![This graphic shows Michigan high school athletes competing in boys basketball during the 1960s, girls volleyball during the 1970s, football during the 1990s and golf during the 2020s.](/sites/default/files/2024-08/240828_100_2H.png)
Century of School Sports: Let the Celebration Begin
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 28, 2024
A milestone is an opportunity to look back, and we’ll surely dip into our history plenty during the 2024-25 school year as the Michigan High School Athletic Association celebrates 100 years of educational athletics.
But an anniversary of this magnitude also provides an ideal opportunity – at an ideal time in MHSAA history – to explain how we provide opportunities for students to participate in sports, and why that work remains vital.
Beginning next week and continuing through our final championship events next spring, we’ll be telling several of these stories as part of our “Century of School Sports” series on MHSAA.com.
School sports have advanced significantly over the last century, of course, but the values we strive to teach in educational athletics have remained consistent – and we’ll detail several of those efforts and how they’ve evolved over the years. There also are more high achievers and difference-makers worthy of recognition than we could ever highlight even during a year-long quest. But we will do our best to tell you about as many as possible.
Perhaps the most valuable lesson we at the East Lansing office learned during the COVID-19 pandemic is that school sports are just as meaningful to communities all over Michigan, and despite any perceived notion they are being pushed to the background by the multitude of non-school sports options that have sprouted over the last few decades.
We care about them enough to make them our life’s work – and we’re excited to tell many stories of what’s been, what we enjoy today and perhaps what’s to come for the next million student-athletes who will learn lifelong lessons studying in our extension of the classroom.
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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.