While athletic skills haven鈥檛 drawn as much attention as math and reading performance, new data suggests students鈥� sports engagement also took a hit during the pandemic.
Nationwide, more than 7.6 million high school students participated in school sports in the 2021-22 school year, according to a new survey released this week by the . That marks a 4 percent drop since 2018-19, with girls鈥� sports losing more athletes than boys鈥� sports.
Sports educators also warn that, just as many students who experienced school disruptions during the pandemic lost academic ground, student athletes have experienced 鈥渓earning loss鈥� in sports.
鈥淲hile our overall numbers have been really exciting this fall, our kids are coming in less skilled,鈥� said Ann Paulls-Neal, the head coach of girls鈥� track and field at Highland High School and a physical education teacher at Wherry Elementary School, both in Albuquerque, N.M.
This fall has been a mixed blessing for varsity sports at Highland. Boys鈥� football fielded a team of 60, back to pre-pandemic levels. The girls鈥� volleyball team tryouts had its biggest turnout in five years.
But Paulls-Neal said it鈥檚 become clear the pandemic has deepened disparities for student-athletes in high-poverty schools like her own.
Higher-income student-athletes were more likely to have access to private gyms, she said, and many wealthier families in Albuquerque even drove their students into Arizona and Texas to participate in club sports when official school district sports were cancelled last year due to ongoing COVID-19 infection concerns.
鈥淎 lot of our kids haven鈥檛 had the opportunities to practice their skills,鈥� she said.
Nationwide, federal health data show less than a third of children ages 6 to 17 in families with incomes below the federal poverty level played sports, versus 70 percent of children in families with incomes more than four times the federal poverty level.
Fewer opportunities to practice and play competitively have led to slower growth in athletic skills, particularly in technical sports such as pole vault, long jump, and throwing competitions in track and field, Paulls-Neal said.
鈥淚 think it was more noticeable for track being so individual,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hose technique events need so many reps in so much time [to practice], and the kids just didn鈥檛 get that for almost two years.鈥�
For example, the top girls鈥� high jump in the state track-and-field competition this fall was 5"4'鈥攎ore than two inches lower than 2018-19 high jumps. 鈥淢any of our athletes were jumping two to four to six inches lower than normal,鈥� Paulls-Neal said.
For many traditional varsity sports, she predicts it will take teams three years to return to pre-pandemic skill levels.
鈥淯sually you look at your junior class as being some of your best athletes; they鈥檝e had a chance to show some leadership and grow and develop so that they鈥檙e ready to contribute on varsity,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 pretty common in all of our programs right now to see less juniors and seniors than there are freshmen and sophomores.
鈥淲hen you look at juniors,鈥� she continued, 鈥渢hey finished 8th grade online, they started high school online and by the time it got to their sophomore year and school was normal, a lot of them really felt like they missed that window鈥� for varsity sports.
More diverse sports interests
Leaders of the national federation were optimistic about their new data, noting sports programs have been so unstable in the pandemic that they could not conduct the survey at all in the last couple of years.
鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to see this many that have returned to the level of participation, and we鈥檙e not altering seasons and altering roster numbers and things like that,鈥� said Karissa Niehoff, the CEO of NFSHSA. 鈥淪o soon after COVID鈥攁nd really we鈥檙e not after COVID yet鈥攚e feel like the numbers that we鈥檝e gotten back are encouraging.鈥�
The falloff in overall sports participation also has been coupled with broadening interests in less-common sports. 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing an increase in the number of overall sports offered, which is exciting,鈥� Niehoff said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 opening up new opportunities.鈥�
Football remains the most popular boys鈥� sport, with more than 973,000 students, the NFSHSA found. While participation in the traditional 11-player game fell 3 percent, there has been a 12 percent increase in players for smaller-scaled games, such as six-, eight-, and nine-player football.
While traditional football has faced a backlash over concerns over traumatic brain injuries from concussions (including ), Niehoff said the number of smaller and rural schools offering the sport has increased, in part because it has been easier to field teams for the smaller-scale boys鈥� games and girls鈥� flag football in small schools.
Outdoor track and field was the most popular girls鈥� sport nationwide in 2021-22, with nearly 457,000 students playing, the NFSHSA found, but girls鈥� volleyball has grown the fastest, with more than 454,000 students.
NFSHSA also found rising interest in school-based e-sports, in which students play video games competitively in teams.
Kristen Kraft, a former Kansas Principal of the Year in 2021 and education consultant for the High School E-Sports League, said the rise of e-sports in her own Andover High School during the pandemic brought engagement from a totally different population from traditional student-athletes.
鈥淚t was amazing to me, from the principal perspective, how many kids were involved,鈥� Kraft said. 鈥淣ow coming back [from school disruptions], kids are really struggling to find their place. And I really saw an entire group of kids that I鈥檇 never seen connected to our school before.鈥�
The survey also showed a dramatic increase in the popularity of unified sports programs, in which intellectually disabled students play on the same teams as their classmates. Twenty states now have at least some districts with unified programs, up from 10 pre-pandemic, and the number of students participating has grown nearly 10-fold, from about 5,500 in 2018-19 to nearly 48,000 in 2021-22.
鈥淚n unified sports programs, it鈥檚 been a tremendous increase,鈥� Niehoff said. 鈥淚n almost every public high school, you have an identified population of intellectually disabled kids. And I will tell you, as a former high school principal, there is nothing better for the culture and climate in a school than starting a unified sports program where regular education kids are matched with intellectually disabled kids and they engage in sport.鈥�
鈥淭he spirit, the comradery, the mentorship, the friendship鈥攊t brings you to tears to see what this experience does for kids,鈥� she added.
