Boys' wrestling was one of four sports ranked among the top ten to see an increase in the number of participants. During the 2018-19 school year, 1,877 more boys went out for high school wrestling than in the previous year. (247,411 boy wrestlers in high school during the 2018-19 school year vs. 245,564 in 2017-18.)
Girls' wrestling continued to see incredible growth. This past school year, 4,562 more girls participated in high school wrestling than in the previous academic year -- a 27% increase in just one year. (21,124 girls wrestled in high school in the 2018-19 school year compared to 16,562 in 2017-18.)
These growth trends in boys' and girls' wrestling counter an overall decline in sports participation levels. During the 2018-19 school year, 7,937,491 high school students participated in sports ... a decline of 43,395 from the 2017-18 school year. This is the first decline in overall participation levels since the 1988-89 school year.
The biggest contributors to the decline: football and basketball, each seeing fewer participants.
This year's survey -- officially titled the 2018-19 High School Athletics Participation Survey, conducted by the NFHS -- indicated participation by high school students in 70 different sports, as well as 14 adapted sports for students with disabilities. The survey has been conducted each year since 1971-72.
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