Fall Athletes: Prepare for Hot Weather
July 26, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As summer activities wind down with an eye toward the beginning of fall sports next month, the MHSAA advises that student-athletes need to prepare for training in the hot weather that traditionally accompanies the beginning of August and the first practices of the school year.
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. Football practice can begin at MHSAA schools August 6, followed by first practices for all other fall sports August 8.
The topic of heat-related injuries receives a lot of attention at this time of year, especially when deaths at the professional, collegiate and interscholastic levels of sport occur, and especially since they are preventable in most cases with the proper precautions.
“This month’s high temperatures across much of Michigan served as a reminder that we all must take a role in making sure our student-athletes are ready for hot weather as practices get underway,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “At the start of every fall, we point out that with proper precautions and planning, heat illness is almost always preventable. It is imperative that we continue to emphasize this message and teach the best practices for staying safe both to our returning student-athletes and those taking part for the first time.”
Heat, hydration and acclimatization continue to be focuses of the MHSAA’s required preseason rules meetings for coaches and officials. The online presentations discuss the need for good hydration in sports, regardless of the activity or time of year, and informs both how to recognize the early signs of heat illness and the immediate steps to take to respond to those symptoms. The MHSAA requires all head varsity, varsity assistant and subvarsity coaches at the high school level to complete the rules and risk minimization meeting requirement.
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.
Roberts also emphasized that student-athletes should 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, while energy drinks, high-carbohydrate fruit juices (greater than eight percent carb content), carbonated and caffeinated beverages are among those that should be avoided. The “Health & Safety” page of the MHSAA Website has a number of links to various publications and information including recommendations on proper hydration from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
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 the publication Heat Ways, also available for download from the “Health & Safety” page.
Rep Council Wrap-Up: Spring 2016
May 13, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association continued to create opportunities for participation in high school athletics during its annual Spring Meeting, May 1-2, in Glen Arbor, with a pair of actions designed to assist more schools in forming cooperative programs.
The Spring Meeting of the 19-member legislative body of the Association’s more than 1,400 member schools is generally the busiest of its three sessions each year. The Council considered 18 committee proposals and also dealt with a variety of eligibility rule, postseason tournament and operational issues.
Among proposals approved was a recommendation by the MHSAA Classification Committee designed to promote opportunities for schools demonstrating a long-standing lack of participation in baseball, bowling, competitive cheer, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis and wrestling – provided those schools are part of the same public school district or fall under the same governing body. The new exception will allow, by Executive Committee approval, eligible schools to form cooperative programs regardless of enrollment limits placed on other schools and in other sports – currently, schools forming a co-op program in these sports must have an enrollment of fewer than 1,000 students.
The Council also voted to add opportunities for cooperative programs in all sports at the subvarsity level for schools showing a history of lack of participation. Again with Executive Committee approval, two or more member high schools may form a cooperative at the subvarsity level only regardless of student enrollment restrictions that would prevent the same cooperative at the varsity level. Students on these subvarsity cooperative teams would have varsity eligibility only with their school of actual enrollment should they be brought up to a varsity team.
The Council continued its work on health and safety that has been emphasized during the past seven years of an eight-year campaign focused on “4 H’s” – Health Histories, Heads, Heat and Hearts.
The Council approved enhancements to the MHSAA Physical Exam/Clearance/Consent Forms that in part include an annual requirement that students and parents acknowledge reading concussion education information. This enhancement is consistent with requirements of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
A number of changes regarding rules meeting requirements for coaches beginning in 2017-18 also were authorized. Concussion education will be the focus of the meetings’ health and safety section every other year, with other health and safety topics (including overuse injuries, sudden cardiac arrest and heat illness) alternating in off years. High school assistant and subvarsity coaches will be required to complete the same rules/risk management meeting as high school varsity head coaches after previously having additional options by which to satisfy the requirement. At all levels, coaches will not be allowed to coach in the MHSAA tournament for that sport in that season if they do not comply with the rules meeting requirement.
