2013-14 Fall Practice Begins Next Week
August 7, 2013
Approximately 110,000 student-athletes begin practice next week in eight sports in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments, signaling the beginning of the 2013-14 Fall sports season.
Practice sessions begin Monday (Aug. 12) in football, followed by all other sports Wednesday (Aug. 14). Practice in football must begin on Aug. 12 for all schools wishing to begin regular-season games the weekend of Aug. 29-31. Schools must have 12 days of preseason practice at all levels before their first game, which may not occur before 16 calendar days. All football schools also must conduct at least three days of practice before beginning contact, and those sessions may not include any pads.
In golf and tennis, competition may commence no earlier than after three separate days of team practice, and not before seven calendar days. The first day competition may take place in golf and tennis is Aug. 21. In all other fall sports, contests can take place after seven days of practice for the team and not before nine calendar days. The first day competition may take place in cross country, tennis, soccer, swimming and diving, and volleyball in the fall is Aug. 23.
This year, only one football date precedes Labor Day, and most varsity games will take place on Thursday, Aug. 29, that week. Subvarsity competition may begin on Wednesday, Aug. 28. In Week 1, 253 games will be played on Thursday, 74 contests will be played on Friday, and 12 games will be played on Saturday.
There are several significant rules changes on football for 2013:
- Pass interference no longer is an automatic first down if against the defense, or results in a loss of down if against the offense. Both are a 15-yard mark-off from the previous spot, and the down is replayed except when the penalty against the defense results in a first down.
- If a player’s helmet comes off during a play, it is illegal participation and a 15-yard penalty if that player continues to participate in a play; and a personal foul and a 15-yard penalty if a player from the opposing team initiates contact with a player whose helmet has come off.
- On a catch, an airborne receiver whose forward progress is stopped and is carried out of bounds by a defender will be ruled a legal catch. If the airborne receiver is contacted and driven out of bounds, the result of the play is an incomplete pass.
- Following a penalty on the kicking team for kick catch interference on a fair catch play, the receiving team can opt to take a free kick after the 15-yard penalty has been enforced.
In soccer, Michigan has adopted the National Federation rule involving the disqualification from a game when a player receives a second yellow card and the subsequent red card. Now, in addition to the player being ejected from the contest, that team will have to continue the game a player down. A player receiving a yellow card must leave the game immediately, but now may reenter at the next available opportunity, and no longer have to sit out for 10 minutes. There are no substantial rules change in other fall sports.
The 2013 Fall campaign culminates with postseason tournaments beginning with the Upper Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals the week of Oct. 1, and wraps up with the Football Playoff Finals on Nov. 29-30. Here is a complete list of fall tournament dates:
Cross Country:
U.P. Finals -- Oct. 19
L.P. Regionals -- Oct. 25 or 26
L.P. Finals -- Nov. 2
11-Player Football:
Selection Sunday - Oct. 27
Pre-Districts – Nov. 1 or 2
District Finals -- Nov. 8 or 9
Regional Finals -- Nov. 15 or 16
Semifinals -- Nov. 23
Finals -- Nov. 29-30
8-Player Football:
Selection Sunday - Oct. 27
Regional Semifinals – Nov. 1 or 2
Regional Finals -- Nov. 8 or 9
Semifinals -- Nov. 16
Finals -- Nov. 22 or 23
L.P. Girls Golf:
Regionals -- Oct. 9 or 10 or 11 or 12
Finals -- Oct. 18-19
Soccer:
Boys L.P. Districts -- Oct. 14-19
Boys L.P. Regionals – Oct. 22-26
Boys L.P. Semifinals – Oct. 30
Boys L.P. Finals -- Nov. 2
L.P. Girls Swimming & Diving
Diving Quals -- Nov. 19
Swimming/Diving Finals-Nov. 22-23
Tennis:
U.P. Girls Finals –Oct. 2 or 3 or 4 or 5
L.P. Boys Regionals -- Oct. 10 or 11 or 12
L.P. Finals --Oct. 18-19
Girls Volleyball:
Districts – Nov. 4-9
Regionals – Nov. 12 & 14
Quarterfinals – Nov. 19
Semifinals – Nov. 21-22
Finals – Nov. 23
Use of Participation Fees Rises Slightly
August 20, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Nearly 57 percent of Michigan High School Athletic Association high schools assessed participation fees to help fund interscholastic athletics in 2013-14, according to the most recent survey taken by the MHSAA – indicating a slight increase in use of fees compared to the previous school year.
Of 405 high schools that responded to the 2013-14 survey, 229 – or 56.6 percent – charged fees last school year compared to 55.3 percent of member schools that charged in 2012-13. The percentage of member schools charging fees crossed 50 percent in 2010-11 and remained at 50.5 percent in 2011-12 before making a nearly five-percent jump two school years ago.
There were 758 senior high schools in the MHSAA membership in 2013-14 – the most recent survey generated a response rate of 53 percent. This was the 10th survey of schools since the 2003-04 school year, when members reported fees were being charged in 24 percent of schools.
The largest surge of charging fees in 2013-14 came at Class A schools, with 77 percent reporting fees after 71 percent reported using them in 2012-13. Class B schools saw a one percent increase to 62 percent with fees, and Class D schools saw a two percent increase to 39 percent. Class C schools, however, saw a four percent drop to 46 percent assessing for participation.
Charging a standardized per-team fee for each on which a student participates remains the most popular method among schools that assess fees, with 41 percent of schools that assess doing so in this way. The median fee among those schools was $85 in 2013-14, an increase of $20 from the previous year.
Building on a trend that emerged during the 2011-12 survey, the use of fees incurred by students who paid once for an entire year of participation increased for the third consecutive school year, this time to 33 percent of schools that charge – although, on a positive note, the median fee for students paying once for a school year dropped $25 from 2012-13 to $100 in 2013-14.
The survey for 2013-14 and surveys from previous years can be found on the MHSAA Website.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 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 more than 1.4 million spectators each year.