and field, volleyball and basketball, the remainder of the top ten girls sports are soccer (375,681), fast-pitch softball (364,103), cross country (221,616), tennis (182,876), swimming/diving (166,838), competitive spirit squads (125,763), and lacrosse (84,785.)
Non-traditional high school sports on the survey, archery and riflery, registered significant increases in participation. An additional 2877 boys and girls in archery brings the total to 7744, with schools in eight states sponsoring the sport. Riflery was up 1010 participants for a total of 4238, with competition in ten states. While boys wrestling was down by more than 11,000 this past year, the number of girls participating in the sport increased by 1592 for a total of 11,496.
The top ten states by participants remained in the same order as last year, with Texas and California topping the list with 804,598 and 797,101, respectively. The remainder included New York (389,475), Illinois (340,972), Ohio (319,929), Pennsylvania (319,562), Michigan (295,660), New Jersey (279,377), Florida (267,954) and Minnesota (235,243.)
The participation survey has been compiled since 1971 by the NFHS through numbers it receives from its member associations.