NCHSAA sees athletic participation rise in 2023-24

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association saw a 4.73 percent increase in overall participation during the 2023-2024 school from the previous year.

Across all sports, 208,722 student athletes participated in NCHSAA sanctioned sports in 2023-2024, up from 198,025 in 2022-2023. This is based on information reported to the NCHSAA by its member schools.

Indoor track saw significant increases in participation this year as 21 schools added girls programs and 14 schools added boys programs. Girls golf participation increased 12 percent 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.

The largest increase in reported participation was in Winter Spirit. There were 60 more reported teams in 2023-2024 leading to an increase of 1,628 athletes.

Every sport, except for baseball, saw an increase in participation. During the spring of 2024, 10,574 student athletes played baseball, down 153 (1.4 percent) from the previous year. Meanwhile, boys golf and boys lacross saw increases of 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

There were 436 member schools in the NCHSAA for the 2023-24 school year, up from 432 in 2022-2023, and 434 of those schools fielded a boys basketball team, with 432 competing in volleyball. There were 383 football playing schools in the Association, with 29,075 student athletes participating on the gridiron last fall.

In girls wrestling, the first year as a sanctioned sport, there were 248 schools that participated, with a total of 1,432 female athletes. The wrestling participation numbers from 2022-2023 were not separated by gender; however, there were 9,988 total wrestlers in 2022-2023, compared to 11,317 (men and women) in 2023-2024.

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