Among 16 sports and recreation activities with more than 20 million participants in 2006, power boating had the highest rate of growth, up 6.2% to 29.3 million power boaters, according to the new Sports Participation studies published annually by the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA).
At the other end of the spectrum (sports with less than five million participants), cross-country skiing soared almost 37% to 2.6 million participants. The only other high participant sport with more than 5% growth was camping (vacation/overnite), up 5.7% to 48.6 million participants. The bulk of the 16 sports (11 in all) grew or fell in a relatively narrow band of +5% to -4%.
Other high participant sports and their rate of change include: workout at club, +4.8% to 36.4 million; hiking, +4% to 31 million; exercise walking, +1.7% to 87.5 million; aerobic exercising, flat at 33.7 million; golf, -1% to 24.4 million; bowling, -1.3% to 44.8 million; running/jogging, -1.6% to 28.8 million; weightlifting, -1.9% to 32.9 million; fishing, – 2.5% to 40.6 million; swimming, -2.6% to 56.5 million; exercising with equipment, – 3.4% to 52.4 million; basketball, -7.4% to 26.7 million; billiards/pool, -9.8% to 31.8 million; and bicycle riding, -13.3% to 35.6 million.
Among less-participated sports, notable gains came in football (tackle), +19.7% to 11.9 million; cheerleading, +15.6% to 3.8 million; and ice hockey, +6% to 2.6 million. Notable declines were seen in skateboarding, -19.2% to 9.7 million; snowboarding, -13.1% to 5.2 million; in-line roller skating, -20% to 10.5 million; target shooting, -14.1% to 17.1 million; Hunting w/Bow & Arrow, -11.6% to 5.9 million; mountain biking (off road), -7.2% to 8.5 million; and soccer, -0.8% to 14 million.
