Of the 38 sports and activities surveyed by the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) in its “Sports Participation-Series I and II” reports, the female share of skateboarding showed the strongest increase. Females represented 26.6% (2.7 million) of total skateboard participation in 2007; in 2002, they represented on 19.5% (1.9 million) of the participants.
In two other sports/activities, females increased market share by more than 4%. In dart throwing, they increased their share to 41.2% in 2007 from 37.1% in 2002. In tackle football, they increased share to 13.8% in 2007 from 9.7% in 2002.
At the other end of the spectrum, paintball games lost the greatest share of female participation. Slightly less than 21% (1.4 million) of paintball games participants were female in 2002. In 2007, only 10% (0.8 million) were female.
Mountain biking (off road) and target archery were also significant losers of female participant share, both losing more than 4% share in those two sports/activities.
Although many groups have tried to increase female participation in specific sports these past five years, 23 of the 38 sports/activities surveyed remained a “neutral zone” of ± two percent.
