Scholastic

According to the 2017-18 NFHS High School Athletic Participation Survey, swimming and diving is the 10th-most popular sport for boys with 138,935 participants in 7,595 schools, and the eighth-most popular sport for girls with 175,594 participants in 7,961 schools.

Interscholastic athletics remain the best "deal," educationally and financially in America today. All administrators, teachers, coaches, and parents should know, understand and sell, at every conceivable opportunity, the values of competition/participation and performance, as those values are the same for students in grades 7 through 12, whether they finish 1st or 101st.
- from PIAA.org.