The editors of Team Insight scoured our notes and past issues to come up with our annual list of the 10 most important trends and events impacting team sports in the past 12 months.

1. Girls On The Mat

The strong growth of youth, high school and collegiate wrestling as a whole is easy to pin down — girls’ wrestling now ranks as the fastest-growing high school sport in participation in the U.S. Need proof: Last November, Indiana became the 46th state to sanction girls’ wrestling at the high school level. The growth is also told in one simple statistic in 2025: Girls now make up 18 percent of high school wrestlers.

Then in 2025 came news that the NCAA added women’s wrestling as its 91st championship sport, providing another opportunity for female athletes to compete. That means that women’s wrestling now advances from the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program to become a national collegiate championship, featuring female athletes from all three divisions competing against one another. The NCAA’s first women’s wrestling championship will be in 2026. There were 76 women’s wrestling programs at NCAA schools in 2023-24, with projections pointing to an additional 17 programs in 2024-25. More than 1200 women wrestlers competed at NCAA schools in 2025.

2. AI Is Real

You can’t turn on a computer or listen to a news report without hearing of the impact and potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and team sports is certainly no different. Clubs, high school teams and families are increasingly using artificial intelligence as the analytics that dominate pro and college sports are now trickling down to younger levels — or at least for those who can afford the investment. The growing sports technology industry is increasingly selling computer vision algorithms, wearable biometric sensors and predictive analysis services through AI to youth clubs and high school athletic departments. For better or worse, it’s supercharging the dynamics of some club and high school teams.

3. Get Up and Play

The bad news is that physical activity among U.S. youth continues to trend downward. That was the finding of The Physical Activity Alliance’s latest U.S. Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, which showed another year of C and D grades. Overall physical activity received a D- grade — the same as in 2022 and 2014. Today, only 20-28 percent of youths ages 6-17 meet the 60 minutes of daily physical activity guideline — and that has not increased in the past decade. The C grades mean the U.S. is succeeding with about half of children. The D grades mean there’s success with less than half.

4. Get PHIT

On the plus side of the activity ledger, though, is news that PHIT America, a nonprofit providing solutions to end the inactivity pandemic among America’s youth, in collaboration with the Brownsville (TX) Independent School District, opened an innovative fitness facility – the first ever PHIT Center – at the Garden Park Elementary School earlier this year. Deemed the “future of physical education,” PHIT Center and related programs from PHIT America currently serve 31 public schools in a city found to be the “Most Unhealthy City in America.” The PHIT center is a 150 X 90-foot open-air facility that gets up to 60 kids moving and having fun with music while learning 10 different sports and fitness skills, from soccer to pickleball to running. Kids move around the facility in a circuit training fashion with the goal of building healthier, happier and more academically engaged students.  

5. Toll of the Years

In 2025 we lost three old friends who were significant contributors to the business of team sports.

• Don Pfau, who founded the Sports, Inc. buying group in 1965, passed away on April 10, in Lewistown, MT, at the age of 97. His first venture, Don’s Store, a local sporting goods store that was owned and operated by three family generations over 70 years, led to Pfau starting Sports, Inc. From the original seven members, the group has grown to more than 600 members selling billions of dollars of sporting goods from coast to coast. Pfau served as the CEO of Sports, Inc. for 30 years, stepping down in 1995 to become chairman. Pfau also served on the NSGA Board of Directors from 1987-90 and 1992-95 and was inducted into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame in 2006.

• Trevor Swangard, 85, the first executive director of the former Team Athletic Goods (TAG) buying group, passed away on June 27 in Redmond, WA, from complications related to pancreatic cancer. In 1965 he began working at Luby’s Sporting Goods, which specialized in both retail and team sporting goods sales. Swangard would eventually become a dealer for TAG and in 1984 he became their first executive director, a position he held until 2005. The company grew significantly under Swangard’s leadership, including launching a line of football shoulder pads, which has become one of the top-selling brands in the industry. He remained an owner of TAG until 2009 and returned briefly in 2010 as a consultant

• Thomas Doyle, who made a significant impact in numerous areas with the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) during his 39-year career in the industry, passed away on April 22 at age 86. Doyle was NSGA’s VP-information and research when he retired in 2010. He was responsible for the growth of NSGA’s research products and its team dealer division and was also president of the National Ski & Snowboard Retailers Association (NSSRA), an independent association managed by NSGA, from its inception in 1987 until 2010. NSGA created its Team Dealer Division in 1975 and Doyle was its first managing director until 2006.

