Team Sports Participation Both Up and Down

Overall participation in the top-seven team sports in the United States has declined in the past year, while participation in seven "niche" team sports is on the rise. Those are among the latest findings of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association's annual participation study of team sports.

Those niche sports that have experienced "respectable gains" are fast-pitch softball (up 13.8 percent), indoor soccer (up 3.7 percent) and gymnastics (up 3.6%). The top-seven team sports that dropped in participation levels are basketball, baseball, outdoor soccer, touch football, slow-pitch softball, court volleyball and tackle football.

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All major youth sports groups also reported increases in participation in league and sanctioned play. "One of the strongest elements of the entire team sports universe is that young people remain strongly committed to team sports through their schools and local recreation programs," says Tom Cove, president of the Silver Spring, Md.-based SGMA. "Three of the biggest reasons why people don't play more team sports is lack of time, scheduling concerns and the issue of specialization where athletes, specifically younger ones, are dedicating their time to just one activity with the goal of getting the attention of a college coach, pro scout, or possibly winning a state, regional or national championship."

That explains why SGMA's survey data also suggests that the number of two- and three-sport athletes is dropping - a trend the National Federation of State High School Associations finds disturbing. "More schools and coaches should encourage their student-athletes to play more than one sport," says Elliot Hopkins, director of educational services for the Indianapolis-based NFHS. "It helps produce more well-rounded individuals. It also helps cut down the physical stress on certain parts of the body, which are subjected to the same repetitive motion with single-sport athletes." Nevertheless, participation in high school sports rose again during the 2009-10 school year, to a record 7,628,377 students-athletes.

Another significant finding of SGMA's research is that the previous participation surge in team sports for females seems to have stabilized. "I am noticing that female athletes are getting more specialized in their athletic careers," says Wayne Ryan, the athletic director/girls' basketball coach at Summers County High School in Hinton, W.Va. "There are simply more opportunities for female athletes to be competitive in their favorite sport throughout the calendar year."

Other highlights of the SGMA report: • With the exception of beach volleyball, slow-pitch softball, rugby, touch football and paintball, team sports participation in the United States is dominated by players under age 24.• Lacrosse has the highest percentage of participants (48 percent) whose families have annual incomes of $100,000 or more. • Gymnastics has the highest percentage of overall participants in the 6-12 age group (48 percent), track and field has the highest percentage of overall participants in the 13-17 age group (44 percent) and rugby has the highest percentage of overall participants in the 18-24 age group. • While casual/pick-up play is on the decline, there are four activities where more than half of all participants are casual/pick-up players: basketball, touch football, beach volleyball and grass volleyball.

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