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Bowling, Boys Lacrosse Set Fan Records
October 10, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Bowling and boys lacrosse tournament events again drew record-breaking attendance totals during the 2018-19 school year as a total of 1,385,710 fans attended MHSAA postseason competitions for which attendance is recorded.
The MHSAA Bowling Tournament – including Regionals and Finals for girls and boys – set an attendance record for the eighth consecutive season last winter with 14,507 fans, including a record 10,124 for Regional competition. Boys lacrosse, which also begins postseason play at the Regional level, set a record for the third straight season this spring with 13,854 fans – with records also at the Regional level of 8,894 fans and Quarterfinal round with 1,911.
The MHSAA annually tracks attendance for all sports except golf, skiing and tennis – for which admission typically is not charged.
The 2018-19 grand total saw a decrease of just less than a half percent from 2017-18. While boys tournament event attendance was down 1.1 percent, or nearly 11,000 fans, girls tournament event attendance saw a 1.3-percent increase to 448,735, nearly 6,000 more fans than the year before.
A total of 17 sports saw increases in attendance for at least one round of tournament play. Three girls sports – basketball, competitive cheer and soccer – plus baseball saw increases in attendance for three rounds of the postseason. Girls volleyball, softball, boys basketball, football, ice hockey and both the team and individual wrestling tournaments saw attendance rise for at least two rounds of play compared to 2017-18.
Seven sports saw overall attendance increases from 2017-18. Girls Basketball, thanks in part to its best Regional attendance since 2001-02, was up 3.5 percent for the entire tournament with 164,166 fans. Cheer, with 27,697 fans for its postseason, was up 6.4 percent. Girls Soccer, with 27,689 fans, was up 1.5 percent for its entire playoffs.
Baseball saw overall postseason attendance increase 5.4 percent to 47,116 fans, and team wrestling was up 5.0 percent with 30,626 fans – including its highest total (15,089) for District competition since 2011-12. Girls and boys cross country – run together on the same days at the same sites – continued its recent surge with more than 19,000 total fans for the third straight season, its total of 19,799 last fall an increase of 1.1 percent from the previous year.
Despite a slight decrease in overall playoff attendance of 1.2 percent, football again drew the most fans of any MHSAA postseason with 348,585. That total was highlighted by a 12.7-percent increase at the Pre-District level for the 11-player tournament and a 22.8-percent jump for the Semifinal round, with 11 and 8-player games counted together. The Semifinals drew their most fans since 2014-15.
Boys basketball was the next most attended sport with 310,696 fans at postseason games, a decrease of just a quarter of a percent from 2017-18. The boys basketball attendance was highlighted by its best Regional turnout in four years and its best Quarterfinal attendance since 2012-13.
Basketball was the most attended girls sport for postseason play, with volleyball (105,128) also reaching six figures for the sixth straight year. Volleyball enjoyed its highest Regional and Quarterfinal attendance both since 2015-16.
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MHSAA Member Schools Enjoy Significant Rebound in Sports Participation in 2021-22
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 13, 2022
Participation in Michigan High School Athletic Association-sponsored sports rebounded tremendously during the 2021-22 school year, despite a slight decline in enrollment among the MHSAA’s 750 member high schools.
The onset of COVID-19 during the spring of 2020 was followed by a significant decline in participation in MHSAA sports during 2020-21. However, participation for the most recent school year concluding this spring saw an increase of 6.6 percent from 2020-21 to a total of 260,542 participants across the 28 sports for which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments – even as statewide enrollment fell 0.76 percent to 440,728 students this past school year.
Girls participation increased 6.8 percent to 109,128 athletes, while boys participation was up 6.5 percent to 151,414. The overall MHSAA participation totals count students once for each sport in which they participate, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once.
