High school soccer was a growing sport in Iowa by the early 1990s, but was not organized. Several schools (especially private schools who did not have football teams), had begun playing soccer in the fall, while other schools played in the spring, and yet others in the summer. Numbers were still small by the 1994-95 school year, but growing, leading the IHSAA to sanction the sport. Initially, two tournaments were held every year, one in the fall and one in the spring. The number of teams playing in the spring continued to grow, from 48 the first year to 77 just three years later, and a second classification was added for the spring tournament. However, the fall tournament did not see any growth; in fact there was a slight decline over the same time period from the original 18 participants. This led to the elimination of the fall tournament after the 2000-01 school year. Meanwhile, spring sponsorship of soccer continued to grow among Iowa high schools, and a third classification was added starting with the 2008-09 school year.