Tag: Sports Participation

Football, Basketball, and Track – Top Sports in Colorado

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What were the top sports in Colorado for boys in high school during the 2014 season?

Data from the National Federal of State High School Athletic Associations (NFHS), https://www.nfhs.org/, shows that the most popular sports, from an athletic director’s perspective, for boys are basketball, track and field, baseball, wrestling, and cross-country, and soccer. More than 300 Colorado schools have basketball programs. While just under 300 have track and field and baseball. If all levels of football (6,  8, and 11 player) are combined, then football is the third most popular sport.

Sport Number of Schools with Programs
Basketball 330
Track and Field — Outdoor 299
Baseball 279
Wrestling 240
Cross Country 230
Football — 11-Player 211
Soccer 211
Golf 189
Tennis 130
Swimming & Diving 118
Lacrosse 113
Ice Hockey 64
Football — 8-player 49
Football — 6-player 35
Skiing — Alpine 14
Skiing — Cross Country 14

At the bottom of the list are alpine and cross-country ski programs.

From the athlete’s perspective the ranking is much different. Despite concerns about concussions, football is overwhelmingly the most popular sport. It is followed by track and field, basketball, baseball, and soccer.  At that point there is a significant drop to wrestling, cross-country, and lacrosse.

Sport Number of Participants
Football — 11-Player 14,917
Track and Field — Outdoor 9,597
Basketball 8,764
Baseball 8,248
Soccer 7,770
Wrestling 4,978
Cross Country 4,068
Lacrosse 3,787
Tennis 2,868
Golf 2,145
Swimming & Diving 2,066
Football — 8-player 859
Ice Hockey 644
Football — 6-player 453
Competitive Spirit Squad 172
Skiing — Alpine 140
Skiing — Cross Country 117

Competitive spirit squad and alpine and cross-country ski programs are clearly at the bottom.

Age Breakdown of Sports Participants

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Recreation departments, sports manufacturers and retailers, coaching and trade associations, and athletic departments are interested in the age breakdown of sports participants. This information helps them develop customized equipment, services, programs, and coaching techniques to the sports participants in each age group. As well, age breakdown information provides valuable marketing insight that is used to promote goods, services, and the various sports.

The U.S. Statistical Abstract publishes sports participation levels by age groups using National Sporting Goods Association data. The 2012 publication provides 2009 NSGA information.

Key findings from the data show:

  • Soccer, baseball, basketball, and volleyball are predominantly youth sports.
  • Swimmers are split between two groups. Almost 42% are under 25 and about 45% are in the 25 to 54 age category.
  • Almost 57% of tennis players are in the 25 to 54 age group. A small percentage of tennis players are over the age of 55.
  • The breakdown of alpine skiers is similar to tennis; however, there are a higher percentage of older skiers than tennis players.
  • The sports of aerobic exercising, yoga, exercising with equipment, golf, and exercise walking have the highest percentage of older participants and the lowest percentage of youth participants. For each of these sports the percentage of participants in the 25 to 54 age category is between 54% and 65%.

sports participants