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Participation decreases slightly, follows enrollment
June 12, 2013
Participation in high school sports in which postseason tournaments are sponsored by the Michigan High School Athletic Association dropped for the second straight school year in 2012-13. However, the decrease remained in step with a recent decline in member school enrollment.
A total of 293,810 participants took part in the 28 tournament sports offered by the Association during the past year – a 1.2 percent decrease from the 2011-12 figure of 297,317. However, that participation decrease nearly matched the overall drop in member schools’ enrollment of 1.1 percent over the last two years and was smaller than the 1.5-percent dip experienced from 2010-11 to 2011-12. Overall girls participation fell 1.3 percent from 2011-12, slightly less than the 1.4 percent drop in girls enrollment. Boys participation dropped 1.1 percent, while boys enrollment dropped only 0.8 percent.
Participation has fallen slower than enrollment over recent years. Since 2006-07, the enrollment at MHSAA schools is down from 531,903 to 482,391 – a drop of 9.3 percent. But participation during that time has dropped only 6.2 percent. The overall MHSAA totals count students once for each sport in which they participate, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once.
Records were set in four sports in 2012-13 – boys lacrosse (5,065), girls lacrosse (2,501), boys cross country (8,744) and girls cross country (8,378). Both lacrosse totals have increased annually during their nine years as MHSAA tournament sports. Boys cross country participation increased for the fourth straight season and is up 11.2 percent over the last seven years. Girls cross country participation also increased for the fourth straight year.
But a number of troubling trends continued. Girls basketball participation fell for the seventh straight season to 16,550 participants, the sport’s fewest since records first were kept in 1991-92. The girls basketball total has decreased 13.5 percent since a U.S. District Court decision led to the switching of girls basketball season from fall to winter beginning in 2007-08. Girls enrollment during that time has fallen 9.7 percent.
The sport that swapped seasons with girls basketball and moved to fall, volleyball, saw a 2.5 percent drop in participation this school year to 19,905 athletes, its fewest since 1994-95 and a drop of 7.6 percent since its final season as a winter sport.
Lower Peninsula girls and boys golf and girls and boys tennis seasons were both switched as a result of the Federal Court decision, and those sports continue to experience declines. Girls tennis participation fell 5.6 percent from a year ago and for the second straight season, and boys tennis fell 3.6 percent from 2011-12 and for the fourth straight year; total, boys tennis participation has decreased 22.9 percent since its final spring season in 2007.
Boys golf participation fell less than a percent, 0.9, but for the fourth straight year. Girls golf participation fell a staggering 5.1 percent over the last year to 3,335 participants, its fewest since 1997-98.
Also of note in this year’s survey:
- Total, 11 sports had increases in participation in 2012-13 (seven boys, four girls), while 17 had drops (seven boys, 10 girls).
- Football participation, 11 and 8-player teams combined, dropped 3.7 percent from the 2011 season to 41,507 athletes. That total was the lowest since 1995-96.
- Wrestling saw a drop for the fourth straight year, but a far bigger fall in 2012-13 – 4.8 percent from the year before with 534 fewer participants and only 10,513 total. They made up the fewest in the sport since 1995-96.
- While girls basketball fell again, boys basketball broke a three-year string of drops in participation with an increase of 1.2 percent to 22,223 athletes.
- After slight drops between 2010-11 and 2011-12, both girls and boys bowling rebounded with slight increases of 1.1 and 1.8 percent, respectively. Baseball also reversed a one-year slide with a 0.4 percent increase in 2012-13.
- The boys sport experiencing the most growth was swimming and diving, with an increase of 5.6 percent to 5,612 athletes, its most since 1995-96.
- Girls track and field participation was up one percent in 2012-13, but gymnastics joined those previously mentioned with a much larger percentage decrease than the overall drop in girls enrollment, falling 3.9 percent from 2011-12.
- Boys skiing also dropped significantly, 4.2 percent, from the year before – although the 2011-12 total of 861 athletes was a five-year high.
The participation figures are gathered annually from MHSAA member schools to submit to the National Federation of State High School Associations for compiling its national participation survey. Results of Michigan surveys from the 2000-01 school year to the present may be viewed on the MHSAA Website – www.mhsaa.com – by clicking on Schools > Administrators > Sports Participation Listing.
The following chart shows participation figures for the 2012-13 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 |
639/651/2 |
18,092 |
- |
0/3 |
Basketball |
738/742/2 |
22,186 |
683/732 |
16,550/37 |
Bowling |
343/353/5 |
3,693 |
332/352 |
2,983/11 |
Competitive Cheer |
- |
- |
325/335 |
7,374 |
Cross Country |
601/622/0 |
8,744 |
585/618 |
8,378/0 |
Football - 11 player |
637/667/40 |
41,138 |
- |
0/43 |
8-player |
16/32/2 |
323 |
- |
3 |
Golf |
532/549/55 |
6,938 |
319/329 |
3,335/95 |
Gymnastics |
- |
- |
61/71 |
675 |
Ice Hockey |
243/270/16 |
3,791 |
22/0 |
301/17 |
Lacrosse |
124/124/1 |
5,064 |
89/88 |
2,501/1 |
Skiing-Alpine |
94/104/0 |
825 |
94/105 |
682/0 |
Soccer |
485/496/21 |
14,273 |
463/474 |
13,481/107 |
Softball |
- |
- |
622/639 |
14,491 |
Swimming & Diving |
254/269/6 |
5,547 |
267/280 |
5,996/65 |
Tennis |
310/327/10 |
6,504 |
343/355 |
9,211/65 |
Track & Field |
662/684/0 |
23,188 |
650/675 |
16,983/0 |
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Rep Council Wrap-Up: Spring 2021
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 6, 2021
The addition of a girls division to the Individual Wrestling Tournament series and approval of a common start date for all Fall sports highlighted actions taken by the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association during its annual Spring Meeting on May 3.
