Nebraska High Schools Face Alarming Trend of Forfeiting Sports Seasons as Participation Plummets

LINCOLN, Neb. – Several high schools in Nebraska are facing significant challenges this year, leading some to forfeit their football seasons. Recently, Grand Island Senior High School made headlines by announcing the cancellation of all its girls varsity basketball games, stating that no juniors or seniors have signed up for the sport. Instead, the school plans to focus on developing its younger players by continuing with reserve and freshmen games.

This decision caught many by surprise. Nate Neuhaus, an assistant director for the Nebraska School Activities Association, observed this concerning trend in high school sports. “This is probably something new in the basketball world,” Neuhaus said, noting that it is unusual to see a forfeit before the season even starts. “It will be interesting to look more into it and figure out what the variables are.”

Neuhaus explained that while it’s not uncommon for small schools to forfeit their seasons, seeing Class A teams like Omaha Benson end their football seasons early raises alarms. He mentioned that there have been around six or seven football forfeitures this season due to various reasons. “It starts with low participation numbers in a specific community,” he added.

Across Nebraska, there has been a noticeable decline in participation in all sports. Neuhaus attributed this to students having more options and opportunities outside of traditional sports. “Student-athletes now have many more activities to choose from, and it’s a good thing overall,” he said. However, the spread of student populations across different activities can impact sports teams.

Other factors like a losing season, injuries, illnesses, and academic struggles also contribute to the difficult choice of forfeiting a season. “Every community has its own unique challenges,” Neuhaus mentioned, highlighting that the landscape of high school sports is very different than it was 10 or 15 years ago. “We’re still trying to figure out why this is happening.”