Part 1: The numbers game — Girls basketball participation has taken a hit

Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series on the state of girls basketball participation in the Firelands and Sandusky Bay conferences. The familiar din of the crowd was overwhelming. A tiny gym, a Friday night: no place to sit, almost no standing room. Players and game officials both struggling to hear themselves speak. As New London played South Central in girls basketball for the Firelands Conference championship on Feb. 9, a huge question loomed over both programs. What's next? The FC champion Wildcats won 20 games this past season, claimed their first league championship in 22 years and reached a Division IV district title game. All of that was achieved with just nine players on the roster, including two seniors. On the other side, the Trojans won 17 games and a third sectional title in four seasons. With 13 on its roster, South Central had only seven varsity players. The big-game setting underscored what has been a growing problem for girls basketball in the Firelands Conference and for all three divisions in the Sandusky Bay Conference as well. Following a huge dip and then a rebound statewide for girls basketball participation, a return to healthy roster numbers locally hasn't occurred. Based on preseason rosters, only five programs among 30 schools in both the FC and SBC had more than 20 players listed for their combined junior varsity and varsity girls' teams. There were 13 of 30 teams with 15 players or less. Many of those schools did not have freshman squads for the 2023-24 season. In the Firelands Conference, only Western Reserve and Plymouth had full JV teams this season. Five schools among the SBC Bay, River and the FC began the season with 12 players or fewer. "It's truly scary," said New London head coach Eric Mitchell, who just completed his 11th season at the school. "What does this look like five or 10 years from now? You'd love to say it for sure will be there and the numbers improve, but will they? Almost all of us are losing kids." Mitchell, a South Central graduate, grew up when the Wildcats-Trojans rivalry meant closely contested games and huge crowds for boys basketball. But looking around his former community after a big moment as a coach, he was a bit worried for the future. "We're not chasing scholarships, we're chasing the memories the girls involved in this game got to experience in front of their communities," Mitchell said. "So, I'm happy and heartbroken. But the memories these kids are missing out on is what sticks out. "You only get to be a high-school kid once, for four years. It hurts me to not see so many kids not taking advantage of it." Read part 2 here Winning isn't enough Bellevue is the gold standard for girls basketball in this area. The Lady Red won their 14th-consecutive league championship this past season. In a Division II regional semifinal, the team fell short of reaching the Elite Eight by a couple of baskets. Was Bellevue an outlier with a big roster this year? No. "We had two girls that quit and ended up with 15 girls," Bellevue head coach Korey Santoro said. "That's the lowest we've had. It's a problem with not just basketball, but football and a lot of sports." In the SBC River Division, three girls basketball teams won district championships. Gibsonburg had 16 players listed on its varsity and JV teams, while Danbury and Tiffin Calvert also each advanced to the Sweet 16 with only 14 players. Port Clinton won 17 games and a sectional title with 15 players; Monroeville got to 16 wins and a sectional title with 16 players. Willard started the season with 12 and finished with seven or eight available players in the final weeks. Despite its thin roster, the Crimson Flashes notched 12 wins and won a tournament game. It's a program only three or so years removed from back-to-back regional appearances that included a title game and a loss in overtime in another semifinal. Margaretta, with 24 girls and Norwalk, with 23, are among the highest in player participation. Both teams have had strong, multiple years of success. But no program can claim immunity to the downward trend. Drew Grahl graduated from Margaretta and was a manager for the women's basketball team at Cleveland State University. He returned to this area, serving as head coach for five seasons at Norwalk and Perkins before moving on to administration and athletic director roles at Woodmore and Oak Harbor. He's now Margaretta's athletic director. For Grahl, the winter season seemed more like the way spring sports often go. "We cancel everything 'the day of' — based on weather in the spring," he said. "That's kind of how it feels with our JV and freshman girls basketball schedule. You never really know. The next phone call could be a game being canceled." Many area teams had to settle for playing shortened JV games — two quarters instead of four. Schools frequently found themselves hosting different teams for JV and varsity due to insufficient numbers. When Norwalk hosted New London on Dec. 5, the JV opponent was