Girls Swimming 8th, Boys Swimming 10th Most Popular High School Sport in United States

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has released a summary of their annual participation statistics for the 2013-2014 school year.

Boys’ swimming came in as the 10th most popular sport among boys, by the number of participants, and girls’ swimming came in at 8th by number of participants.

The boys’ and girls’ top 10 remained unchanged for any sports, though volleyball did make a big move to approach basketball among girls.

The full report has not yet been released, but the NFHS reported a highlight that 7,795,658 students participated in the NFHS’ 51 member state high school associations, which is an increase of 82.081. That’s a new record-high for participation in the United States.

The top 10 sports for boys and girls are below:

Boys

  1. Football
  2. Track & Field
  3. Basketball
  4. Baseball
  5. Soccer
  6. Wrestling
  7. Cross Country
  8. Tennis
  9. Golf
  10. Swimming and Diving

Girls

  1. Track & Field
  2. Basketball
  3. Volleyball
  4. Soccer
  5. Fast-Pitch Softball
  6. Cross Country
  7. Tennis
  8. Swimming and Diving
  9. Competitive Spirit Squads
  10. Lacrosse

14
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John Dussliere
9 years ago

Why all the negativity? For being an Olympic sport with incredibly high overhead, this is actually a pretty great report card from the HS federation. The infrastucture is not there in the American school system to reach much higher into the top 10. The ROI on a pool vs a field or gym is not appealling to the majority of districts. The SwimToday posters need to get out of the pool deck team info bulletin boards and in the storefront windows of local teams local sponsors. If every team in America succeeded at bringing in (and keeping) 10 new swimmers into their rosters every year for the next 10 years, USAS growth would be incredible!! Read between the lines: retention… Read more »

PAC12BACKER
9 years ago

In So Cal the mix is significantly different. You can add water polo above swimming for boys for sure and put wrestling, cross country, and golf lower than boys swimming.

TJ
9 years ago

Golf is ahead of swimming because it’s an easy way to not do PE and get athletic benefits.

mcgillrocks
9 years ago

I think part of it has to be the workload. I bet most golf teams are something like 3x per week, because of course costs and the fact that golf doesn’t need much strength/endurance training.

On the other hand swimming is like 10 times per week, which has to definitely turn some people off if you’re not at least a solid swimmer. It’s not a sport where it’s fun to sit on the JV bench with your friends, it’s more a sport where you suffer through practices designed for people a lot faster than you.

TheTroubleWithX
Reply to  mcgillrocks
9 years ago

Unless you live in area that is short on pools, and you can only practice three times a week…when we’re lucky.

DL
Reply to  mcgillrocks
9 years ago

I don’t know… The average high school swimmer probably swims 5x a week max. Not talking about elite swimmers here.

Goldie
9 years ago

With the exception of football, the sports ranked above swimming have almost no overhead costs. With schools cutting back on spending, high school swimming will be relegated to a minor sport in most areas.

Liqudassets
9 years ago

Probably because many schools still have better access to a golf course than A pool, which is sad. Pools are more expensive than renting time and clubs at a golf course I guess. Maybe part of the puzzle why USA isn’t even more dominant in swimming than it is.

DL
9 years ago

At least we’re ahead of lacrosse and cheerleading. Anyway, these figures are probably skewed because many schools don’t have swimming due to a lack of facilities. The one I don’t understand is golf, which is ranked just above swimming for the boys. How many people are on a high school golf team? Does anyone know how this is possible?

James
9 years ago

Isn’t it really just a nice way of saying it’s the least participated-in major sport at most high schools? A shame really – I suspect intimidation about being in the water holds a lot of people back. It’s also a hard sport to participate in when you are not “good at it”. It’s one thing being on a team that isn’t that great…at least you are with friends. Another thing getting swum down by some age group phenom getting ready to lap you in a 100.

TheTroubleWithX
Reply to  James
9 years ago

Guess it depends what you define as “major sport.” Swimming is ahead of both volleyball and lacrosse for boys.

James
Reply to  TheTroubleWithX
9 years ago

Well, as suppose I define major by number of high schools that offer the sport as an option. In CA at least, lacrosse is pretty rare at the high school level. Boys volleyball is played, but not commonly by small schools.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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