PRIVIT to Assist in Health History Effort

May 16, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The Michigan High School Athletic Association has announced an agreement with PRIVIT to streamline the process for the management and collection of physical health history and consent forms required for participation in high school sports. The MHSAA has designated PRIVIT’s solution, called Privit Profile, as the electronic alternative to paper forms beginning with the 2016-17 school year.

Migrating the paper process to Privit Profile will help high schools better facilitate the process of collecting personal health history information from athletes, and it will save time and costs associated with managing the paper process.

Privit Profile includes the MHSAA’s health history questionnaire and is built on PRIVIT’s patented, secure, and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant technology. The additional MHSAA forms also are included in the implementation and provide MHSAA member schools the flexibility to further tailor Privit Profile to their process. Taking the paper-based process and transitioning it online will provide athletic trainers and coaches more time to focus on Michigan’s student-athletes.

Within Privit Profile, parents of student-athletes easily complete the medical history questionnaire and take printed copies to the student-athlete’s physical exam. In subsequent years, parents only will have to update the information in Privit Profile, as opposed to completing all of the paper-based forms again.

“It has become necessary for increased detail in the requirements to participate in school sports,” said MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts. “We desire more comprehensive health histories for students and more education of parents and students regarding the risks of participation, as well as the intangible rewards of competing in educational athletics. Streamlining for collection and storage of documents is a priority.”

Gathering more detailed Health Histories – including an upgrade of the previous pre-participation physical form – was the first focus of the ongoing MHSAA 4 H’s of Health and Safety effort taken up before the start of the 2009-10 school year (the other three H’s stand for Heads, Heat and Hearts).

The MHSAA will begin rolling out Privit Profile throughout local high school athletic departments beginning this month. Use of Privit Profile by schools is voluntary.

“As the importance of pre-screening athletes continues to sweep the nation, more and more state high school athletic associations are adopting Privit Profile to better manage student-athlete health information,” said Jeffrey Sopp, CEO of PRIVIT. “We are excited to be partnering with MHSAA and to be able to provide Privit Profile to schools and participants in Michigan for the 2016-17 school year. We’re looking forward to helping MHSAA member high schools and improving a manual process for years to come.”

PRIVIT® was established in 2009 and provides cloud-based patented technology for the collection, distribution, and analysis of personal health information. Considered a world-class leader in electronic pre-participation evaluations, Privit Products offer clients a more secure and standard method for acquiring and sharing the personal health information required for participation in organized sports and activities. With offices in London, Ontario and Columbus, Ohio, PRIVIT® fosters lasting relationships with physicians, athletic trainers, sports medicine organizations and international sports teams. To learn more about PRIVIT® and its Products, visit www.privit.com.

2019-20 Parade of Champions

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

June 26, 2020

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A total of 58 schools won one or more of the 69 Michigan High School Athletic Association team championships awarded during the 2019-20 school year, with two teams winning three or more titles despite the cancellation of 62 MHSAA Finals due to COVID-19.

Marquette led with seven championships, winning its divisions in girls and boys skiing, girls and boys swimming & diving, girls and boys cross country and girls tennis. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern won the second-most titles, three, finishing first in its divisions in girls golf, boys tennis and boys soccer – the soccer championship its first in that sport.

Four more schools won two championships: Ann Arbor Pioneer, East Grand Rapids, Farmington Hills Mercy and Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central.

A total of 18 teams won first MHSAA titles in their respective sports, with Essexville Garber’s win in Division 3 girls bowling the school’s first Finals championship in any sport. A total of 23 champions were repeat winners from 2018-19 – and 11 of those won for at least the third straight season, while six extended title streaks to at least four consecutive years.

The Marquette boys skiing program owns the longest title streak at eight seasons, while Lowell wrestling joined Rockford girls lacrosse with a seventh consecutive championship. Rockford’s streak remains at seven after its season was canceled.

Sixteen of the MHSAA's 28 championship tournaments are unified, involving teams from the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, while separate competition to determine titlists in both Peninsulas is conducted in remaining sports. Because of COVID-19, the entire spring season was canceled as were Finals in girls and boys basketball, ice hockey, girls gymnastics and Lower Peninsula boys swimming & diving.

For a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2019-20, click here

(NOTE: Included in the total of 58 schools above are both Zeeland East and West, which form the cooperative program that won the Division 1 girls bowling title. However, together they are counted as one of the 18 first-time championship teams.)