Girls Events Set Record in 2013-14
September 18, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Michigan High School Athletic Association postseason tournaments drew more than 1.4 million fans in 2013-14 for the 15th straight school year, keyed in part by record attendance at girls events.
Total attendance for 2013-14 was 1,423,229 fans, with 988,669 at boys tournaments and 434,560 spectators at girls tournaments. Attendance is kept for all sports except golf, skiing and tennis, for which admission typically is not charged.
Total attendance did fall 10,127 fans, or 0.7 percent, from 2012-13. However, the girls tournament total broke a previous record set during the 2009-10 school year, with three girls sports setting overall attendance records: volleyball (101,654 fans), lacrosse (5,737) and competitive cheer (25,996). Boys and girls bowling tournaments, conducted simultaneously, also set an attendance record with 12,595 fans.
Cheer attendance increased for the 11th consecutive year and 2.8 percent from 2012-13; Cheer Finals attendance increased for the fifth straight year to a record 7,766 fans. The Boys Ice Hockey Finals also set a record with 14,595 fans, an increase of 1,690 over the previous year, while ice hockey’s total tournament attendance (60,778) was up 2.9 percent with increases at the Pre-Regional and Quarterfinal levels as well. Bowling, in addition to an overall attendance record, also saw a record for its Finals of 4,100 fans. The Baseball and Softball Finals, played at Michigan State University for the first time, did not set a record – but did draw 5,297 fans, a 29-percent increase from the previous season.
Attendance at boys tournament events fell to its lowest total since 1993-94, although the decrease from 2012-13 was less than one percent. However, football, despite a 1.5-percent decrease in attendance from the previous season, remained the highest MHSAA tournament draw for the seventh consecutive year with 392,069 fans. Football Finals attendance (52,409) rebounded 10.6 percent from 2012-13 after a similarly significant drop following 2011-12.
Boys Basketball Finals weekend attendance also bounced back significantly, with a 21.7-percent increase from the 2012-13 event to a three-day total of 42,373 fans at the Semifinals and Finals. Regional attendance also was up 4.8 percent, although overall boys basketball tournament attendance was down 3.2 percent to 308,205 fans. Girls basketball attendance was down 2.8 percent to 161,569 fans with Finals weekend attendance down 11.8 percent from 2012-13 – although the total Finals attendance of 16,763 fans in 2013-14 was the second-highest over the last four seasons, and attendance at Regionals and Quarterfinals increased from the previous girls basketball season.
Volleyball attendance increased 5.7 percent from 2012-13 while setting a District record of 68,447 fans, 16 percent more than the previous record set during 2011-12. Girls lacrosse bounced back from a slight drop in 2012-13 to set a record for overall attendance with 5,737 fans including a record for Semifinal attendance. Softball (3.7 percent to 42,242 fans), girls soccer (0.9 percent to 27,072) and girls swimming and diving (3.2 percent to 5,084) also saw attendance increases from 2012-13 – with girls soccer enjoying an 18-percent increase at the District level – while gymnastics (1,877) saw its lowest tournament attendance since 2007-08.
Five more sports saw attendance increases in 2013-14: Individual wrestling (49,037) was up 2.8 percent, boys lacrosse (7,726) was up 6.1 percent, baseball (47,540) was up 3.9 percent, boys and girls cross country (17,300) increased 1.9 percent and boys soccer (28,903) drew 35 more fans total than during 2012-13. Boys and girls cross country postseason events, like for bowling, are conducted simultaneously.
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.
Participation Stays Above Enrollment Dip
July 13, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Enrollment in Michigan High School Athletic Association member high schools continued a trend of slight declines in 2016-17, but participation in sports held firm as records were set in three of the 28 sports for which postseason tournaments are sponsored by the MHSAA.
A total of 283,625 participants competed in MHSAA-sponsored sports this past school year, down 0.21 percent from 2015-16. However, this year’s decrease falls in line with a decrease in enrollment at member schools of 0.40 percent. 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.
Despite a drop in girls enrollment of 0.60 percent in 2016-17, girls participation increased for the second straight school year to 119,937 participants, an increase of 0.55 percent. Boys overall participation fell 0.76 percent to 163,688 participants, slightly sharper than the drop in boys enrollment of 0.21 percent for the school year. However, eight girls sports and eight boys sports saw increases in participation in 2016-17.
