Participation rate down in Girls HS basketball

knowitall · Post by **knowitall** » January 26th, 2026, 1:54 pm

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/hig ... 2601250039

Travel teams are ruining high school sports. It also doesn’t help that schools keep adding sports.

WallyPipp · Post by **WallyPipp** » January 29th, 2026, 11:59 am

I can't read the article linked because I don't pay for PPG subscription and I'm already over my limit of free reads for the month! LOL

I will offer this. I think travel bball doesn't necessarily help but I'm not sure that it's the biggest culprit. I have three kids and they've all played travel sports. The travel stuff has always been limited to weekends, except with baseball in the summer months. It didn't interfere with the school schedules. My kids attend an LHAC school district. LHAC never schedules anything on weekends except maybe a few wrestling tournaments and track meets or invitationals. The only other exception would be a playoff game or if you're scheduled to play BG in football on a Saturday night at Mansion. So, the travel stuff being kept to the weekends doesn't really interfere with LHAC schedules. I'll likely get some folks stirred up in making this statement, but I can say with 100% certainty that the issue with less kids playing basketball at the school my kids attend is soccer. Soccer is played year round and coaches expect kids to be involved in soccer year round. As soccer has become more popular basketball has dropped off. In the district where I live it's been trending that way for many many years and this year at the varsity level for both boys and girls teams it's really showing up. It will become an even bigger issue for our girls varsity/JV team next season. All three of my kids play basketball and in our district basketball takes a very distinct backseat to soccer and soccer coaches don't want to hear anything about sharing athletes. Just my take on it from my perspective and experience.

knowitall · Post by **knowitall** » January 29th, 2026, 12:16 pm

The gist of the article is that travel sports are leading to the casual athlete walking away from the sport long before she gets to high school. Then all the years of playing travel sports causes attrition amongst the better players and high schools are left with insufficient numbers.

Judging from some of the scores I saw in today’s paper, it’s not just girls teams that are affected. Lots of boys teams are losing by 30 plus points.

Colonel Mustard · Post by **Colonel Mustard** » February 2nd, 2026, 9:19 am

The popularity of volleyball has really exploded. Which wouldn't be a big deal 30 years ago when the same girls that played volleyball likely played basketball. Travel volleyball coaches/programs make it almost impossible to play both now. You aren't allowed to miss their practices which are happening at the same time as bball practice. Specialization and travel team commitments are hurting all sports. Kids used to play multiple sports for fun, to hang out with friends, or stay in shape for other sports they like better. And decent athletes could pull it off. Now it's much harder to compete with kids that are practicing and playing and training for one sport year round. I'll also throw in that youth basketball leagues aren't helping. Throwing kids into games before they learn how to dribble in pressurized atmospheres isn't a great idea. And girls are less likely to put themselves in uncomfortable situations.

Colonel Mustard · Post by **Colonel Mustard** » February 2nd, 2026, 9:59 am

Since there probably aren't many women on here, I'll throw a little shade their way -- where are the women coaches?

OttoVonFootball · Post by **OttoVonFootball** » February 3rd, 2026, 11:12 am

Colonel Mustard wrote: February 2nd, 2026, 9:19 am The popularity of volleyball has really exploded. Which wouldn't be a big deal 30 years ago when the same girls that played volleyball likely played basketball. Travel volleyball coaches/programs make it almost impossible to play both now. You aren't allowed to miss their practices which are happening at the same time as bball practice. Specialization and travel team commitments are hurting all sports. Kids used to play multiple sports for fun, to hang out with friends, or stay in shape for other sports they like better. And decent athletes could pull it off. Now it's much harder to compete with kids that are practicing and playing and training for one sport year round. I'll also throw in that youth basketball leagues aren't helping. Throwing kids into games before they learn how to dribble in pressurized atmospheres isn't a great idea. And girls are less likely to put themselves in uncomfortable situations.

I could not agree more to this post. Don't forget to mention how much these "Fall Ball" pay to play baseball coaches push Fall Baseball over football.

ERAChamp · Post by **ERAChamp** » February 4th, 2026, 10:09 am

My children have all played HS sports and all 3 were very good athletes. They all did travel ball in their respective sports and it honestly did not interfere with their HS sports. Other HS sports on the other hand, did cause a BIG problem. Many students, who were good athletes, did NOT play multiple sports as their HS coaches discouraged it. This really hurt the numbers in girls sports. Several girls who would have contributed to their teams did not play due to pressure from their other HS coaches to focus on ONE sport!! This is CRAZY.

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