The NWCA has developed a comprehensive list of compelling facts and resources that highlight the great attributes of the sport of wrestling and why it belongs in schools across the country.
(Data provided by National High School Federation of Associations and the NWCA OPC Data)
- Scholastic wrestling ranks 6th of all boys’ sports in terms of participation at the high school level with 231,874 nationwide. (This is the first NFHS Data released in three years)
- The number of boy’s teams at 10,797. (This is the first NFHS Data released in three years)
- Since 1994, the number of women who wrestle in high school has grown from 804 to 31,654. (This is the first NFHS Data released in three years)
- Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming sanction an official scholastic state championship.
(Information provided by NCAA and GAO report)
- Intercollegiate wrestling has over 100 years of competition.
- Collegiate wrestling typically ranks in the top 5 in revenue production of all NCAA Championships.
- Over 285 new or re-instated intercollegiate wrestling teams (all divisions) have been established since 2001.
- Wrestling has one of the lowest per cost student-athlete of any male sport with a large squad size that makes it an ideal sport to help increase male enrollment.
- Wrestling has very modest start-up costs and needs.
- Wrestling ranks second among all men’s NCAA sports in 1st generation student-athletes (23%).
- Wrestlers have performed exceptionally well in the classroom as evidenced by the number of All-American and NCAA Champions earning National and Conference Academic accolades.
- One of the fastest-growing sports with 31,654 high school participants.
- 100+ colleges now sponsor a varsity wrestling program.
- Women’s wrestling has been an Olympic Sport since 2004 with Helen Maroulis winning the first gold medal for the U.S. in 2016!
- Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming sanction an official scholastic state championship.
- In 2022 the NAIA announced that in 2023 Women’s Wrestling will be have Championship status
- In 2019 the Committee on Women’s Athletics Recommends Emerging Sports Status for Women’s Wrestling to the NCAA
In 2018 the NAIA Grants Invitational Status to Women’s Wrestling
- NCAA Division I, II, and III approve Emerging Sports Status for Women’s Wrestling
- In 2020 The NJCAA approved Emerging Sport Status for Women’s Wrestling
- Wrestling was included in the ancient Olympic Games, and was one of the select sports included in the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896.
- Over 135 nations sponsor a wrestling federation.
- Wrestling is one of the top three medal winning sports for the United States.