Youth football participation declines
Football remains king among high school sports in California, but for the fourth consecutive season, fewer players suited up than the year before.
According to numbers released by the California Interscholastic Federation on Thursday, 91,305 boys participated in 11man football in the past school year.
That’s 36,000 more than the the secondmost popular sport (track and field, 55,355), but represents a decline of 3.16% (2,981) from the previous year.
Since a small uptick in participation in 201415, the number of boys playing football in California has decreased by at least 2,700 players every year.
The sport reached its high point in California in 200607 with nearly 110,000 players.
“As in previous years, we have noticed a steady and continued decrease in football participants,” said CIF executive director Ron Nocetti. “It is imperative that we continue to partner with organizations such as USA Football and their Football Development Model which provides a road map for how we coach, play and learn the game at every level.”
After track and field, soccer (54,996, plus3.25%), basketball (48,111, plus1.1%), and baseball (44,347, minus0.29%) round out the top five.
Volleyball had the biggest increase among the top 10 mostpopular boys sports, with a 6.89% gain pushing the participant total to 22,224.
Among girls sports, soccer is No. 1 in participation and growing at the secondfastest rate among the top 10 mostpopular sports (49,342, a 4.56% increase).
The girls top five also has: volleyball (45,997, plus1.9%), track and field (45,235, minus2.35%), basketball (35,902, plus3.67%) and softball (33,233, minus3.49%).
Overall, the CIF said statewide participation in all sports reached 814,004 students, an alltime high for the seventh consecutive year. Youth football law signed: Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a law limiting fullcontact practices for youth football teams to reduce brain injuries.
State law already limits fullcontact practices for middle and high school football teams to no more than 90 minutes per day, twice per week.
The law Newsom signed Wednesday limits full contact practices for youth football teams to no more than 30 minutes per day for two days per week. The law bans fullcontact practices for youth football teams during the offseason.
The law also requires a medical professional be present for all games and an independent person attend all practices with the authority to remove players who show signs of an injury.
The law is aimed at preventing a degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Researchers are studying the disease’s link to frequent blows to the head, which occur more often in sports like football.
Last year, Democratic Assemblyman Kevin McCarty introduced a bill that would have banned anyone younger than 12 from playing organized tackle football. That bill did not pass.