As of 1996, LHSAA included 410 member schools and an annual certification of approximately 70,000 student athletes each year.

[2] LHSAA has twenty-three competitive sports programs, twelve for boys and eleven for girls.

The LHSAA sports programs are Baseball, Softball, Basketball, Swimming, Bowling, Tennis, Cross Country, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Football, Golf, Volleyball, Gymnastics, Wrestling, and Soccer.

In 1935 William Gray of Southern University established the Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Association (LIALO) to provide an organization for the African-American students of the state.

[3] This organization was absorbed into the LHSAA in 1969 and 1970[4] when the federal courts forced Louisiana to integrate the public schools.

Any team that finishes in one of the top four places in the state earns points towards a school's quest for the cup.