These are the most popular NJ school sports this year

After a few years, participation in high school sports has surpassed pre-pandemic levels at a national level.

Last school year, 8.06 million U.S. student-athletes took part in one or more sanctioned sports, according to the 2023-2024 National Federation of State High School Association survey.

Of that total, 280,798 were student-athletes in New Jerset — 161,692 boys and 119,106 girls, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association said.

In the 2018-2019 school year, New Jersey had 281,058 athletes across the 440 accredited public and non-public high schools included in the NJSIAA.

Some sports have seen growth among all genders (results do not include a category for nonbinary athletes), like volleyball, wrestling and golf.

Other sports have seen a slight decline in participants. Here's a look at 13 of the most popular sports statewide, compared to the 2018-2019 school year.

As one of the newer sports to gain popularity, girls' flag football has been going strong, with five football leagues and conferences across New Jersey, according to a spokesperson for the NJSIAA.

NJSIAA member schools are being asked to support officially sanctioning girls' flag football as the association's 34th sport.

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