Volleyball, cheerleading, soccer see gains
By Kyle LoJacono
The number of high school students participating in sports has dropped during the last year, according to data released by the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) last week.
The overall number of participants fell by 2,365 from the 2009-10 school year, down to 245,079 in 2010-11. That decrease happened despite the student population increasing by 4,665 during that same time.
Boys participation dropped by 1 percent during that time, down from 140,096 to 139,751. Girls participation dropped 2 percent, down from 107,348 to 105,328.
The sport that lost the most student-athletes was softball, which fell by 3,771 participants, or 23 percent, from the 2009-10 school year. Girls tennis also dropped by 5 percent, down to 4,692 players.
Boys cross country and track and field participation dropped by 3 percent each, down to 6,683 and 15,493 respectively.
Despite the slight decrease, Pasco County athletic director Phil Bell is optimistic about sports participation in the area.
“I think the decrease has something to do with the down economy,” Bell said. “If you look at the totals during the last few years you’ll find the number is up during that time. It is just down a little bit from last year to this year.”
FHSAA records show the number of student-athletes has increased every year during the last decade except between the last two years. There were 2,726 more participants in 2010-11 than the 2008-09 school year.
The numbers have dropped within the FHSAA despite a record-breaking number of students participating in high school sports nationally. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), of which the FHSAA is a member, reports 7.7 million kids in the United States played some high school sport last school year, or about 55.5 percent of all students at member schools.
“While the overall increase was not as much as we’ve seen in the past few years, we are definitely encouraged with these totals given the financial challenges facing our nation’s high schools,” said Bob Gardner, NFHS executive director. “The benefits of education-based athletics at the high school level are well-documented, and we encourage communities throughout the nation to keep these doors of opportunity open.”
The sport that saw the largest increase in participants at FHSAA member schools during the last year was girls volleyball, which added 534 new players, a 4 percent increase.
Both boys and girls soccer also saw gains in Florida, with an additional 434 and 419 student-athletes respectively. Cheerleading increased by 403, while football saw a modest increase of 183 players.
Lacrosse participation in the state also increased by 687 combined for boys and girls teams, but the sport is not offered through the FHSAA in either Pasco or Hillsborough counties. Bowling had 453 more total student-athletes than two years ago, but it is also not offered in the area.
For the FHSAA’s complete participation statistics since 1973, visit www.fhsaa.org.
