Participation rose in many sports in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association for the 2023-24 school year in numbers compiled by the governing body.
Based on the NCHSAA’s totals that came from member schools and released in July, there were increases in participants in every sport except for baseball compared to 2022-23.
This spring, there was a 1.4 percent decline with 10,574 baseball players. There were significant boosts in boys’ golf (7 percent) and boys’ lacrosse (6 percent).
The largest increase came in what’s called winter spirit (cheerleading). The uptick came in part because 60 schools joined that competition compared to a year earlier.
Four new schools were in the NCHSAA during the past school year, putting that number at 436. Of those schools, 383 played football, with slightly more than 29,000 players.
Overall wrestling numbers rose, largely because of the addition of girls’ wrestling as an official NCHSAA sport.
Realignment committee picked
There’s no direct representation for Randolph County schools on the NCHSAA’s realignment committee that will set the conferences beginning with the restructuring for the 2025-26 school year. The number of classifications will rise from four to eight.
This region will be represented on the committee by Winston-Salem Reynolds athletics director Brad Fisher and Guilford County Schools athletics director Leigh Hebbard. Hebbard is a former Eastern Guilford athletics director and previously also was tournament director for NCHSAA wrestling championships.
However, Stephen Gainey, superintendent of the Randolph County School System, became president of the NCHSAA on July 1.
Fall teams open
The first day for practices for fall sports teams in the NCHSAA was Wednesday. With the exception of football, the first contest dates for fall teams come Aug. 12, though many teams won’t play so soon. Football games begin Aug. 23.
