There’s no question that football, basketball and baseball/softball are the mainstay sports for team dealers. They consistently bring in the big bucks and can be counted on for solid sales and reliable orders. However, the “specialty sports” such as track and field, volleyball, wrestling, lacrosse, rugby and now even pickleball are also vital to dealers’ financial success. Oftentimes, the seasons for these specialty sports extend far beyond middle school and high school competitive calendars, giving dealers an opportunity to incorporate them into everyday business.

It is especially important to service specialty sports in this current and uncertain economic climate — much like diversifying an investment portfolio. Underscoring that point, in his executive summary in the 2025 SFIA First Half Game Plan, Alex Kerman, senior director and head of research at SFIA, posits: “Cost continues to be the most cited obstacle for team sports, with 41 percent of parents expressing concern. With potential tariff increasers on the horizon and ongoing tariff uncertainty, affordability may become an even greater challenge, particularly for youth sports programs.”

The report also states that Team Sports, which had the second-highest YOY growth in 2024 at more than eight percent, are currently projected to remain flat or decline slightly, with early estimates showing a -0.4 percent change.

“With new tariff rates announced, but specific details not confirmed, budgeting has become a guessing game — one that is clearly influencing consumer purchasing decisions,” Kerman adds. Not to mention school budgets, vendors’ approach to product pricing and delivery, and team dealers’ business strategies.

Here, we take a look at the rewards and challenges that team dealers face when servicing specialty sports in today’s dynamic marketplace.

Lacrosse: Sticking Around

Small but mighty is an apt description of lacrosse, which originated in the 12th century among various Native American communities in Canada and the eastern U.S. The game served several crucial functions beyond sport, including training for war, settling disputes and providing spiritual healing and connection to ancestors. Games were seen as major events, could feature between 100 and 100,000 participants at any one time, would last for several days and covered miles of open terrain. Today, lacrosse retains its rich heritage while continuing its global expansion — on a much smaller field, of course.

It is lacrosse’s spiritual element that helps make the sport so appealing to Dan Sullivan, owner of Lacrosse Loft in Wilmington, MA, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in February. “Lacrosse is the best sport in the world — it’s a soul-driven type of game. It’s about character, fair play and hard work,” he says. “I love dealing with the women’s game and it’s growing faster than the men’s.”

On the sales side, most of Lacrosse Loft’s business comes from hardgoods such as heads, shafts, pads and goalie equipment. Sullivan also has a worldwide customer base for custom stringing. For uniforms, he is partial to Adrenaline Lacrosse, “because they deliver on time and on budget.

“We have lots of private schools in the area and we provide custom gloves and shafts as well as uniform programs,” Sullivan says. “There’s an even split between the men’s and women’s business both in field lacrosse and box lacrosse, but the equipment demands are different. In box lacrosse, more equipment, such as rib pads, are needed because it’s a much more physical game than field lacrosse.”

At Sports Paradise in Medford, NJ, owner Scott Treibe is seeing the fastest growth in volleyball, “but the sheer volume of lacrosse players [in the area] is big.” Schools are responsible for the lion’s share of his lacrosse sales, but travel teams also figure into the equation.

“We have the most demand for uniforms, all sublimation. The ratio of men’s to women’s business is pretty even overall and both are very strong,” Treiber says. “School budgets are getting cut a lot, but hopefully booster clubs will fill the gap.”

Founded in 1990, Lacrosse Unlimited, which bills itself as “The World’s Largest Lacrosse Retailer,” operates 55 locations across 15 states. In April it acquired Throne Lacrosse and Throne of String which specialize in mesh technology, custom stringing and product design. That same month, Lacrosse Unlimited partnered with Kane Footwear to present the Kane Rize, a premier girls’ lacrosse showcase event that is slated to take place in October.

