State Championships, Emerging Sports Create Excitement in Nation’s Schools
By Dr. Karissa Niehoff, CEO of the National Federation of High Schools, identifies renewed excitement in schools, including the emergence of sports.
Beyond the sports that have long dominated sports – football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, swimming and others, it is the sports that are relatively young that Niehoff points to as leading the exciement.
Beyond these longstanding, tried-and-true sports, the recent NFHS Athletics Participation Survey indicated participation by high school students in 69 different sports, as well as 16 Adapted sports and 16 Unified sports. In the past 10 years, almost 30 new sports have appeared in the survey and the growth of several sports qualifies for “Emerging Sports” discussion – led by girls wrestling.
Ten years ago, there were 8,235 girls participating in girls wrestling – mostly on boys teams as only three states had separate state championships for girls (California, Hawaii and Texas). With states such as Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota and Utah adding a separate state event for girls in recent years, there are now 33 states offering girls wrestling championships, and participation has jumped to 31,654.
Read the complete article from Niehoff HERE
Perhaps destined for greater participation numbers than wrestling is flag football – the latest emerging sport for girls. Thanks, in part, to Nike and National Football League teams offering financial support to state associations for starting programs, 10 states have some level of girls flag football sponsorship, with four states currently conducting state championships – Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Nevada.
Pilot programs are being conducted in Colorado, California, New York, Arizona, Alaska and Montana – with others in the works. The latest survey indicated a 40 percent increase in students since the 2018-19 survey – 11,209 to 15,716 participants.
Another success story in recent years is Unified Sports, a Special Olympics program which supports teams composed of students with and without intellectual disabilities. The most recent NFHS participation survey showed a dramatic rise in Unified participation. With only 5,541 combined participants from 10 states in 2018-19, this year’s survey indicated 47,909 combined participants in almost 20 states.
Other emerging sports to watch include girls beach volleyball (two states with championships and 6,489 participants) and bass fishing (seven states with championships and 10,626 participants), among others. In other activity programs offered by states, a total of 19 associations are providing state championships in esports – up from 10 states just three years ago.
Read the complete article from Niehoff HERE
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Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