The Spring Meeting of the 19-member legislative body of the Association’s more than 1,500 member schools is generally the busiest of its sessions each year. The Council considered 19 committee proposals and dealt with a variety of eligibility rule, postseason tournament and operational issues.
Beginning with the 2021-22 school year, a championship division for female competitors who participate on MHSAA member school teams will be added to the Individual Wrestling Tournament series. There will be 14 champions awarded, based on weight classes established by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Qualifiers will be determined via a sectional format, and girls will continue to compete on boys teams during regular-season and team tournament competition; girls also may choose to compete in the boys individual tournament instead of the girls bracket. A total of 401 girls competed in wrestling for MHSAA member schools during the 2019-20 school year, up from 250 in 2017-18 and then 327 in 2018-19. The girls division proposal had been put forth by the MHSAA Wrestling Committee.
The Council also voted to move the start of all Fall sports practices to the same day. Those sports now may begin on the 16th Monday before Thanksgiving. Previously, football started on a Monday and all other sports began Wednesday. For the upcoming school year, the Fall sports start date is Aug. 9, 2021.
As it has during most meetings over the 2020-21 school year, the Council continued to discuss possible adjustments because of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption it has caused to Michigan high school athletics. Notably, the Council approved an extension of the waiver of the previous academic record regulation for sports played in Fall 2021. This is the third extension of the waiver. The previous academic record regulation requires participants to have received credit for at least 66 percent of a full credit load during the previous semester. As COVID-19 has resulted in various academic scheduling adjustments, schools will continue to determine if athletes have met the credit level necessary to be eligible for athletics this fall.
The Council also made permanent the allowance for cooperative programs in nine sports among schools of the same public school district regardless of the 3,500-student enrollment maximum. Those co-op programs were first allowed as part of a two-year experiment beginning with the 2016-17 school year to increase possibilities for participation in those sports – baseball, bowling, girls competitive cheer, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis and wrestling. Schools taking part in these co-op programs must continue to show a demonstrated history of inadequate numbers of participants and apply for renewal every two years.
Here is a summary of other notable actions taken by the Representative Council at the Spring Meeting, which will take effect during the 2021-22 school year:
Athletic Equity
• The Council approved an Athletic Equity Committee recommendation to publish the following statement to suggest to local schools that they review nicknames and school logos that are considered offensive or hurtful to minority groups or demonstrate an insensitive bias:
“The MHSAA recognizes the importance of equity in high school sports. Schools and mascots are rich in tradition and unique to each community. Although we understand the tradition of those individual communities, we also wish to support and foster an environment of inclusion. It is in this spirit that the MHSAA encourages member schools and communities to evaluate and reconsider names and mascots that may be offensive to groups of individuals.”
Officials
• The Council approved an Officials Review Committee recommendation to adjust the officials rating system with the hope of encouraging more ratings and providing a more specific understanding of an official’s overall body of work. Instead of the current overall 1-5 rating system, officials will receive specific feedback in four categories: judgment, presence and demeanor, attitude and effort, and administration and communication.
Sport Matters
• In bowling, the Council approved a Bowling Committee recommendation to adopt the Phantom oil pattern for the 2021-22 season.
• In competitive cheer, the Council approved a Girls Competitive Cheer Committee recommendation to study a new choreography chart that will award points based on a variety of skills while also awarding a range of points to benefit both small and large teams which have various skill levels.
• Also in cheer, the Council approved a pair of Committee technical recommendations; the first allows for a connected tumbling skill to be considered a new variety point for Round 3, and the second allows four difficulty points for a one-leg flair at the elevator level for middle school competition.
• In golf, the Council approved the Golf Committee recommendation to require the use of the iWanamaker scoring program and app during the regular season, beginning in Fall 2021. The program and app became required during Regional and Finals play during the Fall 2020 season.
• In softball, the Council approved a Girls Softball Committee recommendation to add a suspended game policy to MHSAA playing rule adoptions in the MHSAA Handbook. This policy – which mirrors that approved for baseball in 2020 – provides a game will be suspended any time it is called before it reaches regulation, or if called any time when the score is tied.
• In tennis, the Council approved a Tennis Committee recommendation regarding instances when a seeded player withdraws from Regional or Finals competition before the first match is played. In those instances, the players seeded lower in that flight than the player who withdrew will move up one seed and be placed on the previously-determined lines for those seeds within the flight bracket. However, non-seeded players already drawn into the bracket will not be moved.
• Also in wrestling, the Council approved a late-arrival skin check on days – especially during weekends – when teams may be competing in multiple regular-season duals. An athlete who misses the scheduled morning skin check may, with coach’s notification to the official beforehand, receive a skin check upon later arrival to the event but prior to the start of the dual in which the wrestler may compete. This will allow an individual the opportunity to participate if that wrestler missed the scheduled morning inspection due to educational reasons or unforeseen circumstances.
The Council also discussed possible topics for presentation during this fall’s Update Meeting statewide tour, and took action to clarify Handbook language regarding a variety of topics. The Association’s $11.5 million budget for the 2021-22 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 1,500 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.