43 Percent of Athletes are Multi-Sport
August 19, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Nearly 43 percent of athletes at MHSAA member high schools continued to participate in two or more sports in 2018-19, according to the Multi-Sport Participation Survey, reinforcing similar data collected for the first time two years ago and providing a foundation for work by the MHSAA’s Multi-Sport Task Force as it prepares to continue efforts this fall to promote the multi-sport high school experience.
Early and intense sport specialization has become one of the most serious issues related to health and safety at all levels of youth sports, as overuse injuries and burnout among athletes have been tied to chronic injuries and health-related problems later in life. In early 2016, the MHSAA appointed the Task Force on Multi-Sport Participation as part of a continued effort to promote and protect participant health and address the issues leading to early sport specialization.
The multi-sport participation survey was created in 2018 to provide data on the prevalence of sport specialization at MHSAA member high schools. This year’s survey received responses from 82.9 percent of member high schools and measured how multi-sport participation exists at schools. The collection of survey results annually is expected to show how schools are succeeding in promoting a multi-sport high school experience, providing another tool as schools work to guide students toward a well-rounded interscholastic sports career.
From schools that responded to this year’s survey, 42.9 percent of students participated in athletics in 2018-19 – 46.3 percent of boys and 39.5 percent of girls. The overall participation number was up nearly half a percent from 2017-18 (42.5), with the boys percentage holding steady and the girls increasing nearly a full percent from a year ago. Class D schools – those with the smallest enrollments – again enjoyed the highest percentage of athletes among the entire student body, at 57.1 percent, followed by Class C (50.7), Class B (45.8) and Class A (39.4).
Of those athletes counted by responding schools, 43 percent participated in more than one sport – including 45.1 percent of boys and 40.4 percent of girls – with all three of those percentages nearly identical to those derived from the first survey a year ago. Class D again enjoyed the highest percentage of multi-sport athletes, 61.8 percent, followed by Class C (56.7), Class B (48.7) and Class A (35.4).
Similar results for overall sport participation and multi-sport participation relative to enrollment size were seen by further breaking down Class A into schools of fewer than 1,000 students, 1,000-1,500 students, 1,501-2,000 students and more than 2,000 students. Similarly to 2017-18 for both sport participation as a whole and multi-sport participation specifically, the smallest Class A schools continued to enjoy the highest percentages, while percentages then decreased for every larger size group of schools.
Also of note, the percentage of two-sport athletes at every school measure around one-third of athletes – from 29.2 percent at Class A schools to 35.7 at Class B, 37.2 at Class C and 35.6 at Class D. However the number of athletes participating in three sports decreased substantially relative to the increase in school enrollment, with 22.5 percent of Class D athletes playing three sports, 18.2 in Class C, 12.4 in Class B and 6.0 percent in Class A.
The MHSAA Task Force on Multi-Sport Participation will be meeting this fall to discuss creating a program to measure multi-sport participation at MHSAA member schools and to recognize “achievers” – that is, schools that surpass the norm given their enrollment and other factors that affect school sports participation.
For 2018-19, in Class A, Marquette posted the highest percentage of multi-sport athletes with 85.9 percent, up 3.3 percent from its top-ranking Class A percentage from 2017-18. Grand Rapids Northview also topped 80 percent multi-sport participation, with 83.1 percent of its athletes playing two or more sports. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Detroit East English and Gibraltar Carlson all saw multi-sport participation from at least 70 percent of their athletes.
In Class B, four schools again achieved at least 80 percent multi-sport participation – Coloma (87.2 percent), Gladstone (86.7), Flat Rock (83.2) and Dundee (80.2), while 10 schools had 70 percent or more athletes playing at least two sports.
Six Class C schools reported more than 80 percent of its athletes taking part in more than one sport – Schoolcraft (87.1), Mayville (86.2), Manton (85.3), Houghton Lake (84.9), Cass City (84.7) and Decatur (83.5) – and 12 schools total with 75 percent or more athletes participating in multiple sports. There were 14 Class D schools with multi-sport participation at 80.9 percent or higher, with Gaylord St. Mary (93.2), Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes (91.5) and Watersmeet (90.3) topping the survey not just for Class D but among all schools that responded.
The full summary report on the Multi-Sport Participation Survey is available on the “Health & Safety” page of the MHSAA Website.
MHSAA Provides Heat Management Reminders in Advance of 2023 Fall Practices
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 1, 2023
Temperatures reached record highs in some parts of Michigan at the start of this summer, and heat waves have made headlines nationally over the last month. Although the state didn’t experience similar extremes during July, the beginning of August always is a pertinent time for reminders that more hot weather is likely in many areas and should be prepared for as Michigan High School Athletic Association practices are set to begin Monday, Aug. 7.
Each year, the MHSAA provides information to its member schools to help them prepare for hot weather practice and game conditions during the late summer and early fall. Practices for all Fall 2023 sports – cross country, football, Lower Peninsula girls golf, boys soccer, Lower Peninsula girls swimming & diving, Lower Peninsula boys and Upper Peninsula girls tennis, and volleyball – may begin Monday, Aug. 7.
The “Health & Safety” page of the MHSAA Website has links to several information sources, including the MHSAA preseason publication Heat Ways, which is available for download and includes valuable information on heat management in addition to requirements and resources regarding head injuries and sudden cardiac arrest.
The first days of formal practices in hot weather should be more for heat acclimatization than the conditioning of athletes, and practices in such conditions need planning to become longer and more strenuous over a gradual progression of time. Schools also must consider moving practices to different locations or different times of day, or change practice plans to include different activities depending on the conditions. Furthermore, football practice rules allow for only helmets to be worn during the first two days, only shoulder pads to be added on the third and fourth days, and full pads to not be worn until the fifth day of team practice.
The MHSAA advises student-athletes to make sure to hydrate all day long – beginning before practice, continuing during and also after practice is done. Water and properly-formulated sports drinks are the best choices for hydration.
A number of member schools follow the MHSAA’s Model Policy for Managing Heat & Humidity, which while not mandated for member schools was adopted as a rule for MHSAA postseason competition in 2013. The plan directs schools to begin monitoring the heat index at the activity site once the air temperature reaches 80 degrees, and provides recommendations when the heat index reaches certain points, including ceasing activities when it rises above 104 degrees. (When the temperature is below 80 degrees, there is no combination of heat and humidity that will result in a need to curtail activity.) The model heat & humidity policy is outlined in a number of places on the MHSAA Website, including as part of Heat Ways.