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C anadian-American physical educa- tor Dr. James Naismith, the man credited with inventing the sport of basketball in the 1890s in a gym in Massachusetts, would be absolutely stunned, yet pleased, to see how the game of basketball has grown among its female participants. Today, the sport has grown from a peach basket nailed to a wall at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, MA, to become the number one high school sport for girls, based on the number of schools that field a team – 17,934. (It ranks third in terms of overall girls participation.) Twelve states have at least 10,000 girls playing high school bas- ketball, led by Texas (67,400), California (34,222), Pennsylvania (21,390), Illinois (16,929) and New York (16,007). "Basketball participation among high school girls continues to increase," says Theresia Wynns, of the NFHS. "Our participation numbers are up about 1000 from 2015-16 to 2016-17 and the number of schools offering a girls' basketball team is continuing to increase, as well." "Basketball is my top girls' sport," reports Spartan Sporting Goods' Larry Foster. "Teams are buying shoes, socks, accessories, practice gear, game uniforms and basketballs. Girls' basketball is big in West Virginia." "Girls' basketball is a good category for us," echoes Dennis Callison, owner of East Valley Sports, Mesa, AZ, who reports that he is currently in discussion with a local recreation basketball league, which would be an order of about 350 uniforms. While participation is strong right now in girls' high school basketball, the issue of sports special- ization is being seen in future participation trends by young girls. "We do find more girls are moving to one sport," Wynns adds. "If a girl plays volleyball in the fall and basketball in the winter, she may take the winter off to be in club volleyball during that time. Specialization will hurt basketball in some situa- tions. The volleyball participation numbers have been greater than those of basketball for the girls in the last several years." At the collegiate level, there were 16,532 females playing NCAA Division I, II or III basketball during the 2016-17 school year. The team dealer basketball business is brisk, as many girls are playing year-round in both high school and travel/club basketball. "We sell basketball items in our physical store and through online stores," says Dale Keith, of Duke's Sporting Goods. "Online sales categories include warm-ups, socks, practice gear and clothing and T-shirts with school logos." Keith says that girls' teams, clubs and schools will buy leather game balls, while individual girls are purchasing composite outdoor basketballs for their own use. "In girls' basketball, we sell the whole nine yards, so to speak," points out Al's Sporting Goods' Ed Knapper. "We are selling to teams from AAU and YMCA to schools and local rec programs." "Girls' basketball teams are buying uniforms and basketballs from us," adds Julia Sherman, of Frank Bashor Supplies. "We also sell basketball systems, goals and nets." Q 28 Team Insight / March 2018 teaminsightmag.com GIRLS' & WOMEN'S SPORTS / BASKETBALL HOOPING IT UP BASKETBALL DRIVES SALES IN ALL AGE GROUPS THESE DAYS. Women are making as much of an impact off the basketball court as they are on the court and at the cash register. For instance, it was recently announced that The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will honor ESPN basketball analyst Doris Burke as one of the recipients this year of the Curt Gowdy Media Award. Burke will be recognized for her contributions to basketball media during the Hall of Fame Enshrinement events in September in Springfield. Longtime NBA photographer Andy Bernstein will be honored alongside Burke. Q Basketball participation numbers are up significantly at the high school level — and continue to rise. OF NOTE ...