Image taken at the Women's West Coast Tournament of Champions in Placer Valley by Chris Mora Photo
There’s been a burst of growth in high school sports and girls are the main accelerant.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, which just completed its High School Athletics Participation Survey, the most recent academic year brought an all-time high in terms of the numbers of student athletes. There was a total of 8,260,891 participants, up from the previous record of 8,062,302 set in 2023-24.
That’s an uptick of nearly 200,000, and the bulk of that growth came in girls’ sports, with wrestling and flag football leading the way.
The rapid rise of girls' flag football programs across the country led to 68,847 girls participating in the sport last year – an impressive 60 percent increase from the previous year. In addition, schools sponsoring the sport increased by nearly 1,000.
Girls' wrestling topped 74,000 participants for the first time, jumping 15 percent from a year ago and adding nearly 1,000 schools with a girls wrestling program.
Boys' wrestling participation is also enjoying a rebound in numbers, recording an increase of 8,340 to top the 300,000 mark for the first time.
But here’s another trend worth watching: There were big increases in participants in unified sports (defined as teams made up of both traditional students and those with physical and/or cognitive challenges). Oh, and esports also registered a significant increase in 2024-25.
The survey indicated a total of 70,006 participants in the 15 unified sports, up from 51,502 in 2023-24. A total of 30,440 students participated in esports last year – an increase of 2,939 participants from the previous year.
Don’t worry, though. Traditional sports are as strong as they have ever been and those Friday night lights are in no danger of dimming.
Outdoor track and field, volleyball and soccer all registered increases and remained the top three participatory sports for girls.Track and field participation increased to 513,808, followed by volleyball at 492,799 (up 2.85 percent) and soccer at 393,048 (up 2.38 percent).
Basketball (356,240) remained in the No. 4 spot followed by fastpitch softball (331,306). Competitive spirit (206,262) jumped to the sixth most popular girls' sport with a nearly 14 percent increase, while tennis (204,721) also increased by more than four percent. Cross country (189,260), swimming and diving (138,303) and lacrosse (99,292) round out the top 10.
On the boys’ side, outdoor track and field, soccer and golf had significant gains, and all 10 of the most popular sports held steady or registered gains.
After 11-player football (1,031,039) and outdoor track and field (644,235), the rest of the boys' top 10 included basketball (540,704), soccer (484,908), baseball (472,598), wrestling (300,214), cross country (238,685), golf (162,357), tennis (158,667) and swimming and diving (119,102).
The 2024-25 total marked the third consecutive notable increase after numbers fell during the pandemic. Since the initial survey after the pandemic, participation in high school sports has increased 642,837 in three years.
“It is wonderful to see the interest in high school sports reach new heights,” said Dr. Karissa Niehoff, CEO of the NFHS. “The immense value of high school sports is reflected in these impressive numbers. As high school students have consistently demonstrated their desire to play with their peers and represent their schools and community, state and school administrators have stepped up to offer more participation opportunities to meet that demand.”
Additionally, some states seem to be powerhouses when it comes to high school sports. Texas (with 879,403 participants throughout the school year) and California (852,575) remained atop the list of state participation.
Ohio (335,808) jumped to third, followed by Pennsylvania (333,123), Illinois (328,362), New York (327,068) Florida (308,396), Michigan (298,246), New Jersey (281,971) and Minnesota (232,347).
The 2024-25 total marked the third consecutive notable increase after numbers fell during the pandemic. Since the initial survey after the pandemic, participation in high school sports has increased 642,837 in three years and represents a turnaround from the decline that started the year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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