The Baltimore County Interscholastic Athletic Program is organized within the framework of the Maryland Public Secondary School Athletic Association (MPSSAA) which is an affiliate of the National Federation of State High School Associations. A total of 28 sports are available to our students within Baltimore County’s twenty-four high schools.
Varsity teams compete in four different classification levels 4A, 3A, 2A, and 1A in a schedule built around a core of intra-county competition. At the conclusion of each sport season, varsity teams have the opportunity to qualify for county, regional, and state level tournaments. The majority of schools offer ten boys, ten girls, and eight coeducational teams.
Junior varsity competition is also available in 17 of the 28 sports offered, along with opportunities for additional post season play at the county level.
Baltimore County boasts the largest athletic program in the state of Maryland with over 1400 coaches and 12,000 student-athletes (49% of the student population, grade 9 through 12) participating yearly. Baltimore County also sports the largest total percentage of female participants in any interscholastic athletic program in the state.
Beginning with the 1994-95 school year, the Allied Sports Program was introduced to address needs of our students with disabilities. You may read about this program on our Allied Sports Program page.
The Baltimore County Public School Interscholastic Athletic Program is committed to promoting the proper ideals of sportsmanship, ethical conduct and fair play at all athletic contests. We oppose instances and activities which run counter to the best values of athletic competition in order to insure the well-being of all individual student-athletes. We support high standards of good citizenship and propriety, along with regard for the rights of others.
The Baltimore County Public Schools support the philosophy that a quality interscholastic athletic program is vital to the positive social, emotional, physical, and educational development of students. The interscholastic athletic program enhances and supports the mission of the school system to increase student achievement as evidenced by the county wide All-Academic team and the statewide Minds in Motion program.
The Baltimore County Public Schools take pride in the academic proficiency of our student-athletes. The Baltimore County All-Academic Team has been established by the Coaches’ Association of Baltimore County to recognize the student-athletes who have demonstrated academic excellence by maintaining a 3.0 average or better (out of a possible 4.0) while participating in interscholastic athletics. At the state level, to further stress the importance of academics in the athletic arena, the MPSSAA sponsors the Minds in Motion Award program for those students that achieve a 3.25 average or above (out of a possible 4.0) while participating in interscholastic athletics.
Annually, the Coaches’ Association of Baltimore County selects a senior female and male Scholar-Athlete. These outstanding graduating student-athletes are selected, based on their scholastic achievement and athletic contributions during their four year career, from a pool of nominees representing each high school in the county. The award is presented at a Board of Education meeting and consists of a monetary stipend and commemorative plaque.