‘A concerning trend’: Fewer students participating in Nebraska high school sports

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Several Nebraska schools have now forfeited their football seasons, catching the attention of fans across the state.

And on Friday, Grand Island Senior High School announced it is canceling all of its girls varsity basketball games.

The school said no juniors or seniors are out for the sport. The team will instead focus on improving younger players.

Grand Island will play reserve and freshmen games.

SEE ALSO: Grand Island Senior High cancels varsity girls basketball season

The announcement took some by surprise.

Nate Neuhaus, an assistant director for the Nebraska School Activities Association, said he has kept a close eye on the high school sports climate.

“This is probably something new in the basketball world,” Neuhaus said. “The first time we’ve probably seen a forfeit prior to the season starting, so this will be interesting to look more into it and figure out what the variables are.”

He said it’s not unusual for a handful of small schools to forfeit each season.

“We’ve had six or seven different football forfeitures throughout the season due to a variety of reasons, but it is a concerning trend,” Neuhaus said.

Southern Valley High School ended its football season in early October.

Neuhaus said that’s normal for a Class D school.

But when a Class A team like Omaha Benson calls it quits, it raises some alarm.

SEE ALSO: Omaha Benson ends football season early

And Neuhaus said it’s hard to know what is causing this.

“There’s a variety of reasons, and most times, it starts with low participation numbers in a specific community,” he said.

Neuhaus has noticed a decline in participation across all sports in Nebraska.

“I just think student-athletes have a lot more opportunities and options than they ever used to,” he said. “So going out for a sport that they aren’t necessarily interested in, there’s other things that they can get involved with. And that’s a good thing; there’s other opportunities that they can participate in. It just spreads the student population out.”

A losing record, injuries, illnesses and poor academics are a few other factors that play into the difficult decision to forfeit a season.

Neuhaus said it’s difficult to come up with a solution since every community has its own unique struggles.

“Unfortunately, the harsh reality is education-based high school extracurricular activities look different than five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago,” he said. “I’m not sure we know yet exactly why, but we’re certainly trying to figure it out.”