https://www.highschoolot.com/nc-sees-23-.../18594544/



North Carolina has had a 23% drop in participation in the last decade.

North Carolina remains 12th nationally in terms of high school sports participation with 198,252 participants, but that number dropped from 203,474 during the 2017-2018 school year and 203,588 in the 2016-2017 school year.

The number of boys participating in sports in North Carolina dropped from 113,708 during the 2017-2018 school year to 110,711 last year. Girls participation saw a drop from 89,766 to 87,541.

North Carolina's trend of fewer participants in football continued last year. Data shows 26,969 students participated in football in North Carolina during the fall of 2018, a drop of 5.7 percent from the fall of 2017. In the last five years, North Carolina has witnessed a decline of 9.5 percent in high school football. Over the last decade, participation in high school football has declined by 23.4 percent in North Carolina.

Football wasn't the only boys sport to see drops in participation last school year. The number of boys golfers dropped by 6 percent, boys cross country participation dropped by 5.5 percent, wrestling declined by 4.4 percent, indoor track participation for boys dropped by 4.2 percent, baseball saw a decline of 2.2 percent, boys outdoor track participation dropped by 2.1 percent, boys tennis participation dropped by 0.5 percent.


Nationally last year.....
The biggest drops came from football and basketball. Participation in 11-man football dropped by 30,829 to 1,006,013, which is the lowest mark since the 1999-2000 school year. This marks the fifth straight year football participation declined.

It's also a smaller generation. Birth rate had dropped quite a bit as well.

Too many gamers.
Playing video games instead of playing outside.

I mentioned this a few weeks ago. I would expect as football participation drops participation in soccer will increase.

(08-28-2019 03:47 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  I mentioned this a few weeks ago. I would expect as football participation drops participation in soccer will increase.

Which is funny because the frequency of concussions in soccer's about the same as football. You don't hear that as part of the near-constant concern trolling the sport receives, strangely.

In Nebraska, it's cross country that's replacing football. Which makes sense, if we're worried about player safety.

A decade ago, Millennials were playing football. The biggest generation in the history of earth. The ones coming along today don't have the same population.

I realize the harm factor is at play, but it's not the sole cause.

(08-28-2019 03:53 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  A decade ago, Millennials were playing football. The biggest generation in the history of earth. The ones coming along today don't have the same population.

I realize the harm factor is at play, but it's not the sole cause.

No, but it's a major factor. Sheer demographics are the other. There are now less kids that grew up with the sport here, both by volume and percentage. It's going to get really bad in about 10 years, since millennials aren't having kids.

I used to look at the video games angle about the same as the avocado toast meme, but seeing that the career of choice among Gen Z is "Youtuber" I'm seeing I was wrong.

(08-28-2019 03:51 PM)Mav Wrote:  

(08-28-2019 03:47 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  I mentioned this a few weeks ago. I would expect as football participation drops participation in soccer will increase.

Which is funny because the frequency of concussions in soccer's about the same as football.

No, it's not. Concussions are more than twice as frequent in football.

If you want to argue about kids getting concussions in sports other than football, then you want to look at rugby and ice hockey.

https://completeconcussions.com/2018/12/...ncussions/

Quote:Youth athletes (18 years and under)

Rugby (4.18/1,000 AE)
Ice hockey (1.20/1,000 AE)
American football (0.53/1,000 AE)
Lacrosse (0.24/1,000 AE)
Football (or soccer) (0.23/1,000 AE)
Wrestling (0.17/1,000 AE)
Basketball (0.13/1,000 AE)
Softball & Field Hockey (Tie) (0.10/1,000 AE)
Baseball (0.06/1,000 AE)
Cheerleading (0.07/1,000 AE)
Volleyball (0.03/1,000 AE)

(08-28-2019 03:51 PM)Mav Wrote:  

(08-28-2019 03:47 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  I mentioned this a few weeks ago. I would expect as football participation drops participation in soccer will increase.

Which is funny because the frequency of concussions in soccer's about the same as football. You don't hear that as part of the near-constant concern trolling the sport receives, strangely.

I don't think it only has something to do with concussions. You don't have to be ginormous to play soccer and there is a bit of socio and economic issues at play.

Kids today are brainwashed to seek and need a “ safe space”, football is not a safe space
These kind of kids need not apply anyway...they can come play touch football while both teams finish with the same score so everybody wins no matter what , awwww

Fewer parents willing to pay for football because at many schools there is a fee to play and an expectation you'll do concession stand duty or some other time suck.

Many more parents working jobs outside the 8am to 5pm range and working weekends and not able to participate. Fewer kids with an adult in the home who played football.

In the private schools where cost is less of a barrier many parents are pushing kids away from football because they think something more "sophisticated" will help their kid get in the desired school. The health risk isn't as important as being in a proper status attached sport. I didn't know ANY school in Arkansas had lacrosse until I saw some people I know posting photos on Twitter while waiting on their kid at practice.

In Arkansas wrestling has become a thing with a local multi-millionaire paying start up costs for enough high schools that it is now a sanctioned sport and Arkansas-LR has added it as a varsity sport. Meanwhile his son is battling for the #2 QB spot at AState

I don’t think we’ll see a shortage of guys looking for scholarships and NFL contracts anytime soon. Might be less players and teams overall, but it will always be there as long as the NFL is #1

(08-28-2019 03:12 PM)XLance Wrote:  https://www.highschoolot.com/nc-sees-23-.../18594544/



North Carolina has had a 23% drop in participation in the last decade.

North Carolina remains 12th nationally in terms of high school sports participation with 198,252 participants, but that number dropped from 203,474 during the 2017-2018 school year and 203,588 in the 2016-2017 school year.

The number of boys participating in sports in North Carolina dropped from 113,708 during the 2017-2018 school year to 110,711 last year. Girls participation saw a drop from 89,766 to 87,541.

North Carolina's trend of fewer participants in football continued last year. Data shows 26,969 students participated in football in North Carolina during the fall of 2018, a drop of 5.7 percent from the fall of 2017. In the last five years, North Carolina has witnessed a decline of 9.5 percent in high school football. Over the last decade, participation in high school football has declined by 23.4 percent in North Carolina.

Football wasn't the only boys sport to see drops in participation last school year. The number of boys golfers dropped by 6 percent, boys cross country participation dropped by 5.5 percent, wrestling declined by 4.4 percent, indoor track participation for boys dropped by 4.2 percent, baseball saw a decline of 2.2 percent, boys outdoor track participation dropped by 2.1 percent, boys tennis participation dropped by 0.5 percent.


Nationally last year.....
The biggest drops came from football and basketball. Participation in 11-man football dropped by 30,829 to 1,006,013, which is the lowest mark since the 1999-2000 school year. This marks the fifth straight year football participation declined.

Actually, the trend is worse than those numbers suggest. That only measures the number of students participating in high school football. It doesn't take into account that North Carolina's population grew quite a bit during that decade. On a per capita basis, the decline is actually 32%.

Looking at the potential impact on college football, I suspect it's not as great as the pure numbers imply. I'm guessing the kids who are dropping out aren't the ones who expect to get a scholarship in the sport. If it's mostly the kids who don't expect to play much and don't see the risk of injury during practice as being worth it. But that's in the short run. In the long run, this could be a problem. But by the time it is, I'll be long dead.

I actually think football will simply reinvent itself. One possibility I’ve suggested is going back to leather helmets and lighter should pads. Kids are already doing this in summer camps. The game could actually resemble the 1940s again without the brutality and more passing.

(08-28-2019 04:17 PM)ken d Wrote:  I'm guessing the kids who are dropping out aren't the ones who expect to get a scholarship in the sport. If it's mostly the kids who don't expect to play much and don't see the risk of injury during practice as being worth it. But that's in the short run. In the long run, this could be a problem. But by the time it is, I'll be long dead.

Likely that, for the most part, kids dropping out of football in high school or before are those who don't expect to ever be regulars on their HS varsity team.

In the short term it means that some HS coaches will have to figure out how to run practices with fewer kids available, or that a school that once had a freshman football team will have only JV and varsity, or maybe at less populated schools only a varsity team. Coaches in various other sports have never had the luxury of having huge rosters, or a freshman squad, and many sports that are less popular at a particular school don't have a JV team.

Football coaches will find ways to adapt.

Football is increasingly becoming a regional sport, with hot beds in the Midwest and the South. The East Coast and West Coast are both losing interest in the sport

One factor that I am hearing in most cases are parents are afraid of the safety of their kids because you see more brawls in the stand at high school games of many sports. Another factor is the gun violence as well. Some of the kids who are murdered are involved in sports. Parents are afraid to let their kids go outside anymore.

As I'm reading this thread I get a text that the JV football game my daughter is supposed to cheer at tomorrow has been cancelled due to 'not enough players'.

(08-28-2019 04:27 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(08-28-2019 04:17 PM)ken d Wrote:  I'm guessing the kids who are dropping out aren't the ones who expect to get a scholarship in the sport. If it's mostly the kids who don't expect to play much and don't see the risk of injury during practice as being worth it. But that's in the short run. In the long run, this could be a problem. But by the time it is, I'll be long dead.

Likely that, for the most part, kids dropping out of football in high school or before are those who don't expect to ever be regulars on their HS varsity team. In the short term it means that some HS coaches will have to figure out how to run practices with fewer kids available, or that a school that once had a freshman football team will have only JV and varsity, or maybe at less populated schools only a varsity team. Coaches in various other sports have never had the luxury of having huge rosters, or a freshman squad, and many sports that are less popular at a particular school don't have a JV team. Football coaches will find ways to adapt.

I would also add that this report doesn't factor in the fact that while NC is qrowing overall that growth is concentrated in urban centers, their suburbs/exurbs & retirement areas. Either way you will always have someone willing to participate in combat sports especially if they view it as a means to better their situation

(08-28-2019 03:12 PM)XLance Wrote:  https://www.highschoolot.com/nc-sees-23-.../18594544/

I think there's a good chance that it might be. IMO, the brain studies have shown that there just isn't any safe way to play football, the nature of the sport puts you at a substantial risk of developing brain dysfunction, and if you don't have your brain you don't have anything. Basically, unless you are a kicker, playing football is dumb.

That said, I'm still a huge football fan and are grateful that many other people continue to play it, so that I can enjoy watching it.

I hope it doesn't go out until after I am gone.