Wakeboarding is fastest growing sport in 2006

Saw this the other day and thought it was interesting. It's great for our sport although it means the rivers/lakes are going to be a lot more crowded in the future! Cheers

FASTEST GROWING SPORTS

According to the 20th annual Superstudy of U.S.sports participation by American Sports Data (ASD), the fastest growing sports in 2006 were: wakeboarding (+65%), snowshoeing (+43% to 2.8 million participants) and ice hockey (+42% to 3.7 million participants).

From a longer range perspective, Pilates training (+440% to 9.4 million) has had the largest participation growth since 2000, peaking at 10.4 million participants in 2005. Meanwhile, participation on elliptical trainers continues to climb steadily in U.S. fitness centers and in homes, rising 16% to 19.3 million users last year and 399% since 1999. But treadmill users (49.1 million) continue to outpace those who train on the elliptical, says ASD.



Top U.S. Growth Sports in 2006
(Ages 6+ in thousands)

2006 2005 Change

Wakeboarding 4,455 2,697 +65%
Snowshoeing 2,752 2,302 +43%
Ice Hockey 3,680 2,585 +42%
Sporting Clays 3,971 2,964 +34%
Wrestling 2,850 2,211 +28%
Trap/Skeet Shoot 5,053 4,046 +25%
Snowmobiling 5,818 4,780 +22%
Kayaking 8,377 6,962 +20%
Elliptical Trainers 19,256 16,679 +16%