Sports Participation Increases During Year
Led by the continual growth of girls flag football and girls wrestling, participation in high school sports increased for the fifth consecutive year in 2025-26 and set another all-time record.
The annual NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey indicated that 8,415,684 participants were involved in high school sports in 2025-26 — up 149,440 from the previous year. The total includes 4,761,095 boys and 3,654,589 girls — both record highs — according to figures obtained from the 51 NFHS member state associations, which includes the District of Columbia.
The continual spike in the number of girls participating in flag football and wrestling since the pandemic has been nothing short of phenomenal. In the first post-pandemic survey in 2021-22, there were 15,716 girls participating in flag football nationally. That number has now ballooned to 102,360 – an increase of 87,000 participants in just four years.
Amazingly, participation in girls flag football increased 48.7 percent last year — 68,847 to 102,360 — and the sport cracked the Top 10 list for most popular girls sports. The number of schools reporting girls flag football participation increased from 2,736 to 3,990 in the past year, and a total of 37 states will be either sanctioning the sport or conducting independent/pilot programs by next year.
The popularity of wrestling for girls is not far behind flag football. Participation in girls wrestling increased 19.9 percent from the previous year — from 74,064 to 88,771 — and the number of schools sponsoring the sport for girls now rests at 8,853.