At Lacrosse Unlimited’s Franklin, MA, location, sales staffer Brian Antonio says the clientele is evenly split between male and female and they’re both mostly looking for sticks and cleats. “Prices have gone up due to tariffs, but that hasn’t really affected the business,” he observes. “Players ages 10-to-18 are our bread-and-butter customers and there’s a big demand for custom stringing. I’d say the sport in general is growing — more kids are trying it and liking it.”

Lacrosse by the Numbers

Of the 10 Most Popular Girls Programs in the 2024-25 school year, Lacrosse placed tenth with 99,292 participants. (Source: NFHS)

In the 2024-25 school year, 212,988 high schoolers played lacrosse: 113,696 boys and 99,292 girls.¹

In 2024, total Lacrosse sales were $102.1 million, an uptick of five percent from 2023. Sticks accounted for $443.8 million, Protective came in at $42.4 million, and Other/Accessories added up to $16.9 million.²

Lacrosse participation continues to nudge upward, growing 4.3 percent in the 12 months to June 2025. In 2024, total participation was 1.9 million in 2024, with 1.1 million players being male and 792,000 being female.²

Volleyball: A Winning Set-Up

Volleyball is a gift that keeps giving year-round for team dealers, thanks to schools, leagues, travel teams and clubs. The sport offers indoor and outdoor versatility and is supported by a strong base of clubs and regional organizations. In addition to school events, there is a multitude of tournaments held throughout the country that offer strong competition for a broad range of ages and skill levels. In fact, in some locales, tournaments have gone from utilizing local high school gyms to taking over convention centers with 100-plus courts.

The recent formation of women’s pro volleyball leagues such as League One Volleyball (LOVB) and the merging this past August of the Pro Volleyball Federation and Major League Volleyball into a unified league branded as MLV, are helping to fuel the game’s growth, as is the increasing popularity of both men’s and women’s college volleyball. In June 2025 LOVB launched its pro league and in July announced Skims (co-founded in 2019 by Kim Kardashian and Jes Grede) as its official loungewear, intimates and sleepwear partner, thus underscoring the sport’s marketability and growing cultural impact.

“Volleyball is always strong for me. High school freshman, junior varsity and varsity girls play in the fall and the boys play in the spring. Also, schools around here have after-school programs,” says Betsy Frye, owner of Holyoke Sporting Goods in Holyoke, MA. “We sell a lot of knee pads, balls, nets and uniforms and schools are buying more accessories than they used to, especially knee pads. Tariffs are not a problem at all.”

Likewise, Dan Proulx, buyer at Stateline Sports in West Lebanon, NH, is happy with the category. “Volleyball has been decent for us and the numbers are steady,” he says. “Lots of girls are going out for volleyball – mostly high school – but there are also some middle school programs. They’re mostly buying equipment.”

At Green Bay, WI-based Home Team Sports & Apparel, volleyball has been steady but growth has been flat. “We service schools – primarily grades five-to-12 – leagues, youth groups and travel teams. The teams are mostly female — there are not many guys’ teams in our area,” says Todd Gutzman, president and CEO.

He continues, “Sales trends are all over the place. High schools are trying to get uniforms to last for four to five years, so there’s not a ton of business there, but we do very well selling volleyballs. Vendors offer entire systems for equipment and balls are a regular purchase every year. There are a lot of good volleyball companies and a good variety to choose from. We stay away from footwear.”

Gutzman adds, “Volleyball is a relatively inexpensive sport so we mostly handle steady, repeat business. It also helps that the state of Wisconsin has a very good volleyball team – and is part of the Big Ten Conference – and there’s lots of good volleyball on TV.

