MHSAA Fall Practices to Begin with Common Start Date, Return of Traditional Schedules & Formats
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 6, 2021
Teams participating in all nine sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments – featuring more than 100,000 student athletes statewide – will be allowed to begin practice Monday, Aug. 9, and with a return to traditional schedules and MHSAA Tournament formats after COVID-19 resulted in various adjustments for the Fall 2020 season.
Postseason competition in cross country, football, golf, tennis and swimming & diving will revert to their customary formats this season, with all fall sports scheduled based on their traditional calendars other than beginning practice with a common start date for the first time. At the time of this release, there are no COVID-19-related state-ordered restrictions regarding school sports, for either athletes or spectators, from either the MHSAA or the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services (MDHHS). County health departments and local school districts may institute restrictions for venues in their areas, and teams traveling to those schools and venues must follow local mandates.
For most of the MHSAA’s modern history, football teams had begun practice Monday of the first week of the preseason, followed by the rest of fall teams two days later. A 2019 rule change allowed a few more sports to begin on Monday, dependent on their Finals dates that fall. The common start date for all fall practices this season and annually moving forward was approved by the MHSAA Representative Council at its Spring Meeting in May and allows all teams to begin the 16th Monday before Thanksgiving.
Football teams still must have 12 days of preseason practice at all levels before their first game, over a period of 16 calendar days before the first kickoff, with the first varsity games this fall scheduled for Aug. 26 and the weekend of Aug. 27-28. Competition this fall may begin Aug. 16 for golf and tennis teams and Aug. 18 in cross country, soccer, volleyball and swimming & diving.
One of the most anticipated sport-related changes for Fall 2021 is the full implementation of the “enhanced strength-of-schedule” format for selecting the 256-team field for the 11-Player Football Playoffs. The new format eliminates automatic qualification based on win total and bases it solely on playoff-point average, which also is determined differently in that it now awards teams more for playing tougher schedules. (Click for a more detailed comparison of the previous and new formats.)
The new playoff-point formula was used in 2020 to seed teams at the District and Regional levels, but its use for qualification was put on hold as COVID-19 caused a one-season switch in playoff format that allowed all teams to qualify.
Additional rules changes in cross country, football, golf and tennis will be most noticeable this fall:
• Cross Country will provide an opportunity for more individual Finals qualifiers this season, as a minimum of seven individual qualifiers will advance from each Regional race. Previously, runners on teams that did not qualify as a whole could still advance to the Finals if they finished among the top 15 individuals at a Regional – but at some Regionals runners from the team qualifiers filled the great majority of those top 15 finishes. The seven individual qualifiers from each Regional this season will be the first seven finishers from teams that do not qualify as a whole, even if they finish outside of the top 15.
• Another football change continues the focus on minimizing injury risk, addressing blocking below the waist in the free-blocking zone (the rectangular area extending laterally four yards to either side of the snap and three behind the line of scrimmage). The new rule states a below-the-waist block in the free-blocking zone must occur as an immediate, initial action following the snap, instead of the previous rule which allowed an offensive lineman to delay and block below the waist as long as the ball was still in the zone.
• For Lower Peninsula girls golf, teams will be required to use the scoring platform iWanamaker also for the regular season, just as they were required to do so for MHSAA Tournament competition during the 2020-21 school year. The scoring platform is made available through the MHSAA Golf app, which was created and is operated by iWanamaker and allows golfers, coaches and fans to chart scoring in real time.
• In tennis, if a seeded player withdraws on the day of an MHSAA Regional or Final, all seeded players below that withdrawing player (including the provisional seed in that flight) will move up and be placed on the proper line for that new seed. (Non-seeded players drawn into the bracket will not be moved.)
The 2021 Fall campaign culminates with postseason tournaments beginning with the Upper Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals during the final week of September and wraps up with the 11-Player Football Finals on Nov. 26 and 27. Here is a complete list of fall tournament dates:
Cross Country
U.P. Finals – Oct. 23
L.P. Regionals – Oct. 29 or 30
L.P. Finals – Nov. 6
11-Player Football
Selection Sunday – Oct. 24
Pre-Districts – Oct. 29 or 30
District Finals – Nov. 5 or 6
Regional Finals – Nov. 12 or 13
Semifinals – Nov. 20
Finals – Nov. 26-27
8-Player Football
Selection Sunday – Oct. 24
Regional Semifinals – Oct. 29 or 30
Regional Finals – Nov. 5 or 6
Semifinals – Nov. 13
Finals – Nov. 19 or 20
L.P. Girls Golf
Regionals – Oct. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9
Finals – Oct. 15-16
Soccer
Boys L.P. Districts – Oct. 13-23
Boys L.P. Regionals – Oct. 26-30
Boys L.P. Semifinals – Nov. 3 Boys
L.P. Finals – Nov. 6
L.P. Girls Swimming & Diving
Diving Regionals – Nov. 11
Swimming/Diving Finals – Nov. 19-20
Tennis
U.P. Girls Finals – Sept. 29, 30, Oct. 1, or 2
L.P. Boys Regionals – Oct. 6, 7, 8 or 9
L.P. Finals – Oct. 14-16
Girls Volleyball
Districts – Nov. 1-6
Regionals – Nov. 9 &11
Quarterfinals – Nov. 16
Semifinals – Nov. 18-19
Finals – Nov. 20
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.
