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BOTF x 2

April 5, 2013

“Battle of the Fans,” an idea of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, is one of the best ideas to ever flow from the MHSAA.  It has provided a new way of promoting one of the oldest, and most important, defining features of school sports.  That’s sportsmanship.

Where schools have participated in BOTF, attending school sports events is becoming cool again.  Crowds are larger and more positive.  Students and administrators are having positive discussions about sportsmanship.  Media are reporting on the positive changes they are seeing.

Take a look on MHSAA.com at the videos submitted by 27 schools this year to enter the second BOTF competition.  Look at the videos prepared for the five finalists after the MHSAA’s onsite visit.

Spectator stands are filled with students – happy, engaged, energetic, cheering students.  Exactly what we want in school sports; exactly what is missing from other youth sports programs.

It’s our advantage – energized students, cheerleaders, pep bands, marching bands and mascots.  It’s what we have and what the AAU doesn’t have; what US Soccer Development Academies don’t have; what club volleyball lacks and what travel ice hockey is missing.

Using YouTube and Facebook, BOTF is a new way to present and an energetic way to promote school sports that is local, student-centered, high spirited and highly sportsmanlike.

Congratulations to our two winners so far – Frankenmuth in 2012 and Buchanan in 2013.

MHSAA Membership

May 9, 2016

May is the month that begins membership renewal in the Michigan High School Athletic Association, when the 2016-17 Membership Resolution is mailed to school districts across the state.

New for 2016-17 is that schools may join the MHSAA at the 6th-grade level and up (not 7th). This change, resulting from a 561 to 87 vote by member school principals last October, has three obvious benefits:

  1. Makes it easier for small schools to include 6th-graders in their counts and on their 7th- and 8th-grade teams.

  2. Makes it easier for districts where 6th-graders are in buildings with 7th- and 8th-graders to participate on those junior high/middle school teams.

  3. Allows all districts, but requires no districts, to provide athletic opportunities for 6th-graders under the auspices of the MHSAA (on separate teams or with 7th- and 8th-graders).

Membership in the MHSAA is optional. It is a choice schools make through their local governing boards. Schools may conduct a comprehensive program of interscholastic athletics and may participate against MHSAA member schools in regular-season competition without joining the MHSAA.

Membership in the MHSAA is free of charge. There are no membership dues. While MHSAA tournaments are limited to MHSAA member high schools in good standing, there are no tournament entry fees for qualifying schools. Catastrophic Accident Medical Insurance and Concussion Care Insurance is purchased by the MHSAA and provided free of charge to all eligible student-athletes in grades 6 through 12. It applies to all levels of MHSAA sports in both practice and competition.

The expectations of member schools include:

  • Educating student-athletes, staff and other involved personnel about MHSAA rules and procedures.

  • Monitoring compliance year-around.

  • Investigating possible violations and reporting findings.

  • Administering penalties.