High School winter sports have pretty much ended for the year.
And although basketball and hockey get most of the media attention, more students take part in other sports.
Those include gymnastics, swimming, track, skiing and wrestling.
And as NHPR Sports Correspondent Jim Jeannotte has learned, participation is growing.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE ATTRACT MORE THAN 40,000 FANS EACH YEAR.
WHILE BASKETBALL, AND IN SOME CASES HOCKEY, DOMINATE THE SPORTS PAGES, OTHER SPORTS ARE ALSO ATTRACTING STUDENT ATHLETES.
JIM DESMARAIS WITH THE NEW HAMPSHIRE INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION POINTS TO SWIMMING AS ONE OF THE STATE?S FASTEST GROWING HIGH SCHOOL WINTER SPORTS.
Jim Desmarais
04 - 14 sec ?You look at swimming. That has really exploded. We started with 20 teams last year, our first year of sponsoring the sport. We?re up to 25 this year. Schools that were probably club teams and teams outside.?
JUST OVER 6 THOUSAND BOYS AND GIRLS PLAY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL AND HOCKEY.
BUT MORE THAN 7 THOUSAND STUDENT-ATHLETES PARTICIPATE IN OTHER SPORTS.
THE NUMBERS ARE SURPRISING.
SKIING ATTRACTED NEARLY 15 HUNDRED HIGH SCHOOLERS THIS YEAR?.THAT?S BOTH CROSS COUNTRY AND ALPINE...
700 STUDENTS EACH ENJOYED SWIMMING AND WRESTLILNG.
MORE THAN 150 YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN TOOK PART IN GYMNASTICS.
AND 22 HUNDRED MOSTLY FEMALE ATHLETES PARTICIPATED IN SPIRIT COMPETITIONS.
BILL WHITMORE IS THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR AT CONCORD HIGH SCHOOL.
HE SAYS, DESPITE THOSE RISING NUMBERS, TRADITIONAL SPORTS LIKE BASKETBALL AND HOCKEY HAVE NOT BEEN AFFECTED.
Bill Whitmore
15 - 22 sec ?No because the sports of swimming and gymnastics are really specific. We have gymnasts who have participated since elementary school, and they would be participating at the club level regardless of whether they were running indoor track. Swimming is the same way. These swimmers swim 12 months a year, so it?s highly unlikely they would be playing basketball or ice hockey.?
AN ESTIMATED EIGHTEEN-HUNDRED BOYS AND GIRLS PARTICIPATE IN WINTER TRACK PROGRAMS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Jim Desmarais
06 - 16 sec ?And that is amazing for two reasons.
JIM DESMARAIS, WITH THE NHIAA.
Tape: One, there are no high schools in the state that have an indoor track facility. So these athletes run the halls. They?re up and running up and down the stairs, driving the custodians crazy after school, running the parking lots. Running in the snow, the sleet and the rain.?
BARBARA HIGGINS IS THE VETERAN TRACK COACH AT CONCORD HIGH.
SHE ADMITS IT?S NOT EASY ORGANIZING A TRACK TEAM WITHOUT AN INDOOR TRACK.
Barbara Higgins
28 - 15 sec ?The sprinters and hurdlers work out in the foreign language wing hallway. The distance runners can do their distance work outside. But any type of interval workouts, I?ve sprayed painted the faculty parking lot so they can do their intervals in the parking lot. But you have cars coming in and out. It?s 30 degrees, 20 degrees or 10 degrees.?
DESPITE THE LACK OF FACILITIES, HIGGINS SAYS A SPORT LIKE WINTER TRACK CAN BE ATTRACTIVE.
Barbara Higgins
24 - 8 sec ?To the athletes who run in the fall and spring, it?s a great way to stay in shape in the winter time.?
BUTT/BYTE
26 - 13 SEC ?For an athlete who may be a field hockey player in the fall and a lacrosse player in
the spring, when they?re involved in those intense team sports, indoor track is a low-key fun way to bridge those two together. To maintain fitness. To be in a sport, but not have it be so intense.?
ADD TO THE MIX THE POSSIBILITY OF COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS.
RACHEL UMBURGER, THE TOP PERFORMER ON CONCORD HIGH?S CROSS COUNTRY AND TRACK PROGRAMS, WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AT THE 800 METERS THIS PAST YEAR.
SHE HAS RECEIVED A TRACK SCHOLARSHIP AT DUKE UNIVERSITY.
Rachel Umburger
37 - 16 sec ?I like team sports. I like team aspects of sport, especially cross country. That?s sort of the beauty of running...it?s team sport, but it?s also individual. So I?ve always loved the team aspect of being in something together and achieving some goal with other people. It?s much more fun and satisfying that way.?
PROBABLY THE BEST KEPT SECRET OF THE WINTER IS THE SPIRIT COMPETITION.
COMBINING GYMNASTICS ABILITIES WITH CHEERLEADING ROUTINES, THE SPIRIT COMPETITION INVOLVES 65 NEW HAMPSHIRE HIGH SCHOOLS.
OVER 3,000 FANS ATTENDED THE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT.
TEAMS AT CONCORD HIGH THIS WINTER WON STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS IN GYMNASTICS AND BOYS NORDIC SKIING,
THEY ALSO CAPTURED A SECOND PLACE IN CLASS L WINTER TRACK.
WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?
AS CONCORD?S ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, DOES BILL WHITMORE SEE THE ADDITION OF ANY NEW WINTER SPORTS.?
Bill Whitmore
17 - 15 sec ?I really thought that we would be seeing womens ice hockey at the high school level a recognized sport by the NHIAA. So each year when I put in a three to five year plan in the budget, I have included the possibility of adding a girls ice hockey program.
MEANWHILE AT THE NHIAA OFFICE, DESMARAIS HAS DIFFERENT IDEAS.
Jim Desmarais
08 - 15 sec ?There?s been some discussion about snow boarding as a sport. We?ve had some inquiries from our schools about snow boarding. So I would not be surprised to see us in the near future investigate snow boarding as an opportunity for us.?
FOR NHPR NEWS, I?M JIM JEANNOTTE REPORTING.
