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High School Football
Join us in spreading the word about the benefits of participating in high school football.
High School Football
Join us in spreading the word about the benefits of participating in high school football.
You don’t have to leave a sport out to stand out.
Just ask the youngest player ever selected to the U.S. Junior National Baseball team: Joe Mauer.
While he was an early-ballot hall-of-famer in baseball and a number one overall draft pick, Mauer didn’t let his excellence in one sport hold him back from playing other sports.
In fact, Mauer was a USA Today National Player of the Year in football, as well as baseball.
“Playing in high school meant a lot,” says Mauer. “It’s your community. I’m proud to be a part of that.”
His dominance in multiple sports—including basketball—led him to become a 2024 NFHS National High School Hall of Fame selection.
Be well-rounded like Joe Mauer. Play high school football.
Be sure to use the hashtag #ThisIsHSFootball whenever you share stories and photos about football on social media!
Girls across the country can now dream a new dream: being a flag football player.
Joe Carter watched his World Series-winning walkoff homerun float over the Skydome fence in 1993.
In 2021, we partnered with the NFL to launch the #ThisIsHSFootball campaign. Our mission was to promote the benefits of playing and increase participation.
More student-athletes played 11-player high school football in 2025-26 than in any year since 2016-17. That's 1,043,716 student-athletes out under the Friday night lights, an increase of 14,128 over the previous season. Now let’s keep that momentum going.
Through this initiative, we aim to:
With your help, we can spread the word about the benefits of participating in high school football and celebrate this essential team sport for decades to come. No matter if you’re a coach, administrator, state association representative or even a fan, we can all help continue to increase participation numbers by using these tools to introduce more students—and their parent(s)/guardian(s)—to the game! Please share our messages on social media by clicking the share buttons wherever you see them. And be sure to use the hashtag #ThisIsHSFootball when creating your own content!
Promote the value of participating in football
Restore confidence in player protection
Improve the perception of football
