Michigan High School Athletic Association - Promoting Educational Athletics
Michigan High School Athletic Association - Promoting Educational Athletics |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Oct. 8, 2007 MHSAA Online Survey Gauges Views On School Sports EAST LANSING, Mich. – Oct. 8 – An unprecedented online survey to measure attitudes towards educational athletics is being launched today by the Michigan High School Athletic Association, a poll which will be used to help plot future extra-curricular programming for schools. “Have Your Say: The High School Sports Opinion Poll” is a 54-question survey which the MHSAA wants everyone affiliated with high school sports, sports fans in general, and the general public to take part in. Questions will be asked about media sources people use to follow high school sports, about their attendance at high school sporting events, about corporate sponsorship of high school sports, about sportsmanship, and about the role that high school sports serve. All questions will ask participants to respond on a scale of Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree, using a sliding button to submit their answers. An opportunity to provide additional comments, school affiliation and involvement in school and non-school sports are other pieces of information survey takers will be asked to provide. The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete. “We are exploring a number of issues affecting schools sports, and doing this first-of-a-kind survey to find out what people think about educational athletics will help us plan to keep these activities relevant to kids and schools through the next generation,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “Knowing what people want and expect out these extra-curricular programs will allow us to develop programming for schools and a business plan to support those programs.” The survey, available on the MHSAA Web site, will run through November 5. The data gathered from the survey will first be reviewed by the Association’s governing body, the Representative Council, at its Fall meetings on Nov. 29-30 in East Lansing. “This survey will be part of a variety of reports the Council will look at regarding issues that affect high school sports – non-school sports opportunities, televised sports, the changing educational landscape – something that will give us a very broad view and yet allow us to focus on specific things that can be done to improve our programs and services,” Roberts said. Roberts added that the survey has been structured so it can repeated on a scheduled basis to measure how views and attitudes about different aspects of school sports may change over time. It is anticipated that the survey will likely take place every two years. “Have Your Say: The High School Sports Opinion Poll” can be found at www.mhsaa.com/HaveYourSay. The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,600 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year. -0- RL08-018 AT&T, Farm Bureau Insurance Henry Ford Health Systems and MEEMIC Insurance
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