COLUMBUS, Ohio—The number of students participating in High School athletics is declining for the first time in 30 years.

• This year was the fifth consecutive year for declining participation numbers
• The decline could be explained by students opting to play other sports which are not regonized in some states as sports
• Ohio still ranks fourth in the nation by number of total participants and football still leads the way as the most popular sport

Last year, 43,395 students opted-out of representing their schools athletically, and football was one of the sports that was hit the hardest. 

Eleven-man football dropped by 30,829 students, taking participation totals down to its lowest mark since the 1999-2000 season.

This year marked the fifth-straight year for declining participation numbers. 

Ohio saw a decrease of 2,843 participants from the 2017-18 season to the 2018-19 season, or roughly seven percent. 

OHSAA Executive Director Jerry Snodgrass said the numbers to him are not that alarming or concerning for a myriad of reasons, but did elude to the fact that player safety is a huge concern for players and parents. 

"I think there's no question that's part of it," he said. "We witnessed Andrew Luck walking away from the NFL for safety reasons. That gets traction. There's no question about that. I'll counter that by saying different rules that we've put in, the NFHS has put in, are addressing player safety more than they've ever addressed it. Our focus on recognizing concussions and how to prevent them, I'd say the sport is safer today than it's ever been."

Snodgrass also said the drop in numbers could also be explained by students opting to play other sports, such as lacrosse, which is not recognized in some states as a sport. And that figure should be taken with a grain of salt. 

"[It's] a big number when you talk about forty thousand, but at the same time forty thousand spread over all of the sports and spread over 50 states, I'm not saying it's insignificant, but it's not in the ballpark at all of being alarming," said Snodgrass. 

Ohio still ranks fourth in the nation by number of total participants with 339,158 and football still leads the way as the most popular sport. 

Snodgrass also said more kids are taking to E-Sports as an alternative to traditional sports. 

"There are more opportunities for kids today than have ever been," he said. "And in my world, even though I work in the sporting world, I work in a world that wants involvement leadership opportunities for kids, and if they're getting that in some other venue other than Friday night on a quarter field I'm just as happy." 

The complete study results are as follows: