Scholastic wrestling

Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practiced at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is practiced in 49 of the 50 states in the United States. When practiced by wrestling clubs of younger participants, scholastic wrestling is better known as "folkstyle".

According to an athletics participation survey taken by the National Federation of State High School Associations, boys' wrestling ranked eighth in terms of the number of schools sponsoring teams, with 9,445 schools participating in the 2006-07 school year. Also, 257,246 boys participated in the sport during that school year, making scholastic wrestling the sixth most popular sport among high school boys. In addition, 5,048 girls participated in wrestling in 1,227 schools during the 2006-07 season. Scholastic wrestling is currently practiced in 49 of the 50 states; only Mississippi does not officially sanction scholastic wrestling for high schools and middle schools. Arkansas, the 49th state to sanction high school wrestling, began scholastic wrestling competition in the 2008-09 season with over forty schools participating. Shortly after, Ocean Springs High School became the first school in Mississippi to have a high school team.