Good news for the athletic facility construction industry: sports participation is up at the high school level. Even better: Much of the growth is occurring in sports that take place on fields.
According to the National Federation for State High School Associations (NFHS) 2009-2010 High School Athletics Participation Summary, the number of students participating in sports continues to grow. In the academic year 2009-2010, a total of 7,628,377 students (4,455,740 boys and 3,172,637 girls) participated in high school sports. The 2008-2009 figures showed 7,536,753 total students (4,422,662 boys and 3,114,091 girls).
The top 10 most popular sports for boys (in terms of numbers of athletes participating) are (1) football, (2) outdoor track and field, (3) basketball, (4) baseball, (5) soccer, (6) wrestling, (7) cross-country, (8) tennis, (9) golf and (10) swimming/diving. For girls, the top 10 are (1) outdoor track and field, (2) basketball, (3) volleyball, (4) softball (fast-pitch), (5) soccer, (6) cross-country, (7) tennis, (8) swimming/diving, (9) competitive spirit squads and (10) golf.
Interesting to note: Some of the biggest gains were shown in tennis (345,150 students in school year 2009-2010, as compared to 334,758 in school year 2008-2009), lacrosse (up to 159,438 in 2009-2010, from its 2008-2009 total of 153,525), soccer (747,955 in 2009-2010, as compared to 728,358 in 2008-2009) and fast-pitch softball (380,013 students in 2009-2010, and 370,467 in 2008-2009). Smaller gains were reported in volleyball (454,452 in 2009-2010, as compared to 453,589 in 2008-2009) and golf (228,628 in 2009-2010, as compared to 226,285 in 2008-2009).
Some sports, including basketball, baseball, field hockey and 11-player football remained popular, but actually fell slightly in terms of numbers of athletes participating. The overall number of girls participating in sports remained strong.
NFHS also recognizes and reports on data collected on adapted sports (basketball, bowling, floor hockey, softball, soccer and track); these numbers reported gains in every discipline except floor hockey, where participation fell slightly.
The survey breaks data down by states (and by sports within states), and also shows year by year changes in total participation numbers. The pdf of the NFHS report can be downloaded free of charge from www.nfhs.org (choose “participation data” from the menu on the left-hand side of the home page).