By Joshua Huff, sports editor
While participation in high school sports has declined throughout the country in 2018-19, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, participation in the Alabama High School Athletic Association rose by 1.7% over the 2017-18 season.
The NFHS released its annual High School Athletics Participation Survey with data pooled from all 51 states. The survey highlighted a decline of 43,395 student athletes, which follows a 2017-18 athletics calendar year that saw an all-time high in participation of 7,980,886. The last time the numbers declined was during the 1988-89 school year.
Here is how each sport in Alabama fared:
Sport 2018-19 2017-18 Change Percent
| Football | 32,366 | 30,882 | 1,484 | 4.8% |
| Baseball | 14,100 | 15,906 | -1,806 | -11.4% |
| Boys Basketball | 13,648 | 13,698 | -50 | -0.4% |
| Volleyall | 10,310 | 10,095 | 215 | 2.1% |
| Softball | 9,752 | 9,698 | 54 | 0.6% |
| Girls Basketball | 8,559 | 8,475 | 84 | 1.0% |
| Boys Outdoor Track | 8,317 | 8,115 | 202 | 2.5% |
| Cheer | 7,885 | 7,311 | 574 | 7.9% |
| Boys Soccer | 6,916 | 6,588 | 328 | 5.0% |
| Girls Outdoor Track | 5,962 | 5,669 | 293 | 5.2% |
| Girls Soccer | 5,434 | 5,021 | 413 | 8.2% |
| Boys Cross Country | 3,804 | 3,667 | 137 | 3.7% |
| Wrestling | 3,080 | 2,913 | 167 | 5.7% |
| Boys Indoor Track | 2,728 | 2,670 | 58 | 2.2% |
| Girls Cross Country | 2,669 | 2,573 | 96 | 3.7% |
| Girls Indoor Track | 2,047 | 1,929 | 118 | 6.1% |
| Girls Tennis | 1,926 | 1,835 | 91 | 5.0% |
| Boys Golf | 1,690 | 1,648 | 42 | 2.5% |
| Boys Tennis | 1,504 | 1,559 | -55 | -3.5% |
| Girls Swimming | 882 | 876 | 6 | 0.7% |
| Girls Golf | 784 | 750 | 34 | 4.5% |
| Boys Swimming | 742 | 716 | 26 | 3.6% |
| Boys Bowling | 731 | 734 | -3 | -0.4% |
| Girls Bowling | 610 | 629 | -19 | -3.0% |
| BOYS TOTAL | 89,626 | 89,096 | 530 | 0.6% |
| GIRLS TOTAL | 56,820 | 54,861 | 1,959 | 3.6% |
| OVERALL TOTAL | 146,446 | 143,957 | 2,489 | 1.7% |