Boys and girls lacrosse continued their record-setting climb, boys lacrosse with 5,114 participants to increase 3.3 percent from 2015-16 and break its record set in 2013-14. Girls lacrosse saw 2,814 participants, an increase of 1.4 percent from the previous year, to continue its streak of setting a participation record every season since becoming a sponsored tournament sport in 2005. Boys cross country also set a record for the second straight season, this time with an increase of 1.7 percent to 9,415 participants total.
Good news also came from girls basketball, which ended a string of 10 straight declines in participation with an increase of 2.2 percent in 2016-17 – those 15,896 participants were the most in the sport since 2013-14. The largest percentage increases by far in 2016-17 were seen in boys and girls skiing, which were up 16.4 and 14.4 percent, respectively, with 837 boys participants and 746 girls after both experienced decreases in participation the school year before.
A number of other sports also saw increases on both the boys and girls’ sides: swimming & diving saw a 5.2 percent increase for boys and 4.1 increase for girls, track & field saw a 2.4 percent increase for girls and 1.9 percent increase for boys, girls cross country joined its boys counterpart with a 1.0 percent increase in participation, and tennis saw a 2.8 percent increase for girls and 0.48 increase for boys. That boys tennis increase ended a string of seven straight years of declining participation.
Other sports to see increases in 2016-17 were girls golf, increasing for the second straight season, this time 2.9 percent to 3,561 participants; boys ice hockey, up 1.8 percent to 3,411 participants; and boys soccer up 0.38 percent to 14,630 participants.
Also of note in this year’s survey:
• The increase in participation for 16 sports during 2016-17 was compared to an increase in 15 sports for 2015-16 and only eight sports in 2014-15.
• After a significant slowing in participation decline in football over the previous three years, 2016-17 saw a decline of 4.6 percent, or 1,805 participants from 2015-16. The number of school-sponsored football programs remained consistent over the last two years – there were 642 in 2015-16 and 640 in 2016-17 (up from 630 in 2014-15). But there was a shift of programs from 11-player to 8-player; there were 15 fewer 11-player programs in 2016-17 than the year before, but 13 more 8-player programs.
• Of the 12 MHSAA sports that saw participation declines in 2016-17, three were by mere hundredths of a percent. Boys wrestling saw a decline of three participants total, girls gymnastics had two fewer participants and boys golf participation decreased by one person.
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 by clicking here.
The following chart shows participation figures for the 2016-17 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 |
635/656/6 |
17,989 |
- |
0/9 |
|
Basketball |
722/735/1 |
21,263 |
690/725 |
15,896/4 |
|
Bowling |
363/381/10 |
3,792 |
341/369 |
2,926/24 |
|
Competitive Cheer |
- |
- |
334/349 |
6,720 |
|
Cross Country |
618/649/0 |
9,415 |
609/646 |
8,489 |
|
Football - 11 player |
580/592/87 |
36,460 |
- |
0/111 |
|
- 8-player |
60/61/11 |
1,130 |
- |
14 |
|
Golf |
496/526/59 |
6,170 |
329/342 |
3,561/100 |
|
Gymnastics |
- |
- |
72/88 |
636 |
|
Ice Hockey |
233/257/14 |
3,397 |
|
0/14 |
|
Lacrosse |
147/153/3 |
5,110 |
107/107 |
2,814/4 |
|
Skiing |
92/102/3 |
830 |
89/103 |
746/7 |
|
Soccer |
481/499/23 |
14,541 |
459/483 |
13,212/89 |
|
Softball |
- |
- |
616/646 |
13,641 |
|
Swimming & Diving |
243/274/12 |
4,919 |
256/283 |
5,600/60 |
|
Tennis |
293/309/9 |
6,085 |
327/341 |
8,920/21 |
|
Track & Field |
655/683/0 |
23,232 |
648/681 |
17,009/0 |
|
Volleyball |
- |
- |
704/720 |
19,067 |
|
Wrestling |
459/483/159 |
9,355 |
- |
0/2 |
(A) The first number is the number of schools reporting sponsorship on the Sports Participation Survey. The second number indicates schools sponsoring the sport including primary and secondary schools in cooperative programs as of May 22, 2017. The third 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 g