At Wayne Valley, or at any high school for that matter, sports have such an impact on many people’s journeys. They help students form bonds with their peers, provide an outlet to compete in a sport they love, and allow them to represent their school. So it may come as a surprise to many that participation in female sports at Wayne Valley is decreasing.

     If someone were to simply take a quick glance at our girls’ sports teams, nothing would seem amiss; each sport that Wayne Valley offers has a varsity team. However, once you get past your initial impression and take a closer look, you will see that the numbers are slowly but surely decreasing. Many female teams at Wayne Valley have rather small junior varsity teams, and only one or two sports have freshman teams. This was not always the case.

     You may be wondering why these numbers are suddenly dropping; this idea does not have one right answer, but rather several factors playing into it. However, a good place to start is to ask yourself what other activities have seen an increase in female participation.

     Football cheer has become increasingly popular, with more and more girls trying out in the hopes of making the team. This does not seem like a big deal, right? It is salubrious that girls want to get out and represent their school and bring more spirit to the football games. However, it does lessen the number going out for other sports when 60 girls try out freshman year, and only a few cuts are made. Football cheer tryouts are also run differently from other sports tryouts: they are not run near the tail end of the summer. Instead, they begin before the school year has even finished, meaning 8th graders have not even finished middle school. This means that when the fall coaches come to the middle schools to look for students to participate in their sport, many have already discounted any other sport and will not even consider them.

     SDA was created over 65 years ago at Wayne Valley, when sports for girls were limited, and gave them an opportunity to get involved. SDA has never become an official sport and instead is listed as a club, meaning in theory girls may be able to participate in both SDA and a spring sport of their choosing if their sports or dance captains allow. However, the number of dances that a student decides to participate in requires an increase in commitment. Pre-pandemic SDA numbers were high; however, during COVID, the number of participants per team was limited, and girls were only allowed to participate in one dance. Over the past few years, following the pandemic, numbers have quickly begun increasing. Many girls feel the desire to participate in more than one dance, some even taking part in all four, and find it increasingly difficult to be a player on a spring sport team as well. As a result, when the choice between commitment to SDA or spring sports becomes the question, SDA has more often than not taken precedence.

     In the spring of the 2023-2024 school year, flag football was introduced at Wayne Valley. Flag football appealed to many girls at Wayne Valley as another option for an extracurricular activity, and because it was not technically listed as an official sport, girls could participate in both flag football and another sport. However, choosing this takes a great deal of time and commitment, and many students simply do not have enough hours in the day to participate in both. Therefore, this lessens the number of girls participating in other spring sports. Mrs. Larcamp, Wayne Valley’s girls’ field hockey and softball coach, speculated, “I also think, at least for the spring, flag football becoming a sport has stretched out the already thinning amount of female athletes from softball and other spring sports. No matter the reason, it’s really sad to see some of what used to be popular female sports declining due to lack of participation.” Even worse, the NJSIAA has recently sanctioned flag football as a sport, which means that girls currently participating in a spring sport and flag football will no longer be able to play both. 

     Yet another aspect that plays into the decrease is club teams. Many students also participate in club teams outside of school for countless sports such as soccer, lacrosse, softball, etc. Post-pandemic, the demand for club teams has significantly increased as families are looking for their children to be recruited by colleges and want their children to be in year-round programs, which is what club teams offer. When a parent was asked their opinion about the lack of participation, they answered, “I think that the biggest factor is club sports, especially for track and field. Many students who would use track and field to condition themselves for their other sports instead choose to play on their club team. My daughter is one of the few multi-sport high school athletes that I know. ” Unfortunately, these teams are rather demanding in terms of the amount of time a student needs to invest, and many students are unable to balance both high school teams and club teams. Many students will choose club teams over high school teams, seeing as they offer year-round play, and the school consequently loses more participation.

     So if you are looking for an extracurricular activity to make friends or to get involved in our school, consider joining one of Wayne Valley’s countless sports teams!