
The first week of high school fall sports is in the books in a number of states — with a break from the intense heat coming at the right time in many parts of the country.
And the NFHS recently shared good news — actually great news — on two fronts as the 2025 fall season commences.
First, participation in high school sports reached an all-time high last year with more than 8.2 million participants – up more than 200,000 from the previous year. In the past three years, more than 645,000 additional participants have been a part of the education-based high school sports experience.
Second, the number of individuals officiating high school sports continues to rise. A 2024-25 survey by the NFHS Officiating Services Department indicated an eight percent increase in the number of officials from 2018-19 and six percent increase year over year – a total of 237,811 registered officials in the 36 states participating in the survey for the past seven years.
This truly is great news after an estimated 50,000 individuals left the officiating avocation during the pandemic.
Now, as the 2025-26 season unfolds, there is one additional component of the overall high school sports scene that must increase – the level of proper behavior by players, coaches, parents and other fans. This is an absolute must for the overall well-being of education-based high school sports.
While these individuals who officiate high school sports appreciate a warm greeting upon arrival at the school, clean towels in the locker rooms, and food and drinks before and after games, they most importantly appreciate being treated with respect by everyone involved in a contest – players, coaches, parents and other fans.
The men and women officiating high school sports are members of the community. They are engineers, teachers, accountants, police officers. Many of these individuals participated in high school sports themselves and are involved now as officials to give back to current student-athletes.
On a given day in the fall when they could be spending time with family, they give of their time so that thousands of football, volleyball, soccer – and others – games can be played every week.
In order to ensure good behavior from the start this year, school administrators must be proactive rather than reactive. Messages must be emphatic that poor sportsmanship will not be tolerated, and there must be consequences for those who choose to berate those men and women serving as high school officials.
As our highly successful campaign now entering its fourth year states, we must #BenchBadBehavior.
In high school sports, the focus is not on the eventual outcome of games – it is about the process of playing the games and the educational lessons learned along the way. Adults at high school games should be exhibiting positive behavior for students to emulate.
A new school year provides a new opportunity for parents and other fans to be true fans and not fanatics. Let’s make it a great year of supporting the millions of students participating in high school sports and showing respect for the hundreds of thousands of men and women officiating these great games.
Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff is beginning her eighth year as chief executive officer of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the first female to head the national leadership organization for high school athletics and performing arts activities and the sixth full-time executive director of the NFHS. She previously was executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference for seven years.