6. Pickleball Anyone

Pickleball became a legitimate varsity high school sport in the past 12 months. In fact, “Pickleball for all” is the slogan used by Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools, which launched pickleball in high schools last year to lead the vanguard into the kitchen. Montgomery County laid claim as the first school district in the country to offer pickleball as a varsity sport, but that was only the tip of the youth pickleball iceburg. Pickleball participation increased 45 percent for children ages 6-12 and 86 percent among youth 13-17 between 2022 and 2023, according to the SFIA.

7. Trade War Games

The trade war that took shape in 2025 promised a heap of disruption for the team dealer space heavily reliant on imports — and it delivered, sort of. While the tariff situation remained extremely fluid, skepticism remained high among industry executives that they’ll fulfill Donald Trump’s vision of revitalizing the U.S. manufacturing sector. Many of the industry’s product components, including yarn for team uniforms, are also largely based in the Far East. Todd Smith, CEO of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), told Team Insight that with little time to react, U.S. importers and their factory partners could only absorb a portion of the tariff costs, with consumers ultimately facing higher prices. Although the situation remained extremely questionable throughout the summer and fall, the biggest uncertain impact on the team industry is the tariffs imposed on China, which remains a major producer of sports equipment, athletic apparel and athletic footwear despite diversification efforts in recent years. Of the $10.3 billion worth of sporting goods imported into the U.S. in 2024, $6.27 billion, or 61 percent, originated from China.

8. Capture the Flag

One of the biggest storylines in youth sports participation in 2025 was the increase the growth of flag football, particularly on the female side. The biggest gains in high school football came on the girls’ side, especially with the emerging sport of flag football. The number of participants in girls’ flag football more than doubled from 2022-23 to 2023-24. A total of 42,955 girls participated in flag football in 2023-24 compared to 20,875 the previous year — a 105 percent increase. Numbers from 2025 promise to be even more impressive. Note: There also was an increase in the number of girls competing on 11-player football teams — from 3654 to 4094. USA Football states that its efforts to grow the sport “have resulted in the expansion of high school girls’ flag football, which is now recognized as a varsity sport in 14 states.” The NCAA is also exploring flag football as part of its Emerging Sports for Women program, a clear indicator of the sport’s growing presence in collegiate athletics and beyond.

9. High School Records

The most positive report in 2025 came from the NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, which found that high school athletics participation increased by nearly 200,000 in 2024-25, continuing an upward trajectory since the pandemic and registering an all-time high for participation. The survey indicated that 8.3 million participants were involved in high school sports in 2024-25, which is up 198,589 from the previous year and tops the previous record of 8.1 million set in 2023-24. The total includes 4.7 million boys and 3.5 million – both record highs – according to figures obtained from the 51 NFHS member state associations, which includes the District of Columbia. The 2024-25 total marked the third consecutive notable increase after numbers fell during the pandemic.

10. Big Money Reaches High Schools

With all of this positive news comes word of a disturbing trend that should concern team dealers and their suppliers as a major brand has reached into the high school ranks for an all-apparel deal. Adidas this year signed a $13 million contract with Miami-Dade County (Florida) Public Schools to outfit every student-athlete from the 40 high schools that make up the Greater Miami Athletic Conference. According to reports, the deal is worth $13.5 million for five years. “We provide an amazing pipeline of talent into sports, not only at the state level, but also at the national level, so we are again, promoting, validating, embracing the incredible talent that we have in MDCPS,” said Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent Dr. Jose Dotres in announcing the deal. Added Kelly Morris of Adidas: “It’s about the athlete, the student athlete, it really is, our commitment to investing in sport, this is really the epitome of our strategy and our mission, which is really serving athletes from the brand perspective, we’re about sport and serving the kids.”