The latest secondary schools sports survey, carried out last year, showed that in Otago sports such as basketball, volleyball and futsal are very popular although rugby and netball remain strong.
The amount of secondary school pupils taking part in sport on Otago is very healthy.
The number of pupils representing their secondary schools in sport remains relatively stable nationwide with almost 150,000 pupils, or 53%, playing sport for their school in 2017.
The Otago figure is well above that, with 67% of pupils in Otago playing sport.
Playing sport is defined by playing in a competition for a minimum of six weeks or training for a competition for a minimum of six weeks. Pupils are only counted once even if they are playing more than one sport.
Basketball is experiencing major growth in schools and is now the third-largest in terms of pupils playing the sport across the country and it is the most popular sport in Otago.
Nationwide it has had growth of 27% in the past three years and in Otago it is doing even better.
There were 1573 pupils playing basketball in Otago last year, just ahead of netball and rugby.
Volleyball is also strong with 1142 pupils playing the game.
Futsal has also grown quickly in Otago quickly after not existing 10 years ago - more than 1000 pupils play the game in the province.
Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association regional sports director Nicki Paterson said many of the sports becoming popular had a good social aspect.
``The likes of basketball, volleyball, and futsal, you can go down to the Edgar Centre on say a Friday night, both boys and girls and play your game, and have some fun'' she said.
``You get a group of friends together and just play your game. That social side is an important aspect. Sure there is the elite, serious level but it is attractive for a lot of pupils.''
She said the region was blessed with great facilities and it was easy to get around venues, which was an advantage in getting pupils playing sport.
The participation rate had dropped slightly, about 1%, but that was a very small decline.
Basketball had the advantage of being popular with both girls and boys. Netball was still the leading sport for girls as was rugby for boys.
Basketball Otago general manager Justin Ludlow said many sports-oriented pupils wanted to play another sport and basketball was an option.
It was an easy sport to play and run. It was now a global sport with big stars, he said and there had been a big rise in numbers in the past couple of years.
Court space was at a premium. On a Friday night seven courts were used at the Edgar Centre as well as 11 high school gymnasiums.
The survey also showed about a third of teachers were involved in providing sport leadership in schools across the country, in terms of coaching, managing or officiating. In Otago that figure was at 42%, which Paterson said was great.
Teachers coaching sport was at 22% in Otago, a rise of 1%, and above the national average of 17%.
Paterson said teachers were being asked to do more in all parts of their career which left them time poor.
They did not get paid in helping sport teams but many did it as they saw the benefits in the relationship between teacher and pupil.
Touch (12,276, down 7%), athletics (11,930, down 6%) and cricket (9,591, down 4%) were the major sports to drop numbers.
She said there were many sports to play now and they were all trying to hard to attract competitors.
Wairarapa was the only region above Otago in participation.
There are 23 high schools in Otago with about 10,000 pupils.