Leinaar, Smith Receive 2014 Bush Awards
June 5, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A pair of administrators who combined have served high school athletes for more than 60 years on local, state and national levels – Bear Lake athletic director Karen S. Leinaar and Buchanan athletic director Fredrick J. Smith – have been named recipients of the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Allen W. Bush Award for 2014.
Al Bush served as executive director of the MHSAA for 10 years. The award honors individuals for past and continuing service to prep athletics as a coach, administrator, official, trainer, doctor or member of the media. The award was developed to bring recognition to men and women who are giving and serving without a lot of attention. This is the 23rd year of the award, with selections made by the MHSAA's Representative Council.
This year’s honorees have much in common. Both have served multiple school districts during careers each stretching more than three decades. Both have hosted a variety of MHSAA tournament events at multiple levels, including Leinaar managing MHSAA Volleyball and Competitive Cheer Finals.
Both also have been registered MHSAA game officials for 29 years and continue to serve as elected members of the Representative Council – Leinaar since 2000 and Smith since 2005.
“One quality that both Karen and Fred share is their willingness to serve others,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “No local athletic administrator has worked at more MHSAA Finals venues than Karen, and no one has conducted more leadership training for athletic administrators than Fred.”
A multiple-sport standout while attending Delton-Kellogg High School, Leinaar joined that school’s staff in 1982 and served as athletic director and recreation director during a tenure stretching more than 16 years. She later served as athletic director at both Gaylord and then Benzonia Benzie Central before taking her current position in 2010 at Bear Lake schools, where she organizes athletic programs for students grades 5-12.
Leinaar has been a member for 30 years of both the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA), and has served as chairperson of the MIAAA Annual Conference and awards chairperson for both the state and national bodies. She’s also served as chairperson of the MIAAA’s Exemplary Athletic Program and in various leadership roles as part of the MIAAA Board of Directors including as Assistant to the Executive Director.
Leinaar received the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Award in 1998, a citation from the NFHS in 2000 and was named MIAAA Athletic Director of the Year in 2001. She also served four years on the Board of Directors for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
“Karen continues to serve as a voice for high school athletic departments throughout Michigan, and for Michigan high schools at the national level,” Roberts said. “She’s a go-to person on a variety of issues who understands the challenges of schools small and large, north and south. Karen Leinaar is a deserving recipient of the Bush Award.”
Smith began his career as a teacher, coach and athletic director at St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic High School, served as athletic director at Comstock for 16 years beginning in 1985 and joined Buchanan as athletic director for grades 7-12 at the start of the 2007-08 school year.
In addition to hosting numerous MHSAA tournaments at the District, Regional and Quarterfinal levels, and serving on a number of MHSAA sport committees, Smith has provided instruction and leadership training at the state and national levels.
He’s presented at 12 MHSAA New Athletic Administrator In-Service programs and also presented at the first statewide MHSAA Sportsmanship Summit. He’s also a certified instructor for the MHSAA’s Coaches Advancement Program. Smith has been involved in the NIAAA Leadership Training Program at both the state and national levels, instructing Leadership Training Institute classes in eight states as well as at the MIAAA state and NIAAA national conferences.
Smith has been a member of the MIAAA since 1985 and has served as its president and the co-chairperson of its Professional Development Committee; he earned its Athletic Director of the Year award in 2000 and George Lovich State Award of Merit in 2007. Smith also has been a member of the NIAAA since 1985 and earned both the Thomas E. Frederick Award of Excellence in 2004 and Frank Kovaleski Professional Development Award in 2012.
“Fred Smith understands – and has taught to administrators all over the state and country – the value of educational athletics. His Buchanan program provides an outstanding example for others to follow,” Roberts said. “Professional development is of high importance to Fred; he works to help others improve just as he seeks to grow himself. We are pleased to present Fred Smith with the Bush Award.”
Leinaar has worked with athletic boosters at Delton Kellogg, Gaylord, Benzie Central and Bear Lake, and served as a member of the Frankfort Downtown Development Association. She graduated from Delton Kellogg in 1977, earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Michigan State University in 1982 and a master’s in athletic administration from Western Michigan University in 1994. She has received the Certified Athletic Administrator designation from the NIAAA.
Smith has served on the Buchanan Area Recreation Board since 2010 and also has been active in the Berrien County “Girls on the Run” program, Buchanan’s “Thrill on the Hill” and the McCoy Creek Trail/Buchanan Athletic Dinner-Dance Charity Auction. Also a multi-sport high school athlete, he graduated from Battle Creek St. Philip in 1973 and earned his bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University in 1979. He became a Certified Master Athletic Administrator from the NIAAA in 2006.