Popularity of HS soccer in other states

[FSM]

Interesting article on the popularity of soccer in California:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-hsr ... &cset=true

It's the most popular girls' sport in California and moves from fifth to third among boys' sports. Football draws the most participants.

By Eric Sondheimer, Times Staff Writer
2:25 PM PDT, August 1, 2007

Participation in high school athletics grew by nearly 60,000 in the last two years in California, with boys' soccer registering the largest increase by percentage, according to a survey conducted by the California Interscholastic Federation, the state's governing body.

Boys' soccer moved from fifth to third in level of participation with 44,730 students, an increase of 13.4% since 2005. Soccer is also the most popular girls' sport, with 40,895 particpants.

There were 735,503 participants in high school sports, an increase of 8.6%. Numbers for boys and girls reached all-time highs. There were 437,592 boys' participants, an increase of 38,908, and 297,911 girls' participants, an increase of 19,627.

Football remains the most popular sport in California for boys with 107,916 players. Track and field is second with 49,911, followed by soccer and basketball.

Following soccer in popularity for girls is track and field and volleyball.

[MASoccer]

Re: Popularity of HS soccer in other states

Football remains the most popular sport in California for boys with 107,916 players. Track and field is second with 49,911, followed by soccer and basketball.

Following soccer in popularity for girls is track and field and volleyball.

One of the things that might be worth noting is how these numbers can be misrepresented. Track and Field, due to the sheer number of events, tends to draw a larger number of student athletes. Football also tends to have larger roster sizes due to the number of specialty positions. Add JV and freshman teams and the result is a monopoly on available athletes mainly because roster spots are easier to come by. In contrast basketball usually doesn't carry more than 12 players per team, so even though it might be a popular sport, it will have difficulty competing in the numbers game.

I think these studies might be more effective if they researched how many high school students wish to tryout for individual teams. In my opinion, that would reflect a clearer picture of the actual demand for each of these sport programs. It is rumoured that Saint John's High School in Shrewsbury has 90% of its freshman class tryout for the boy's basketball team. Of those students only 36 players total wull be offered postions on one of the three teams available (varsity, jv, freshman).

It is somewhat off topic but in most of the larger parochial high schools (St Johns Prep, BC High, Xavarian, St Johns High School and Catholic Memorial) the competition for spots in "cut programs" - like hockey, lacrosse, baseball, basketball and soccer - is incredibly competitive. Lots of boys who are stand-out performers in their local middle school and youth programs don't have a snowball's chance in Hades to make the freshmen teams. This does bring kids into other sports like track, volleyball or wrestling. But if your soccer playing son doesn't quite make the varsity look on the bright side it is probably even more difficult to find spots on tennis or golf teams.

Unless the number of teams or schools increase, how do the number of participants increase ?