Girls’ sports participation changes substantially by age, sport, family background, and school setting. The available figures show that 56.1% of teen girls participate in at least one sport, while 43.9% do not. Participation is also uneven across access measures: 49% of high school girls participated on at least one sports team in the past year, compared with 60% of boys. The figures below draw on Teen Sport in America, Part II: Her Participation Matters, the National Youth Sports Strategy Questions & Answers, GAO-17-754R Sports Access and Participation, and Status of High School Girls’ Sport Participation.
Contents
- Teen girls’ overall participation
- Which sports girls play
- Participation by background and community
- How participation changes through high school
- School access and the gender participation gap
- Michigan school-level differences
Teen girls’ overall participation
The broadest participation split is 56.1% participating in at least one sport and 43.9% not participating. Among participants, 29.8% of teen girls play one sport, while 26.3% play two or more sports. These figures describe participation status rather than the number of teams, seasons, or hours played.
The same source reports a lower measure for high school girls specifically: 49% participated on at least one sports team in the past year, compared with 60% of boys. The difference between these figures reflects different measures and populations, so they should not be treated as a single series. The 56.1% figure is for teen girls participating in at least one sport, while the 49% figure concerns high school girls participating on a team during the previous year. Both are reported in the Teen Sport in America, Part II: Her Participation Matters and National Youth Sports Strategy Questions & Answers source materials, respectively.
Participation also varies by the number of sports. Rural teen girls have a 31.6% rate of participating in two or more sports, compared with 25.5% for suburban teen girls and 24.0% for urban teen girls. By parental education, 31.5% of girls with at least one college-educated parent participate in two or more sports, compared with 21.9% of girls whose parents both have less than a college degree. [Teen Sport in America, Part II: Her Participation Matters]
Which sports girls play
Volleyball is the most commonly reported named sport among teen girls at 11.6%. Basketball follows at 11.1%, baseball or softball at 10.9%, soccer at 10.1%, and track and field at 10.1%. Swimming and diving account for 6.7%, cheerleading for 6.1%, and tennis for 5.5%.
Other reported participation rates include weightlifting at 4.1%, cross country at 4.0%, gymnastics at 2.6%, and football at 2.3%. Lacrosse is 1.7%; field hockey and equestrian are each 1.2%; golf is 1.1%; wrestling is 0.7%; and crew, ice hockey, and water polo are each 0.3%. An additional 18.9% participate in an “other sport.” These categories come from Teen Sport in America, Part II: Her Participation Matters and should be read as participation percentages, not rankings of competitive achievement.
| Sport or category | Teen girls’ participation |
|---|---|
| Volleyball | 11.6% |
| Basketball | 11.1% |
| Baseball/softball | 10.9% |
| Soccer | 10.1% |
| Track and field | 10.1% |
| Swimming and diving | 6.7% |
| Cheerleading | 6.1% |
| Tennis | 5.5% |
The sport mix differs among groups. Basketball participation is 18.5% among Black teen girls. Soccer participation is 14.8% among Hispanic teen girls, while volleyball participation is 12.5% among White teen girls. Baseball or softball participation reaches 16.4% among teen girls from families with at least one college-educated parent, and volleyball reaches 12.6% among girls whose parents both have less than a college degree. [Teen Sport in America, Part II: Her Participation Matters]
Participation by background and community
The reported at-least-one-sport participation rate is 49.1% for White teen girls, 47.5% for Black teen girls, and 56.4% for Hispanic teen girls. These are group-specific rates and do not describe every racial or ethnic group.
Parental education is associated with a different participation pattern. Teen girls with two college-educated parents have a 63.5% participation rate in at least one sport. For girls with at least one parent who has a college degree, the rate is 59.5%. The corresponding nonparticipation rates are 50.1% when both parents have less than a college degree and 36.5% when at least one parent has a college degree.
Community type also matters in the reported figures. Rural teen girls have a 57.3% at-least-one-sport participation rate, compared with 52.1% for suburban girls and 49.1% for urban girls. The two-or-more-sports rates follow the same ordering: 31.6% in rural communities, 25.5% in suburban communities, and 24.0% in urban communities. [Teen Sport in America, Part II: Her Participation Matters]
Broader youth statistics show similar differences by household resources, although they cover youth ages 6 to 17 rather than teen girls alone. In 2017, 58% of youth ages 6 to 17 participated in team sports or sports lessons. Participation was 41% among youth from low-income households and 76% among youth from high-income households. It was 45% among youth from households where the highest education level was less than high school, compared with 73% among youth from households with a college degree or higher. [National Youth Sports Strategy Questions & Answers]
The same national youth source reports participation of 46% for non-Hispanic Black youth, 50% for Hispanic youth, and 66% for White youth in a sports team or sports lesson. Because these figures include boys and girls and a wider age range, they provide context rather than a direct substitute for the teen-girl figures.
