High school sports participation at national all-time high

High school sports participation has reachead an all-time high. According to statistics collected by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) the number of participants in high school sports increased for the 27th consecutive year in 2015-2016.

This is based on figures from the 51-member state high school associations and according to the survey, high school sports now has 7,868,900 athletes throughout the country. This is an increase of 61,853 athletes from the previous year.

An interesting fact about the survey is that high school football participation is on the rise despite all the negative publicity it has had over concussions.

The report said football was on a decline in previous years.

There was a decline of almost 10,000 participants in football in the previous year. But 11-man football stayed the same for two years. The number of boys playing 11-player football in 2015 was almost identical to 2014. Nearly half the states registered increases in boys participation in 11-player football in 2015. When combining boys and girls participation in six, eight, nine and 11-player football, that’s where the report got its increase in football participation.

Nevada was a state that showed an increase in 11-man football going from 6,640 in 2014-15 to 6,724 in 2015-16. Nevada was not one of the states that showed a decrease in 11-man football participation from 2013-14.

The executive director of the National Federation of High Schools, Bob Gardner, said steps had been taken over the last 10 years to minimize the risk of playing high school football so the report on the continued strong interest in football “was encouraging.”

“With the adoption of state laws and protocols for concussion management in place, we continue to believe that the sport of football at the high school level is as safe as it has been since the first rules were written in 1932 – and we believe this year’s participation report is confirmation of that belief,” the director said.

The report also says that boys and girls participation in sports across the board is at an all-time high. Nevada also showed an increase in participation from 45,033 in 2014-15 to 45,265 in 2015-16 and is at an all-time high.

In past years, the numbers showed a decline but the report shows an increase in 2015 of 25,000 boys, to an all-time high of 4,544,574. The girls also showed an increase for the 27th straight year of 36,591 athletes, an all-time high of 3,324,326.

The largest gain was reported by track and field for both boys and girls nationally with an additional 12,501 boys and 7,243 girls.

As far as sports with the most athletes, football has the most athletes for boys, then track with 591,133. In girls sports, track has the most, with 485,969 participants. The top five most popular sports in the country for boys is basketball, track and field, baseball, cross-country and 11-man football. For girls, it’s track and field, volleyball, basketball, soccer and softball.

To see the survey go to www.nfhs.org.

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com