A total of 23 sports saw increases in participation during 2021-22 compared to 2020-21. Ten sports saw double-digit percentage increases, led boys track & field (27.2 percent to 22,120 participants), girls track & field (22.4 percent to 15,594 participants), and boys skiing (22.4 percent to 1,001 participants). Wrestling (17.1 percent) and boys bowling (16.2 percent) also saw double-digit increases, along with girls tennis (11.4 tennis), girls bowling (11.2 percent), girls competitive cheer (10.6 percent), boys golf (10.5 percent) and girls lacrosse (10 percent). Wrestling’s major boost came in part because of a nearly 300-percent increase in girls participants with 620 taking the mat for the first season of the MHSAA offering a girls championship division at its Individual Wrestling Finals.
Also enjoying increases in participation during 2021-22 from the previous year were girls golf (8.1 percent), girls skiing (7.6 percent), boys basketball (6.4 percent), girls soccer (6.3 percent), boys swimming & diving (6.1 percent), boys lacrosse (5.8 percent), softball (3.6 percent), girls basketball (3.1 percent), baseball (3.0 percent), boys tennis (2.8 percent), football (2.4 percent), girls volleyball (2.0 percent) and girls swimming & diving (1.2 percent).
Five sports saw decreased participation in 2021-22. The decline in boys soccer participation can be considered negligible, at only 0.21 percent with 28 fewer participants. Girls cross country (1.4 percent) and boys ice hockey participation (1.2 percent) decreases also were slight, with boys cross country next with a 3.9-percent decrease and girls gymnastics at 4.6 percent fewer participants than the previous school year.
Football, with a combined 33,284 participants over the 11 and 8-player formats, remained the most-played sport during the 2021-22 school year. Boys track & field (22,120) and boys basketball (20,017) were next for total participants followed by girls volleyball (18,798) – the most popular girls sport – baseball (16,528) and girls track & field (15,594).
While the majority of sports are still building back to their pre-COVID participation totals, golf and skiing posted some of their highest totals in some time. Boys golf (6,829) had its most participants since 2012-13, and girls golf (3,875) its highest total since 2003-04. The boys skiing total (1,001) was its highest since 2002-03, and the girls skiing total this past season (837) was the highest for that sport since 1998-99.
The participation figures are gathered annually from MHSAA member schools to submit to the National Federation of State High School Associations for compiling of its national participation survey. Results of Michigan surveys from the 2000-01 school year to present may be viewed on the MHSAA Website.
The following chart shows participation figures for the 2021-22 school year from MHSAA member schools for sports in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament:
BOYS |
GIRLS |
|||
Sport |
Schools (A) |
Participants |
Schools (A) |
Participants (B) |
Baseball |
657/12 |
16,505 |
- |
-/23 |
Basketball |
730/4 |
20,006 |
721 |
13,596/11 |
Bowling |
422/14 |
4,059 |
415 |
2,684/26 |
Competitive Cheer |
- |
- |
360 |
5,741 |
Cross Country |
669/1 |
8,057 |
668 |
7,150/1 |
Football - 11 player |
531/105 |
30,955 |
- |
-/129 |
8-player |
118/16 |
2,181 |
- |
-/19 |
Golf |
528/62 |
6,705 |
367 |
3,875/124 |
Gymnastics |
- |
- |
102 |
585 |
Ice Hockey |
313/14 |
3,160 |
- |
-/14 |
Lacrosse |
179/9 |
4,759 |
126 |
3,053/14 |
Skiing |
125/5 |
993 |
119 |
837/8 |
Soccer |
500/12 |
13,126 |
490 |
11,826/35 |
Softball |
- |
- |
648 |
11,800 |
Swimming & Diving |
274/20 |
4,311 |
281 |
5,174/48 |
Tennis |
308/18 |
6,040 |
340 |
7,936/27 |
Track & Field |
694 |
22,120 |
695 |
15,594 |
Volleyball |
- |
- |
722 |
18,798 |
Wrestling |
492/249 |
8,437 |
/620 |
(A) The first number is the number of schools reporting sponsorship on the Sports Participation Survey, including primary and secondary schools in cooperative programs as of May 15, 2022. The second number indicates the number of schools that had girls playing on teams consisting primarily of boys.
(B) The second number indicates the number of additional girls playing on teams consisting primarily of boys and entered in boys competition.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 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.