How participation changes through high school
Participation declines as girls move from eighth to 12th grade. The reported rate of being in at least one sport is 79.67% in eighth grade, 71.02% in 10th grade, and 56.12% in 12th grade. The reported attrition rate from eighth to 12th grade for girls participating in at least one sport is 29.6%. [Teen Sport in America, Part II: Her Participation Matters]
Several individual sports show the same downward pattern:
| Sport | Eighth grade | 12th grade | Reported attrition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basketball | 30.49% | 11.05% | 63.8% |
| Volleyball | 30.02% | 11.64% | 61.2% |
| Gymnastics | 8.29% | 2.57% | 69.0% |
| Football | 6.20% | 2.28% | 63.3% |
| Cheerleading | 14.57% | 6.06% | 58.4% |
| Field hockey | 3.03% | 1.21% | 60.2% |
Gymnastics has the highest reported attrition at 69.0%. Basketball attrition is 63.8%, football attrition is 63.3%, volleyball attrition is 61.2%, crew attrition is 60.3%, field hockey attrition is 60.2%, and cheerleading attrition is 58.4%. The grade-specific rates and the attrition percentages are reported measures from the same source; they are not independent projections of future participation.
The grade figures also include crew, which falls from 0.88% in eighth grade to 0.35% in 12th grade. The reported 12th-grade rates are therefore not limited to the sports with the largest participation totals. They show how both widely played and smaller sports change across the high school years.
School access and the gender participation gap
School-level access figures show that opportunity is not evenly distributed. Among U.S. public high schools that offered sports, 77% of students attended schools where girls’ participation rates were lower than boys’ participation rates. Nineteen percent attended schools where girls’ participation rates were equal to or higher than boys’ rates. These figures come from GAO-17-754R Sports Access and Participation.
Across all U.S. public high schools in the reported school year 2013–14 data, the overall student participation rate was 39%. Boys represented 57% of sports participants and girls represented 43%. Measured as the share of each gender’s students participating, boys had a 43% participation rate and girls had a 34% rate.
The number of teams per student also differed by school type. Across public high schools, there was one sports team for every 41 students. Traditional schools averaged one team for every 40 students, while charter schools averaged one team for every 68 students. The reported participation rate was 39% at traditional schools and 19% at charter schools. These are school-level comparisons from the 2013–14 analysis, not current national estimates.
The national youth figures add another measure of the participation gap: 49% of high school girls participated on at least one sports team in the past year, compared with 60% of boys. Taken together with the public-high-school measures, the statistics describe differences in both participation and the school environments where sports are offered.
Michigan school-level differences
The Status of High School Girls’ Sport Participation report provides a more detailed state example. Michigan high schools averaged 169 female athletes and 216 male athletes per school. Female athletes represented an average of 48% of female students, while male athletes represented 57% of male students. Schools averaged about nine girls’ sports and about nine boys’ sports. The average team size was 18 girls per team and 21 boys per team.
The range between schools was wide. Girl athlete participation ranged from 7 to 507, while male athlete participation ranged from 5 to 801. Girls’ sports offerings ranged from one to 21 per high school, and boys’ offerings ranged from two to 18. Girls per sports team ranged from one to 39, compared with two to 57 boys per team.
Michigan results also varied by school setting. Suburban schools averaged 238 girl athletes, town schools 170, rural schools 153, and city schools 118. The corresponding average numbers of girls’ teams were 10 in suburban schools, nine in town schools, seven in rural schools, and eight in city schools. Average girls per team were 21 in suburban schools, 19 in town schools, 15 in rural schools, and 17 in city schools.
Socioeconomic differences were especially pronounced in the Michigan figures. Schools in the highest socioeconomic-status quartile averaged 297 girl athletes, compared with 69 in the lowest quartile. Girls’ teams declined from 12 in the highest quartile to five in the lowest. Low-socioeconomic-status schools had 36% girl participants, compared with 55% in middle-high and high-socioeconomic-status schools. These measurements describe the Michigan school sample in Status of High School Girls’ Sport Participation and should not be generalized to every U.S. high school.