High school sports have always been a great extracurricular activity for kids. Sports have been proven to help high school students exhibit greater self-assurance, leadership, and helps to keep them from falling into alcohol and drugs. High school sports can also be a great way to make friends. Sports bring together students who may not have met outside of organized sports. High school sports teams also allow for students to take on leadership roles and responsibility that can help them prepare for college and the outside world. Sports in high school also help relieve stress for students and give them a positive outlet to be active providing endless physical and mental health benefits.
High schools around the country offer a wide variety of different sports that can include: Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Bowling, Cheerleading, Cross Country, Dance, Field Hockey, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Hockey, Lacrosse, Soccer, Softball, Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Volleyball, Track and Field, and Wrestling. Even though most high schools across the country offer a wide variety of different sports, there are some that are more popular than others.
This graphic from AAAStateofPlay.com shows the most popular high school sports in each state. For boys the top 5 most popular sports in America are: Football with 1,006,013 participants, Track and Field with 605,354 participants, Basketball with 540,769 participants, Baseball with 482,740 participants and Soccer with 459,077 participants.
For girls, track and field came in as the most popular sport with 488,267 participants. Volleyball was the 2nd most popular for girls with 452,808 participants. Basketball was the 3rd most popular with 399,067 participants. Soccer was the 4th most popular with 394,105 participants and Softball with 362,038 participants came in as the 5th most popular high school sport for girls. Cross country also proved very popular for both boys and girls coming in 6th across the country for both.
