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Wrestling continues to grow on the high school level

10/5/00
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

Wrestling continues to grown on the high school level, according to statistics released for the 1999-2000 school year by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

Wrestling grew in every category, with more boys competitors, girls competitors and teams than the previous season. It was the sixth straight year that the total number of wrestling competitors and teams has grown nationally. In addition, wrestling remains one of the most popular sports for boys, according to the survey.

Wrestling was ranked No. 6 in the number of boys participants with 239,105 total participants in the nation. Only football, basketball, outdoor track and field, baseball and soccer had more boys participants than wrestling.

The number of boys wrestlers on the high school level increased by 3,132 from the previous year, increase of 1.3 percent.

Wrestling was ranked No. 9 in the number of boys programs, with 9,046 wrestling teams in the United States. Wrestling was ranked behind basketball, outdoor track and field, baseball, football, golf, cross country, tennis and soccer in total number of programs. The number of boys wrestling teams increased by 24 programs last year.

Girls wrestling continued its growth trend of recent years as well. According to the survey, the number of girls in high school wrestling grew to 2,474 participants, up from 2,361 during the 1998-99 year. This increase of 113 girls participants represents a 4.7 percent increase.

In addition, the number of wrestling teams with girls participating showed an increase again. In 1998-99, 661 high schools had girls involved in wrestling, but the 1999-2000, the total grew to 734 programs.

The top 10 states for wrestling participants were California (23,858), Ohio (13,494), Illinois (13,118), New York (12,095), Michigan (11,935), Minnesota (9,242), New Jersey (9,026), Indiana (8,749), Washington (8,503) and Pennsylvania (8,424).

Based on figures from the 51 state high school athletic/activity associations, participation in all high school athletics during 1999-2000 was 6,556,912, an increase of 56,614 from the previous year. This sets the all-time record for high school sports participation, exceeding the previous high set last year. Total participation increased for both boys and girls during the year.

Data from the 1999-2000 survey indicated another record participation for girls at 2,675,974, an increase of 23,248 from the previous year. Boys participation also increased, up 29,397, to 3,861,749, the highest mark for boys since 1977-78.

The NFHS has compiled the survey since 1971 based on figures from its 51 member state associations. With the exception of a slight decrease from 1987-88 to 1988-89, participation has risen each year since the 1983-84 year.

In the listing of total athletic participants by state, Texas remains No. 1 with 783,437, followed by California (604,297), New York (328,954), Ohio (295,526), Michigan (286,978), Illinois (279,957), Pennsylvania (234,932), Minnesota (222,538), New Jersey (216,607) and Florida (196,885).

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Pinning ‘em Down

FSU Report

Many might argue that wrestling is truly a man’s sport, that women have no place on the mat. As a former wrestler (as brief as it may have been) and wrestling enthusiast I beg to differ. Females in singlets have brought a much-needed positive lift to the wrestling world. After several years of negative publicity due in part to the deaths of three collegiate athletes, and the extreme cutbacks in college programs, the women seem to be bringing some much needed exposure to the good aspects of the sport.
This was incredibly evident when I went home a couple of months ago. I made a point to attend one of my alma mater’s wrestling matches. Usually when you see a girl out on the mat it is at the lighter weight classes, rarely any heavier than 145. Once you get past that point it really would seem impossible for a girl of equal weight to outmatch a guy. But when the lineup for the JV match was called, sure enough there was a girl wrestling 160. I honestly thought this was going to be a fairly easy win for her male opponent. Katie Keegan, a sophomore at Cypress Creek High School in Orlando, FL proved me wrong. The highlight of the entire night was watching her power her way through the intense match. It happened to be senior night so there were several people in attendance that would not normally be there. They were all on there feet cheering her on. Going into the third period Katie was down. The opponent shot on her one last time and Katie was able to bring in the leg and pull him down to the mat. Shortly after that defensive move she put him on his back and pinned him. You want to talk about the fans going wild? Everyone in the gym was bouncing up and down. Even fans of the other team clapped in awe of the incredibly feat. Katie’s success didn’t stop on that mat. She went on to Michigan to participate in the women’s National Competition. There she took second in the nation at the 160 weight-class.
Katie is not alone. Just today there was a program on television about a sophomore from Michigan. She wrestled at the varsity boys’ level. Not only did she win, but also she came in first in the region and went on to the state competition. Her win made history, as she was the first female to ever win a boys regional championship, anywhere. The news made USA Today, Sports Illustrated and the front page of the local newspapers.
All that is left is to know how the guys feel about this female invasion. At Cypress Creek they are totally supportive. Speaking from personal experience they always pushed the girls that I trained with to work harder and do better. They were not only my teammates but more like my brothers. Katie is well like also. She is actually dating one of the heavyweight wrestlers. And the girl in Michigan, well she is dating the guy that she beat in the regional championship. Just goes to show most support these

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