TURNOVERS

Posted July 24, 2013 at 2:02 pm

TURNOVERS

by Alan B. Gibson

That was a short summer – back to rain

Guess I spoke too soon last week about finally getting some favorable outdoor summer weather – we did get in a nice Friday and Saturday, but that’s about it.

Still, the calendar says it’s summer, the tourists are coming anyway to try and enjoy our lakes and the locals are trying to get in a round or two of golf in between rains.

All the while, our high school fall sports teams are also trying to get in some practice time, mostly in the rain, before each respective season kicks in.

The only positive aspect here is that at least while it’s raining, coaches don’t have to be so concerned with the heat index readings and for the most part, our outdoor fall sports can be played in the rain anyway – as long as there is no lightning.

In other words, grab the umbrellas and the rain suits, and tee it up!

High school sports, by the numbers

Without much else to report during these slow weeks just prior to the start of a new school year and without any high school sports being up and running yet, it’s an interesting time to take a look at some of the numbers involving athletic programs as far as Kentucky is concerned.

Recently released numbers by the KHSAA for sports program involvement refer to last year’s (2012-13) involvement.

The most popular sport for high schools in Kentucky? Football ranks in the top spot, with 13,315 students. The reason the KHSAA doesn’t rank football as being the “most popular sport for boys” with that final number in its recent release of participation numbers is because it’s actually a “mixed-sex” sport with 54 girls on rosters last year in Kentucky.

According to the KHSAA, Kentucky had 222 schools last year competing in football.

So, with 13,261 boys playing football, it still ranks as the top boys’ sport in Kentucky, followed by baseball with 7,278 across 261 schools with teams. Basketball ranks third with 6,874 athletes, track and field with 6,476 and soccer with 6,059,

More girls in Kentucky play volleyball than any other sport with 6,260 athletes from 257 programs, while fast pitch softball is second with 5,754, followed by soccer with 5,551, track and field with 5,476 and in fourth place is basketball with 5,359 participants.

There are a host of other sports that follow with smaller numbers, including sports such as archery (1,961) to bass fishing (346).