Education Week - October 12, 2022 - 6

School Sports Participation Drops, Raising
Concern About 'Physical Learning Loss'
But interest
in e-sports and
inclusive teams
is rising
By Sarah D. Sparks
While athletic skills haven't drawn
as much attention as math and reading
performance, new data suggests
students' sports engagement also
took a hit during the pandemic.
Nationwide, more than 7.6 million
high school students participated in
school sports in the 2021-22 school
year, according to a new survey released
this week by the National
Federation of State High School
Associations. That marks a 4 percent
drop since 2018-19, with girls'
sports losing more athletes than
boys' sports.
Sports educators also warn that,
just as many students who experienced
school disruptions during the
pandemic lost academic ground,
student athletes have experienced
" learning loss " in sports.
" While our overall numbers have
been really exciting this fall, our kids
are coming in less skilled, " said Ann
Paulls-Neal, the head coach of girls'
track and field at Highland High
School and a physical education
teacher at Wherry Elementary School,
both in Albuquerque, N.M.
This fall has been a mixed blessing
for varsity sports at Highland. Boys'
football fielded a team of 60, back to
pre-pandemic levels. The girls' volleyball
team tryouts had its biggest
turnout in five years.
But Paulls-Neal said it's become
clear the pandemic has deepened disparities
for student-athletes in highpoverty
schools like her own.
Higher-income student-athletes
were more likely to have access to private
gyms, she said, and many wealthier
families in Albuquerque even drove
their students into Arizona and Texas
to participate in club sports when official
school district sports were cancelled
last year due to ongoing COVID19
infection concerns.
" A lot of our kids haven't had the
opportunities to practice their skills, "
she said.
Nationwide, federal health data
show less than a third of children
ages 6 to 17 in families with incomes
a backlash over concerns over traumatic
brain injuries from concussions
(including two recent deaths in New
Jersey), Niehoff said more smaller and
rural schools offering the sport has increased,
in part because it has been
easier to field teams for the smallerscale
boys' games and girls' flag football
in small schools.
Outdoor track and field was the
most popular girls' sport nationwide
in 2021-22, with nearly 457,000 students
playing, the NFSHSA found, but
girls' volleyball has grown the fastest,
with more than 454,000 students.
NFSHSA also found rising interest
in school-based e-sports, in which students
play video games competitively
in teams.
Kristen Kraft, a former Kansas
below the federal poverty level played
sports, versus 70 percent of children
in families with incomes more than
four times the federal poverty level.
Fewer opportunities to practice
and play competitively have led to
slower growth in athletic skills, particularly
in technical sports such as
pole vault, long jump, and throwing
competitions in track and field,
Paulls-Neal said.
" I think it was more noticeable for
track being so individual, " she said.
" Those technique events need so
many reps in so much time [to practice],
and the kids just didn't get that
for almost two years. "
For example, the top girls' high
jump in the state track-and-field
competition this fall was 5 " 4'-more
than two inches lower than 2018-19
high jumps. " Many of our athletes
were jumping two to four to six inches
lower than normal, " Paulls-Neal said.
For many traditional varsity sports,
she predicts it will take teams three
years to return to pre-pandemic skill
levels.
" Usually you look at your junior class
as being some of your best athletes;
they've had a chance to show some
leadership and grow and develop so
that they're ready to contribute on varsity, "
she said. " But it's pretty common
in all of our programs right now to see
less juniors and seniors than there are
freshmen and sophomores.
" When you look at juniors, " she continued,
" they finished 8th grade online,
they started high school online and by
the time it got to their sophomore year
and school was normal, a lot of them
really felt like they missed that window "
for varsity sports.
More diverse sports interests
Leaders of the national federation
were optimistic about their new data,
noting sports programs have been so
unstable in the pandemic that they
could not conduct the survey at all in
the last couple of years.
" We're excited to see this many that
have returned to the level of participation,
and we're not altering seasons and
altering roster numbers and things like
that, " said Karissa Niehoff, the CEO of
NFSHSA. " So soon after COVID-and
really we're not after COVID yet-we
feel like the numbers that we've gotten
back are encouraging. "
The falloff in overall sports participation
also has been coupled with
broadening interests in less-common
sports. " We're seeing an increase in
the number of overall sports offered,
which is exciting, " Niehoff said. " It's
opening up new opportunities. "
Football remains the most popular
boys' sport, with more than 973,000
students, the NFSHSA found. While
participation in the traditional
11-player game fell 3 percent, there
has been a 12 percent increase in players
for smaller-scaled games, such as
six-, eight-, and nine-player football.
While traditional football has faced
"
Now coming back [from school disruptions], kids are really struggling to find their place.
And I really saw an entire group of kids that I'd never seen connected to our school before.
KRISTEN KRAFT
2021 Kansas Principal of the Year and education consultant for the High School E-Sports League
6 | EDUCATION WEEK | October 12, 2022 | www.edweek.org
The varsity girls basketball
team at Michigan City High
School in Michigan City, Ind.,
hosted a basketball camp
for elementary and middle
school girls last spring.
Principal of the Year in 2021 and
education consultant for the High
School E-Sports League, said the rise
of e-sports in her own Andover High
School during the pandemic brought
engagement from a totally different
population from traditional studentathletes.
" It
was amazing to me, from the
principal perspective, how many kids
were involved, " Kraft said. " Now
coming back [from school disruptions],
kids are really struggling to find
their place. And I really saw an entire
group of kids that I'd never seen connected
to our school before. "
The survey also showed a dramatic
increase in the popularity of unified
sports programs, in which intellectually
disabled students play on
the same teams as their classmates.
Twenty states now have at least
some districts with unified programs,
up from 10 pre-pandemic, and the
number of students participating has
grown nearly 10-fold, from about
5,500 in 2018-19 to nearly 48,000 in
2021-22.
" In unified sports programs, it's
been a tremendous increase, " Niehoff
said. " In almost every public
high school, you have an identified
population of intellectually disabled
kids. And I will tell you, as a former
high school principal, there is nothing
better for the culture and climate
in a school than starting a unified
sports program where regular education
kids are matched with intellectually
disabled kids and they engage in
sport. "
" The spirit, the comradery, the
mentorship, the friendship-it brings
you to tears to see what this experience
does for kids, " she added.
Kelley Smith/The News Dispatch via AP

http://www.edweek.org

Education Week - October 12, 2022

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