Since Clark was born 22 years ago, participation in girls high school basketball has dropped nearly 20% and the sport has fallen from most popular to number four behind volleyball, soccer and track and field.

Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever brings the ball up the court against the Dallas Wings at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on September 15, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

By Josh Funk | The Associated Press • Published December 23, 2024 • Updated on December 23, 2024 at 2:33 pm – NBC Chicago

My cmnt: Our son dated a Division 1 level volleyball athlete throughout their high school years. She only played basketball because the school was desperate for female basketball players. She told us how she hated playing basketball, especially as a tall player under the basket fighting for rebounds, and did not like getting elbowed in the chest and said no women like it.

My cmnt: Above photo. What it’s like being under the basket fighting for rebounds. This is why boys love basketball and girls, in any large numbers, do not.

Plunging participation in girls basketball led one of Nebraska’s largest high schools to cancel its varsity team for the year.

The decision by Grand Island Senior High School — the state’s third-largest with more than 2,600 students — reflects a national decline in participation in the girls sport, even as the popularity of women’s basketball behind the likes of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has sent record numbers of fans flocking to arenas or tuning in on TV.

Schools across the country have made similar choices, but that hasn’t made the move any easier for those passionate about Grand Island basketball.

“We’ve seen the train coming. I mean we’ve been sitting on the tracks forever. But frankly, people just didn’t want to do the heavy lifting that was required,” said Jeremy Jensen, a former Grand Island mayor and high school soccer coach who wishes more had been done to build a sustainable girls basketball program.

What happened in Grand Island?

The high school in the largely blue-collar city of 52,000 about 120 miles (190 kilometers) west of Omaha decided to cancel its varsity and junior varsity teams this year after no juniors or seniors went out for the sport.

The team suffered a series of lopsided losses, and with many young athletes choosing to specialize in one sport and other activities competing for girls’ time, the school decided to focus on developing young players instead of putting a team of freshman and sophomores on the court.

Still, the school’s decision was jarring at a time when college and professional women’s basketball has been surging in popularity, partly due to the phenomenal success of WNBA Indiana Fever guard Clark, who set records at the University of Iowa.

Kansas State University women’s basketball coach Jeff Mittie said more viewers doesn’t necessarily mean more players.

“Certainly in college, all of our games are on TV, easy for people to find, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re playing the sport,” Mittie said. “It just means they’re interested in watching it.”

A declining trend

Since Clark was born 22 years ago, participation in girls high school basketball has dropped nearly 20% and the sport has fallen from most popular to number four behind volleyball, soccer and track and field, which all have seen double-digit surges in participation, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Even as the basketball numbers have dropped, total participation in high school sports has grown, with more than 3.4 million girls competing in high school sports last year.

Losing takes a toll

In the past few years in Grand Island, Jim Ward watched every player on his oldest daughter’s middle school team quit basketball in high school, either to focus on another sport like volleyball or wrestling or because they lost interest. During that time, the high school girls team was losing games by margins of 70 points or more.

The team lost 43 of its last 44 varsity games and has not won more than three games in a season since 2016-17, with its last winning season in 2009-10.

“If you’re Grand Island going into Omaha facing some kids that are going to go D-1 (Division I) and you can only keep up with them for the first half of the first quarter, would you want to play longer?” asked Ward, who serves on the booster club board and has a daughter on the team in 10th grade.

Kelli Jefferies knows success is possible in Grand Island because she led the school to its only state championship in 1979 as a player and racked up 231 victories over 33 years as coach before stepping down in 2012.

But Jefferies said she understands the current struggles.

“When you’re not really able to compete and be competitive, you can see why kids don’t want to do it anymore,” Jefferies said. “That’s not fun for everyone, for coaches and players and anyone involved.”

Costly competition

The problems in Grand Island and elsewhere run much deeper than a losing record.

In some communities it can be hard for girls to find opportunities to compete and learn the game when they are young. Many families can’t afford to invest the thousands of dollars and countless hours required to play club basketball to prepare them to compete in high school, putting them behind in development.

As teams get competitive earlier and earlier, girls might quit the sport if they are cut in grade school.

Families in Grand Island who want their kids to compete at the highest levels of club sports must drive about two hours twice a week to Lincoln or Omaha for practices and again on the weekends for tournaments if they are not traveling farther to other cities.

Can the sport recover?

Grand Island’s current coach, Kathryn Langrehr, works with middle schoolers and offers free basketball clinics at all the city’s elementary schools to help build a pipeline of players for the sport.

