The NCHSAA saw a 4.73% increase in overall athletic participation in the 2023-24 school year, with baseball being the only sport to experience a decline, according to a news release on Monday.
Across all sports, according to the association, 208,722 student-athletes participated in 2023-24 sanctioned sports compared to 198,025 in the previous academic year, based on information submitted by member schools.
Football, which had the most participation, experienced a rise from 27,809 to 29,075 with only one additional program. The average per school went from 72.8 to 75.9. This marked an increase in overall participation for the sport for the second consecutive year after previously seeing a decrease every year since 2013.
The previous declines were commonly attributed to concerns about CTE and concussions. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also played a factor in the decreased participation.
The largest increase in participation was in winter spirit. There were 60 more teams in 2023-2024, leading to an increase of 1,628 athletes.
In indoor track, 21 schools added girls programs and 14 schools added boys programs, the association reported. Girls golf participation increased 12% this year as 1,573 golfers were members of NCHSAA member school teams, up from 1,404 in 2022. In 2023, 282 schools fielded girls golf teams compared to 270 in 2022.
Baseball’s decline involved 153, or 1.4%, from 2023. Other spring sports, boys golf and boys lacrosse saw increases of 7% and 6%, respectively.
There were 436 member schools in the NCHSAA for the 2023-24 school year, up from 432 in 2022-2023; All but two schools fielded a boys basketball team and 432 fielded a volleyball team. There were 383 football-playing schools in the association with 29,075 student-athletes participating last fall.
In girls wrestling, the first year as a sanctioned sport, there were 248 schools that participated, with a total of 1,432 athletes. Wrestling participation from 2022-2023 were not separated by gender. However, there were 9,988 total wrestlers in 2022-2023, compared to 11,317 (boys and girls) in 2023-2024.