Volleyball by the Numbers

Total participation for Volleyball (Court) increased by 6.7 percent from 2023 to 2024. ²

In 2024, the age bracket with the largest participation in Volleyball (Grass) was the 25-to-35 set, followed by ages 18-to-24. ²

In 2024, sales of volleyball uniforms totaled $92.3 million, a jump of 33.9 percent from 2019. Sales of team volleyball shoes stood at $33.4 million. Total volleyball category sales were $108.5 million, up 6.4 percent from 2023.²

In 2024, Volleyball (Court) participants totaled 7.36 million. Females comprised 4.98 million and males 2.38 million. ²

Of the 10 Most Popular Girls’ Programs in the 2024-25 school year, Volleyball placed second with 492,799 participants, trailing only Outdoor Track and Field.¹

Pickleball: Your Serve

First the good news: For the fourth consecutive year, pickleball remained the fastest-growing sport in the nation in 2024, jumping 45.8 percent from 2023 and soaring an incredible 311 percent from three years ago, according to SFIA’s 2025 Pickleball Single Sport report. Moreover, the 2025 SFIA First Half Game Plan, the organization’s first annual mid-year report, states that among 30 sports with updated participation data, pickleball remains the fastest-growing, with a 14.7 percent increase in participation.

“One sport that continues to defy gravity: Pickleball,” notes SFIA’s Kerman. “It remains the fastest-growing activity in our dataset, capturing the imagination of players across generations.”

Pickleball organizations, notably the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) – which since 2019 has operated the first and only pro and amateur pickleball tour fully sanctioned by USA Pickleball – are working to expand youth development programs, grassroots initiatives and international partnerships to grow the game. For example, this past August the APP joined with seven inaugural national organizations to create a global professional pickleball tour. At the heart of the alliance is a year-round world calendar boasting at least 30 pickleball tournaments in 2026, greatly enhancing international opportunities for players across the globe from Canada to Vietnam, India to England and Australia to the United States.

But pickleball does have a downside. Despite the sport’s explosive growth and rapidly expanding visibility, it is still struggling to find its footing in the team market. Yes, the game is wildly popular, easy to learn and enjoyed by young and old alike. However, most schools still don’t have pickleball teams, particularly at the middle school and high school levels. In all likelihood, pickleball will someday become an Olympic sport as well as an NCAA sport, but it hasn’t happened yet. This means that for most team dealers, pickleball is a bit of a conundrum: So many players, but so few teams to service.

“We do alright with pickleball,” comments Todd Garretson, owner of Garretson’s Sport Center in Greeley, CO (with team sales offices located in Sterling, CO, and Watkinsville, GA). “We’ve seen tennis go down about 50 percent, with pickleball stealing about 30 percent of that total.” Garretson’s pickleball business is primarily retail, but the dealer also services some rec departments and local clubs.

“If schools had pickleball teams it would help. And if manufacturers would seed pickleball product such as paddles in high schools, that would also help. Manufacturers should work with dealers to approach schools and promote the sport,” suggests Garretson. “Manufacturers should also work through dealers rather than working directly with consumers.”

At this point, says Garretson, “Pickleball is a grassroots type of sport and now 30-to-35-year-olds are a key market. We’ll start seeing younger age groups down the road, which will lead to more rec departments offering youth programs, helping the sport trickle down to younger participants. It will also help to see some lower prices in paddles to spur interest.”

Garretson’s pickleball sales focus on hardgoods, with paddles and balls being the mainstays. “We tried shoes, but that never really panned out,” he says. “Sometimes we provide awards and T-shirts for rec departments and special events — it’s a good add-on.” Overall, he says, “I hope pickleball continues to grow. We’re a team dealer and a retailer, so we’re always looking for ways to supplement both sides of the business.”

One dealer/retailer scoring with pickleball is Whirlaway Sports Center in Methuen, MA. “The pickleball business is good, but very hard,” explains president Dave Kazanjian. “We’re starting to see a younger crowd, but it’s not a team sport yet. A few ADs are trying to get it into schools as a sport. We service some college-level club teams and some adult clubs and groups.” He notes that Whirlaway carries more than 500 pickleball paddle models and has 800 court shoes in stock.

“The technology, especially paddles, is changing very fast. Consumers are very knowledgeable and they go online. It’s a big category and a lot of work to keep up with the technology,” Kazanjian explains. He adds that he’s seeing the impact of tariffs in running footwear, a little bit in court shoes, and not much in pickleball paddles.

