Real Surprise: BB losing popularity among high school girls
Sept 26, 2022 22:29:46 GMT -5
swash, huskyharper, and 1 more like this
Post by bulkey on Sept 26, 2022 22:29:46 GMT -5
Wall Street Journal Sept 20
Two decades ago, girls’ basketball was the queen of high school sports. Nearly half a million players crowded into gyms nationwide, and schools carried packed rosters of varsity, JV and freshman teams.
But last school year, basketball dropped to the fourth-most-popular girls’ sport by participation, according to the data released this month by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Girls’ basketball has lost 19% of its players since 2002, while the top girls’ sport, track and field, grew 10%, along with volleyball (+15%) and soccer (+27%).
Though boys’ and girls’ high school sports participation overall declined 4% since 2019 in the first post-pandemic national survey, girls’ basketball dropped 7%.
The fall of girls’ basketball is even more pronounced given the growth in popularity of the women’s game: TV ratings for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament and the WNBA are on the rise.
Several forces are driving the decline. More athletes are sticking to one sport nearly year-round. Schools have added other sports for girls, which have lured athletes away from basketball. Some girls see basketball as too difficult to play, or even not “girly” enough, coaches say.
....
The quality of top players remains high, said Josef Sigrist, former coach of the West Des Moines (Iowa) Valley High girls’ basketball team, pointing to homegrown stars like the University of Iowa All-American Caitlin Clark. But many girls are choosing sports that require less specialized skill and exertion than basketball, he said.
“I think club volleyball and softball and soccer in some respects are doing OK because they don’t require the physical task on your body that maybe basketball does,” Sigrist said.
Indeed, Natalia Bryant, the eldest child of the late Kobe Bryant and Vanessa Bryant, told Teen Vogue last year that she preferred volleyball to basketball because she hates running.
In Nebraska, the overlap of a large club volleyball tournament and high school district basketball playoffs on Presidents Day weekend spurred Creighton University volleyball coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth to tweet, “VB is negatively affecting BB participation. I’m grateful for the depth of VB talent in this state, but not at the demise of BB.”
Such club tournaments have become so important that some athletes actually won’t go out for high school basketball to avoid disappointing their club volleyball coaches or teammates with potential absences, Booth said in an interview. She said she wants to encourage multisport participation. Girls’ basketball participation in Nebraska has dropped 28% since 2002.
...
The number of girls’ basketball teams in Nebraska has dropped 12% over two decades, a result of school closures, consolidations and cooperative sponsorships, where two or more existing schools pool athletes to form a single team, the NSAA said.
Meanwhile, the number of girls playing high school sports overall in Nebraska rose nearly 11% in the last decade, NSAA officials said. That increase came in part from growth in the number of girls competing in bowling and wrestling, both of which happen in the winter—the same season as basketball.
Nationwide, boys’ basketball participation also has declined, although less sharply: about 4% over two decades. Across all high school sports over the past three years, as the pandemic disrupted sports and prompted remote learning, boys’ participation dropped 3.5% while girls’ dropped 4.7%.
.....
In the age of Instagram and TikTok, basketball also suffers in comparison with sports perceived to be “girlier,” Gliebe said.
“I think the biggest reason for girls not participating in basketball, and I know this is silly: It’s not a ‘cute’ sport,” said Gliebe, mentioning the skirts worn in tennis and the spandex shorts worn in volleyball and running. She said she hopes the practice of WNBA players wearing glamorous outfits into arenas helps the game appeal more to teenagers.
Delley of Dallas’s Kimball High said she feels an urgency to get girls back into basketball, especially since they have the pros to aspire to.
“We want to keep it going,” Delley said. “We don’t want that to go away. You need a pipeline.”
Two decades ago, girls’ basketball was the queen of high school sports. Nearly half a million players crowded into gyms nationwide, and schools carried packed rosters of varsity, JV and freshman teams.
But last school year, basketball dropped to the fourth-most-popular girls’ sport by participation, according to the data released this month by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Girls’ basketball has lost 19% of its players since 2002, while the top girls’ sport, track and field, grew 10%, along with volleyball (+15%) and soccer (+27%).
Though boys’ and girls’ high school sports participation overall declined 4% since 2019 in the first post-pandemic national survey, girls’ basketball dropped 7%.
The fall of girls’ basketball is even more pronounced given the growth in popularity of the women’s game: TV ratings for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament and the WNBA are on the rise.
Several forces are driving the decline. More athletes are sticking to one sport nearly year-round. Schools have added other sports for girls, which have lured athletes away from basketball. Some girls see basketball as too difficult to play, or even not “girly” enough, coaches say.
....
The quality of top players remains high, said Josef Sigrist, former coach of the West Des Moines (Iowa) Valley High girls’ basketball team, pointing to homegrown stars like the University of Iowa All-American Caitlin Clark. But many girls are choosing sports that require less specialized skill and exertion than basketball, he said.
“I think club volleyball and softball and soccer in some respects are doing OK because they don’t require the physical task on your body that maybe basketball does,” Sigrist said.
Indeed, Natalia Bryant, the eldest child of the late Kobe Bryant and Vanessa Bryant, told Teen Vogue last year that she preferred volleyball to basketball because she hates running.
In Nebraska, the overlap of a large club volleyball tournament and high school district basketball playoffs on Presidents Day weekend spurred Creighton University volleyball coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth to tweet, “VB is negatively affecting BB participation. I’m grateful for the depth of VB talent in this state, but not at the demise of BB.”
Such club tournaments have become so important that some athletes actually won’t go out for high school basketball to avoid disappointing their club volleyball coaches or teammates with potential absences, Booth said in an interview. She said she wants to encourage multisport participation. Girls’ basketball participation in Nebraska has dropped 28% since 2002.
...
The number of girls’ basketball teams in Nebraska has dropped 12% over two decades, a result of school closures, consolidations and cooperative sponsorships, where two or more existing schools pool athletes to form a single team, the NSAA said.
Meanwhile, the number of girls playing high school sports overall in Nebraska rose nearly 11% in the last decade, NSAA officials said. That increase came in part from growth in the number of girls competing in bowling and wrestling, both of which happen in the winter—the same season as basketball.
Nationwide, boys’ basketball participation also has declined, although less sharply: about 4% over two decades. Across all high school sports over the past three years, as the pandemic disrupted sports and prompted remote learning, boys’ participation dropped 3.5% while girls’ dropped 4.7%.
.....
In the age of Instagram and TikTok, basketball also suffers in comparison with sports perceived to be “girlier,” Gliebe said.
“I think the biggest reason for girls not participating in basketball, and I know this is silly: It’s not a ‘cute’ sport,” said Gliebe, mentioning the skirts worn in tennis and the spandex shorts worn in volleyball and running. She said she hopes the practice of WNBA players wearing glamorous outfits into arenas helps the game appeal more to teenagers.
Delley of Dallas’s Kimball High said she feels an urgency to get girls back into basketball, especially since they have the pros to aspire to.
“We want to keep it going,” Delley said. “We don’t want that to go away. You need a pipeline.”
