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• As has been the case for many years, bas- ketball is still the most-played team sport in the U.S., with 27.1 million participants in 2021. Basketball has proven throughout the pandemic to have maintained high participation, as it is easy to play solo, in social formats and in small-sided games. And, basketball has always had a low cost of entry. • While basketball continues to maintain its popularity, outdoor soccer has overtaken basketball as the top sport for 6-year-olds in 2021. With the recent energy and excite- ment around both the men's World Cup in Qatar in late 2022 and the women's World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand, the SFIA expects soccer partici- pation to continue to grow in the future in the U.S. Of course, the 2026 men's World Cup soccer tournament will be returning to North America in 2026, which will be a boost to the sport. • Among 23 team sports, the biggest year- over-year changes in participation on a percentage basis belonged to fast-pitch soball (+15.3 percent), gymnastics (+10.9 percent), court volleyball (+8.1 percent) and swimming on a team (+8.0 percent). Participation in those four activities was likely enhanced by those sports being con- tested in the Summer Olympics in Japan in 2021. • Five team sports – flag football, grass volleyball, fast-pitch soball, court volley- ball and basketball – had increases in core participation over a five-year average for 6-to-17-year-olds. Eleven other sports had increases in total participation over a five- year average for 6-to-17-year-olds, as well. "While a lot of people were back partici- pating in sports, it is important to remember that many spring season team sports were not at full strength in early 2021 due to the Omicron COVID variant," says Cove. "While conclusive evidence remains to be drawn, early indications suggest 2022 participation may reach, if not surpass, 2019 numbers as organized spring sport activities fully returned for the first time in two years." n 1. DYNAMIC DUO. e top two team sports for age groups 6-17, 18-24, 25-44 or 45+ are basketball and baseball. 2. POLAR OPPOSITES. The sport with the largest percentage of non-organized play is grass volleyball and the sport with the largest percentage of organized play is fast-pitch soball. 3. YOUTH MATTERS. ere are currently 17.6 million team sports participants in the U.S. who are in the 6-17-year-old age group, while there are 11.7 million team sports participants in the U.S. in the survey of 13-17-year-olds. 4. EQUAL INTEREST. Among young adults age 18-24, there are an equal number of core team sports participation enthusiasts in the U.S. as there are casual team sports participants — 4.5 million. 5. SCHOOL SPORTS SUFFER. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), overall participation in high school sports during the 2021-22 school year was four percent less than during the 2018-19 school year. 6. TOP FIVE TEAM SPORTS. e top five most popular team sports in the U.S., based on overall participation, are basketball (27.1 million participants), baseball (15.6 million), outdoor soccer (12.6 million), flag football (6.9 million) and slow-pitch soball (6.0 million). 7. FANTASTIC FIVE I. e top five most popular team sports in the U.S. for those ages 6-to-17 are basketball, baseball, outdoor soccer, tackle football and track and field. 8. FANTASTIC FIVE II. e top five most popular team sports in the U.S. for those ages 25-to-44 are basketball, baseball, outdoor soccer, slow-pitch soball and flag football. 9. POWER OF TEAM. Team sports partici- pants in the U.S. are, statistically, far more likely to play outdoor sports, fitness sports, individual sports, racquet sports, winter sports and water sports than non-team sports participants. 10. OUTSIDE INTERESTS. e top five ac- tivities for team sports athletes are walking for fitness, bowling, treadmill, running/ jogging and free weights. n SFIA REPORT: 10 TAKEAWAYS Photo: Sky Nesher sportstylemag.com • sportstyle January/February 2023 • 53

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