On the West Coast, Manhattan Beach, CA-based Super Sports is happy with the pickleball business. “It’s constantly growing,” says sales associate Hari Parker. “We service some country clubs and some teams, primarily adults and a good mix of men and women.”

He says paddles are by far the top sellers, followed by balls and accessories, apparel and footwear. “Pickleball is still growing and hopefully tariffs won’t affect the business. Prices have gone up a little but not enough to slow sales.”

But not everyone is thrilled with the pickleball business. Kim Karsh, owner of California Pro Sports in Harbor City, CA, shares, “We discontinued pickleball. The paddles were getting too expensive and there were too many brands. It was really becoming the domain of pickleball and racquet specialty shops.”

Other dealers, including Stateline Sports in West Lebanon, NH, handle a little bit of pickleball at retail, but it represents just a small fraction of the overall team business, notes buyer Dan Proulx. And at Sports Paradise in New Jersey, Treiber says, “We’re doing a ton for clubs and local courts, but it’s not at the team level yet.”

Pickleball by the Numbers

Total Participation for pickleball in 2024 was 19.8 million, up from 13.6 million in 2023. ²

In 2024, the age bracket with the highest participation of picklers was 25- to-34-year-olds, followed by the 65-plus set. More than one million children also picked up the sport. ²

As of early 2025, there were an estimated 70,000 pickleball courts in the U.S., with approximately 130 new locations being added monthly.  Over 18,000 courts were added in 2024 and the total number of courts doubled between 2022 and early 2025. A projected investment of $855 million is needed for further infrastructure development to keep up with growing demand. ³

Pickleball paddle sales hit $240 million in 2024, up nine percent from the prior year. Sales of pickleballs reached $94.6 million in 2024, up six percent from 2023.²

Pickleball is big business in 2025 and some of the best pickleball paddles now retail for well over $250. The latest figures from October 2024 show a projected global market growth from $1.5 billion in 2023 to $4.4 billion by 2033, for an 11.3 percent compound annual growth rate.⁴

Wrestling: No Holds Barred

Although wrestling doesn’t boast the massive participation of football, baseball and basketball, it nonetheless is a popular sport, particularly at the high school and college levels. And an increase in female participation is making the category more lucrative for dealers.

“We’ve been handling wrestling since our business began 43 years ago,” says Kazanjian, at Whirlaway Sports Center. “We’re one of the top wrestling stores in New England. We carry more than 75 styles of shoes and we offer team uniforms, both singlets and two-pieces.”

He also sees a lot of youth demand for wrestling products, especially shoes. Other popular items include headgear, knee pads, mat cleaners, body wipes, clocks and scorecards.”

While about 90 percent of Whirlaway’s wrestling customers are male, Kazanjian notices that female participation is growing. “There are now more options for women’s-specific products, including shoes, knee pads and singlets. Most of the growth on the women’s side is at the high school level.”

For Karsh at California Pro Sports, high schools are the primary wrestling customers and the category is skewed toward men. “The wrestling business is pretty even and only a few high schools around here offer it. The ladies’ segment is taking off a little bit and we’ve seen a surge in demand for letterman jackets in girls’ wrestling,” he says.

“The real challenge,” says Karsh, “is that there are not enough coaches available. Most schools won’t put in wrestling unless there’s a coach available.”

Home Team Sports Apparel’s Gutzman has a similar outlook. “We’ve seen a little bit of an uptick and we’re targeting middle school and youth programs. We’re seeing more girls and ladies getting into wrestling,” he says. “We offer online stores with uniforms and it’s been very successful. Singlets are the most in demand. Parents also use our online stores to buy headgear and knee pads.”

At present, Gutzman estimates that 95 percent his wrestling business is male and only five percent female. “Participation is a big factor: either the school is into wrestling or it’s not.”

