BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released graphs showing the growth of sports on the Division II level which depict minor growth in water polo during the period of 2001-to-2017.
Among NCAA Division II men’s sports, water polo experienced a net growth of one program per the statistics from the 2016-17 NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report. Among 14 sports that experienced growth or remained steady in terms of programs during the 2001-to-2017 period, water polo (one) trails indoor track & field (66), outdoor track & field (65), cross country (50), soccer (46), golf (45), baseball (38), lacrosse (37), basketball (30), swimming & diving (23), wrestling (20), football (15) and volleyball (6) with ice hockey remaining stagnant.
Four sports experienced declines as tennis (-11), fencing (-5), skiing (-3) and gymnastics (-1) all decreased in terms of program numbers.
Comparatively, 19 of 20 NCAA Women’s Division II sports experienced growth or remain unchanged during the same time period. Golf (107), outdoor track & field (86), indoor track & field (83), lacrosse (81), soccer (69), cross country (52), softball (46), swimming & diving (37), volleyball (35), basketball (31), bowling (27), beach volleyball (9), tennis (9), field hockey (8), ice hockey (3), rowing (2), water polo (2) and fencing (1) all increased, while gymnastics remained unchanged. The lone sport to experience a decrease was skiing which lost three programs.
