High School Wrestling Participation Growing

MMAPayout.com has made references to the steady growth of martial arts facilities and participation in the United States over the last few years; a trend that many feel correlates with the rise of mixed martial arts and the UFC. We’re now seeing even more encouraging news out of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSH), which has released a series of surveys over the last few years that shows the number of amateurs wrestlers in the country is growing.

2006-2007: 257,266
2007-2008: 259,688
2008-2009: 267,378

Granted, this is in contrast to the decline in amateur wrestling that we’re seeing at the college level, but that is largely the result of Title IX striving for gender equality. Programs dominated by men, but without serious revenue generating potential – like wrestling – are being cut in order to the balance athletic scholarships provided for men and women.