Wrestling by the Numbers

Of the 10 Most Popular Boys Programs in the 2024-25 school year, Wrestling placed sixth with 300,214 participants, ahead of Cross-Country, Golf, Tennis and Swimming & Diving.¹

In 2024, there were 2.3 million Wrestling participants, up 8.6 percent from 2023. Seventy-seven percent of participants were male and 22.5 percent female. ²

Wrestlers ages 18-to-24 comprised the largest contingency of participants (23.2 percent), followed by ages 25-to-34 (22.9 percent), and ages 13-to-17 (18.6 percent).²

^‍Track & Field: Off to the Races

The U.S. has always been a leader on track and field’s global stage, most notably in Olympic years when it attracts millions of viewers. But when the TV cameras turn away and the marketing hype diminishes, the sport, from a visibility standpoint, recedes into the background, at least until the start of the next Olympiad.

“Several OIympic-featured sports, including track and field, are experiencing modest declines, consistent with the typical post-Olympic dip in visibility and public engagement,” notes SFIA’s Kerman. “Despite this, most remain above their pre-Olympic participation levels. Track and field is down by 3.6 percent. These shifts may reflect a natural post-Olympic cooling period, where heightened interest from global exposure begins to normalize.”

But for many team dealers, the steady popularity of track and field, particularly at the high school level, is indisputable and both boys’ and girls’ participation have reached new heights. In the 2024-25 school year, NFHS reports that Outdoor Track and Field was the most popular sport for girls in high school and was second only to football for boys.

“These increases reaffirm track and field’s broad appeal, offering students opportunities across a wide range of events from sprints and distance running to jumps and throws,” states Dr. Karissa Niehoff, CEO of the NFHS. “Indoor Track and Field, which complements the outdoor season, also experienced steady growth. Participation rose to 89,019 boys and 71,358 girls. Together, these numbers reflect a continued momentum in track and field as one of the most accessible and diverse sports in high school athletics.”

“We’re huge in track and field and have been in that business for 43 years,” exclaims Kazanjian, of Whirlaway Sports Center. “Overall, the growth is pretty good. There are now more races to choose from and participation numbers are up in a lot of schools.”

Regarding sales, “Running is our number one category by far — we have 400 to 500 pairs of spikes in stock,” says Kazanjian. “We provide uniforms and shoes for youth programs, high schools and colleges.”

The store also hosts a big Spike Night, the most recent of which attracted 90 high school kids. He adds, “Sublimated track and field uniforms are in high demand, and kids also want the latest technology in spikes — which can be tricky because the technology changes so quickly.”

Track and field is a strong category for Stateline Sports, too, and Proulx is pleased with the results. “We get a lot of team business, including jerseys, pole vault poles, landing pads, shot puts, discus and hurdles. We sell more equipment than anything else — we’ve only sold one or two sets of uniforms in the past year,” he relates. “While the retail side has been slow, team has been busy for us. We service mostly high schools plus a couple of youth programs.”

On the West Coast at California Pro Sports, Karsh has seen a 10 percent increase in sales of uniforms. “Our sales are mostly uniforms, half of which are sublimated and the other half basic stock with a screenprinted logo on the front. The demand for uniforms is evenly split between males and females. We also sell hurdles every three to four years, as well as batons. Footwear has dropped off tremendously and seems to be primarily online now.”

He also notes, “I’m seeing more business at the middle school level than in the past and high school is flat. There are some youth clubs in the area that are trying to get started, but they’re not off the ground yet.” Like many other dealers, Karsh doesn’t see the track and field business slowing at all, and believes “slight increases are okay.”

Track and Field by the Numbers

In the 2024-25 school year, outdoor track and field participation reached 644,235 boys and 513,808 girls, making it the most popular high school sport for girls and the second most popular for boys. These numbers represent a record high in participation since the NFHS began its survey in 1971. ¹

In 2024, total participation in Track and Field stood at 4.19 million, with 52 percent of participants being male and 48 percent being female. The 13-to-17 age group boasted the most participants, comprising 37.3 percent of the total.²

The two largest geographic concentrations of participants is the South Atlantic section (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware) and East North Central region (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin). ²