Monroeville, because the Wildcats had only nine players. The Eagles also were among teams without a full-time JV squad. "It's impacted our schedule, and our numbers are healthy right now, but in a year or two, that could change," Norwalk head coach Brock Manlet said. "We don't know what's going to happen." Manlet said he understands that basketball isn't the No. 1 sport for high-school girls but points out that's OK — players can still be successful in basketball. "You can be the best you want to be at volleyball, softball, soccer or whatever it may be," he noted. "But you can still be very good at basketball. So let it be something you do, stay involved and have fun with it." Data conflict Ohio saw a drop of more than 50,000 participants in all sports from the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, according to annual data provided by the National Federation of State High School Association. The national figure increased by three percent, but Ohio declined by 14 percent, ranking fifth overall in total participation among the 50 states. The national decrease occurred after the pandemic ravaged all activities from March 2020 and through most of the following 2020-21 school year. Girls' participation in Ohio dropped 10 percent to 136,978. Here is where the 30 area schools are as an outlier to a state trend: An NFHS 2022 survey showed girls basketball had dropped to the fourth-most popular sport behind track and field, volleyball and soccer. Girls basketball lost 19 percent of its players since 2002. In the 2023 survey, girls basketball saw one of the biggest increases. In Ohio, girls basketball improved from 14,504 participants in 2021-22 to 26,048 in 2022-23 — an 82 percent spike. Locally, however, those numbers don't match. Only Clyde (23), Sandusky (22) and Edison (20) join Margaretta and Norwalk with 20-plus players in their varsity and JV programs. Another tier of schools is close, with six teams from all three SBC divisions and the FC with 18 to 19 players listed. At the lower end, the difficulty with roster numbers spreads across multiple teams. At the start of sectional games, St. Paul hosted St. Mary Central Catholic. Between the two teams was only one win: the Lady Flyers won in overtime just before the buzzer in the season opener. St. Paul began its season with 11 players; SMCC had eight. At the end of the regular season, those numbers dropped. St. Paul had been playing two quarters of JV, but when two more injuries occurred prior to the final five games, JV games were canceled. SMCC also lost two players to injury, for a combined 14 players for the sectional contest. SMCC narrowly avoided playing 4-on-5, as one of six available players fouled out. A second player finished the final 5:21 with four fouls. "We ran out of time and we ran out of bodies," head coach Bobby Gossom said. "We started with nine, then had eight on the roster and lost two players to concussions. It made for tough situations in practice where we had to get creative with some things." Like the season opener, the Flyers won in the final minute. And with SMCC having lost 68 straight games, plus St. Paul losing two seniors with only one eighth-grader this winter, the concern for an adequate roster next year is real. Sports fans are flocking in record numbers to watch women's college basketball both on TV and in arenas, due in large part to Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark. Roster numbers here, however, will fuel anxiety for coaches and administrators. "We'll be in the same situation probably for the next couple of years, but we're kind of used to it," Gossom said. "You go with what you have. That's all you can do." -------------------------------------- Roster numbersHere is a school-by-school breakdown of the 30 teams in the Firelands and Sandusky Bay conferences with the number of total players listed on preseason varsity and junior varsity rosters. Nearly half the 30 schools had 15 players or less at the two levels: Margaretta: 24Clyde: 23Norwalk: 23Sandusky: 22Edison: 20Huron: 19Lakota: 19Perkins 18Old Fort: 18Hopewell; 18W. Reserve: 18Danbury: 17Columbian: 17Vermilion: 16Gibsonburg: 16Woodmore: 16Monroeville: 16Bellevue: 15Port Clinton: 15Calvert: 14SJCC: 14Plymouth: 14New Riegel: 13South Central: 13Willard: 12St. Paul: 11Crestview: 10New London: 9Mapleton: 9SMCC: 8 ----------------------------- Participation numbers statewide After posting the third-most high school sports participants in the country, Ohio saw a decline of more than 50,000 participants from 2021-22 to 2022-23, according to a report from the National Federation of State High School Associations in September 2023. The national total increased by more than three percent to 7,857,969 participants in 2022-23, but Ohio's numbers dropped from 378,354 to 323,117, a decrease of 14 percent that saw the state fall to fifth place in total participation. The national increase in participation neared the pre-pandemic peak of over 7.9 million, but not in Ohio. Participation in boys sports fell by 17 percent (186,139) and girls fell 10 percent (136,978).