For football, the Council approved a Football Committee recommendation stating that teams, after their first game, should partake in no more than 90 minutes of collision practice per week. Currently, teams are allowed two days of collision practice after their first game, but this new recommendation suggests a minute limit as well. During other days of practice, players still may wear helmets and other protective pads (although neither is mandatory) and practice blocking and tackling technique against pads, shields, sleds or dummies.
The Council also heard plans for the second year of the MHSAA’s sideline concussion testing pilot program and received a summary of the first meeting of the MHSAA Task Force on Multi-Sport Participation.
Here is a summary of other actions taken by the Representative Council at the Spring Meeting, which will take effect during the 2016-17 school year unless noted:
Handbook/Administrative Matters
• Out-of-season coaching rules were adjusted to allow teams of both genders playing the same sport to both host four-player skill group sessions with different coaches but at the same facility at the same time. Currently, only one four-player group in each sport, per school, can train at a facility at one time.
• Additional language regulating competition against out-of-state opponents prohibits MHSAA schools from participating in events involving teams from other states unless all of those teams at the event are bona fide school teams (not sports academy, club or community teams) and are members of their respective National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) member high school associations, if eligible.
Sport Matters
• In bowling, the number of athletes allowed on an MHSAA Regionals and Finals roster was reduced from eight to seven after past seasons showed the eighth bowler rarely was involved in competition. Teams may bowl up to five during competition and may still have up to two substitutes, but the roster reduction should reduce congestion in the competition area of bowling centers during events.
• In competitive cheer, the Council approved two committee recommendations intended to make uniforms more consistent for all teams: Beginning during the 2017-18 season, all hair bows must be one solid color and not include adornments; and beginning in 2019-20, all uniforms must be free from cutouts and adornments including sequins, rhinestones, studs, glitter, etc.
• For football, in addition to the collision practice recommendation, the Council voted to allow MHSAA staff to request permission from the National Federation to experiment with using a 40-second play clock for the 2016 season. If granted, individual schools, with agreement of opponents and/or their leagues, may request MHSAA permission to conduct a contest using this timing option. Teams automatically would have 40 seconds to snap the ball from the end of the previous play, rather than the current 25 seconds after the official sets the ball and signals for the play clock to begin. (If play has been stopped by a timeout or penalty, the offense still will have 25 seconds to snap from the time the referee sets the ball and starts the play clock.)
• In golf, the Council approved a committee recommendation to add a sixth Regional tournament for the Lower Peninsula for both girls and boys, allowing for three more teams and three more individual players to qualify for the Lower Peninsula Finals. In adding the sixth Regional, the Council also voted to eliminate Lower Peninsula Districts from the boys tournament, pursuant to the Golf Committee’s recommendation. However, while eliminating one round of play for the boys, the addition of another Regional for both boys and girls will bring the field to 108 players for each gender for the MHSAA championship rounds.
• In ice hockey, an additional option to MHSAA overtime procedures was approved that will allow teams playing a two-game total-goal series to proceed to an overtime shootout after the second game to determine a series winner if the total goals are tied at the end of the two games. Schools must receive MHSAA approval prior to the series start.
• In boys lacrosse, a tournament with eight Regionals advancing champions to four Quarterfinals was approved; the current bracket includes only four Regionals and advances those champions to Semifinals in each division.
• In volleyball, the Council approved an adjustment that standardizes where Class C and D Quarterfinals will be played when including one Upper Peninsula and one Lower Peninsula team. In even years, the Quarterfinal will be played in the Lower Peninsula for Class C and the Upper Peninsula for Class D. In odd years, Class C will be played in the Upper Peninsula and Class D in the Lower Peninsula.
The Council also reviewed reports on membership, with 755 senior high schools and 705 junior high/middle schools in 2015-16; eligibility advancement applications, which totaled five for the year; the use of Educational Transfer Forms, which again held steady this year; school violations, attendance at athletic director in-service workshops and Coaches Advancement Program sessions, officials’ registrations, rules meetings attendance and officials reports submitted for the past three sports seasons. The Association’s $10.7 million budget for the 2016-17 school year also was approved.
The Representative Council is the 19-member legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.
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.