
NFHS 2021-22 Participation Statistics Released – Florida Ranks 7th in Participants.
I came across this online via the site highschoolot.com, and the PDF is posted there.
Some of the takeaways from this, as pertains to Florida:
291,594 ‘Participations’ – a 2-sport athlete is counted twice, 3-sport 3x
I was not able to take the time to see how this compares with three years ago (the other two years are not reported due to Covid). Frankly, I was a little disappointed by the numbers. There should be a lot more kids playing a sport. Any sport. I’m hardly the best athlete, but I played Little League, Boy’s Basketball, Volleyball in college and into my 30’s, Golfed since Age 7, Softball in New York City, Soccer as a kid and a whole bunch of informal sports as a kid just to stay active. Put down the video games kids!
I think this is just what is reported at the Varsity level, since I don’t see any Ice Hockey numbers or Gymnastics, nor Field Hockey and the number of schools participating in Lacrosse does not foot to the FHSAA Assignments. I also don’t see the Flag Football numbers we clearly have in Florida.
Nationwide, Girls Lacrosse has now cracked the Top Ten in Participants and Boys Lacrosse looks like it’s #12 when I dug down.
The Raw Data can be noted by looking at the link HERE.
Boys Sports (Sport / Schools / Participants)
Baseball 643 18,269
Basketball 711 19,832
Bowling 194 1,381
Cross Country 620 7,278
Football 11-Player 559 37,898
Golf 528 4,134
Lacrosse 215 7,101
Soccer 649 19,378
Swimming and Diving 461 5,847
Tennis 498 5,000
Track and Field-Outdoor 634 18,249
Volleyball 190 3,463
Wrestling 393 7,434
Girls Sports (Sport / Schools / Participants)
Basketball 664 12,137
Bowling 217 1,500
Competitive Spirit 272 5,248
Cross Country 599 6,397
Football-11 Player No Schools, 137 Participants
Golf 459 2,633
Lacrosse 218 6,103
Soccer 607 17,618
Softball-Fast Pitch 598 11,859
Swimming and Diving 461 6,539
Tennis 499 5,544
Track and Field-Outdoor 641 15,809
Volleyball 694 19,006
Wrestling 228 1,093