But rebuilding could be challenging, especially given the pressure on kids to specialize in just one sport.

“It kind of speaks to the world that we’re living in with club sports and specialization of sports, where kids want to participate or are only able to participate in one activity,” said Jon Dolliver, who oversees basketball at the Nebraska School Activities Association.

Volleyball in particular grew tremendously as the sport became much more visible on television and social media and the U.S. emerged as a world power.

The sport is especially popular in Nebraska, where Creighton University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the state system’s flagship campus, are ranked in the collegiate top 10. Nebraska fell short in the national semifinals on Friday. Last year, 92,003 people filled Nebraska’s football stadium to watch a volleyball match, setting a world record for attendance at a women’s sporting event.

Brandon Traudt’s daughter was a strong basketball player in middle school after growing up alongside her brother Isaac, who now plays for Creighton, but she always preferred volleyball. She will soon pursue that passion at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

“I think girls just naturally — especially in the state of Nebraska — gravitate towards volleyball,” Traudt said. “Volleyball is just very, very good in this state.”

Maybe the popularity of the WNBA and players like Clark could change the trends, but Ward, the Grand Island dad, can envision an 8-year-old telling her parents she wants to play basketball only to be told there is no time for that with volleyball and dance.

“I think the Caitlin Clark thing — it’s tough to say if this third grader sees it that she’s just going to quit volleyball and start playing basketball now. I don’t know,” Ward said.

Grand Island, the largest high school in Nebraska, cancels girls varsity basketball season

Chris Basnett – Oct 18, 2024 – Lincoln Journal Star

The largest high school in the state won’t have a varsity girls basketball program this season.

Grand Island Senior High announced Friday morning it had canceled the 2024-25 varsity season because no junior or senior girls had gone out for the sport.

The shocking move comes from a school with a total student population of 2,070 in grades 9-11 — the largest enrollment in Nebraska. Grand Island’s girls enrollment of 967 in grades 9-11 is also the largest in the state.

“We’re committed to this program. And it’s because of our commitment to cultivating girls basketball at Grand Island — and our state — that we are taking this difficult but innovative approach,” Chris Ladwig, GISH activities director, said in a news release. “We want to provide the best student-athlete experience we possibly can for our kids. Right now, we don’t have the numbers to roster an upper-class varsity team. So, our focus will be to continue developing our freshman and sophomore players and put together a ‘full court press’ towards re-building our youth programs in our community.”

Grand Island will have freshman and reserve teams this season, and head coach Kathryn Langrehr and her coaching staff will remain with the program. The Grand Island coaching staff “will be at full capacity to accommodate spending more time investing in our youth and middle school programs, along with developing our freshman and sophomore players,” the news release said.

“We stand behind coach Langrehr and her vision for this program — she has our full support,” Ladwig said.

According to Grand Island’s news release, discussions were had with middle school and high school parents and student-athletes throughout the process of deciding to cancel the varsity season “to ensure the commitment to the program remained at the forefront.”

The news comes on the heels of the renewed debate of how to handle Class A football. Omaha Benson earlier this week canceled its remaining two games because of low numbers, and last week, Lincoln High ended its game against Millard South at halftime because of low numbers and the lopsided nature of the contest. Millard South led 63-0 at halftime.

In girls basketball each of the next two seasons, Omaha Bryan and Omaha Buena Vista, two Class A schools, will co-op for girls basketball.

“Unfortunately, we’re seeing a trend across the state,” Grand Island superintendent Matt Fisher said. “Numerous high schools across all classes are facing challenges with fielding teams for girls basketball. As difficult as the decision is to not offer a varsity schedule for a year, we agree with our activities department and girls basketball coaching staff that we need to be more proactive in building long-term solutions for the program.

“In this case, that means taking a step back so we may develop our student-athletes the right way. We remain committed to girls basketball and to student experiences.”

Grand Island hasn’t won more than three games in a season since going 7-17 in 2016-17. In the seven seasons since, the Islanders are 11-147 and have lost 43 of their last 44 games. Grand Island last had a winning season in 2009-10, when it went 15-7.

The Islanders haven’t qualified for the state tournament since 2007, and haven’t won a game at state since 2000. Since finishing second in Class A in 1980, the Islanders have made just seven trips to state in 44 years.

Now, the program will try to rebuild from the ground up.

“The Islanders aren’t going anywhere.” Ladwig said, “For us, it starts by developing our young high school players and recalibrating our youth programs.”