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Representative Council Wrap-up: Fall Meeting
December 19, 2011
EAST LANSING – The appointment of its newest member and the adoption of four lacrosse regulations were among actions taken by the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association during its annual Fall Meeting, Dec. 2, in East Lansing.
Yale Public Schools athletic director Maureen E. Klocke was appointed to the 19-member council for a two-year term and brings with her more than 16 years experience as an athletic administrator.
She’s served in her current position since August 2005, and during her tenure has led in the hosting of MHSAA post-season tournaments for eight sports, including Regionals for girls basketball and volleyball. Previously, Klocke served as Capac’s athletic director for nine years and prior to that was interim athletic director for Memphis schools for seven months. She also coached basketball, volleyball and softball during her time at Memphis.
Also, Perry High School principal Paula Steele was re-appointed for a two-year term. Steele joined Perry’s district this summer after previously serving in the same position at East Lansing High School.
The Representative Council is the legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five members 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.
Also at the Fall Meeting, the following Girls Lacrosse Committee recommendations were adopted for the 2012 season:
--A game interrupted by events beyond the control of authorities may be continued from that point of interruption either later that day or on another date. This alters a national women’s lacrosse rule stating an interrupted game must be played from the beginning if rescheduled for another date. A game continued over two days will count as just one date on those teams’ schedules, while it will count as two of the team’s scheduling dates if the game is played, interrupted, and then played from the beginning on another day.
--Teams may play two regulation games in one day, to not exceed 120 total minutes played. This is in addition to the current rule allowing three games in one day with not more than 20-minute halves. This addresses a preference by some teams to play two full games at a tournament instead of three shortened games.
--A student or coach disqualified for unsportsmanlike conducted must be withheld by her or his school for at least the next day of competition for that team, consistent with MHSAA rules for other sports. This alters the national women’s lacrosse rule stating those who are disqualified must be withheld from the next two games.
--The unruly actions of spectators will not result in a card being assessed to their team’s coach. The national rule does assess a card to the head coach as punishment for spectator misconduct.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 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 approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.
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Participation Remains Steady in 2018-19
July 18, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Michigan High School Athletic Association member schools continued to experience a decade-long decline in enrollment in 2018-19, and participation across 28 sports for which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments also decreased slightly. However, while the drop in enrollment was 1.28 percent from the previous school year, participation fell only 1.03 percent as four sports repeated in setting records.
A total of 281,992 participants competed in MHSAA-sponsored sports this past school year. 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.
Boys participation fell 1.2 percent to 161,614, and for the first time in four years girls participation also decreased, by eight tenths of a percent to 120,378. However, both reductions were smaller than losses in enrollment of 1.36 percent for boys and 1.19 for girls. Since the 2008-09 school year, overall enrollment in MHSAA member high schools is down 12.8 percent. But during that time, overall participation in MHSAA-sponsored sports is down only 7.3 percent.
Girls lacrosse continued its run of setting a participation record every season since becoming a sponsored tournament sport in 2005, this spring with 3,180 participants – a 9.7-percent increase from a year ago. Boys lacrosse set a record for the third consecutive year, up 5.2 percent with 5,438 participants. Both boys and girls bowling also repeated in breaking participation records – boys bowling participation increased 4.7 percent over 2017-18 with 4,329 participants, while girls bowling was up 1.1 percent with 3,093 athletes. Boys cross country, with 9,588 athletes, just missed last year’s record-setting total but still saw its second-largest group of participants since totals first were tracked year-to-year in 1991-92.
Seven more sports saw increases in participation in 2018-19, boys skiing leading the way with 11.2-percent growth – its 6,284 athletes were the sport’s most since 2014-15 thanks with an increase of three tenths of a percent over a year ago. Girls and boys tennis both saw increases; girls 1.8 percent to 9,286 athletes, its most since 2011-12, and boys up 1.6 percent to 6,261 athletes, its most since 2014-15.
Girls swimming & diving was up 1.1 percent to 5,794 athletes, its most since 2013-14. Girls track & field had its highest number of participants since 2009-10 with 17,406, with an increase of seven tenths of a percent from last year. Wrestling increased a percent from 2017-18, to 9,494 athletes, ending two years of declines. Boys Golf was up three tenths of a percent to 6,284 athletes, ending three straight years of decreases.
While 17 sports saw decreases in participation, eight saw decreases by smaller percentages than the loss of enrollment: boys basketball (-1.2 percent), girls competitive cheer (-0.6), boys cross country (-0.7), girls gymnastics (-1.1), girls skiing (-0.5), boys soccer (-0.9), girls soccer (-0.1) and boys track & field (-0.1). Football, despite a decrease in participation of 4.3 percent, remains the most played sport by far with 35,412 participants. Boys track & field is second with 23,548, followed by boys basketball with 21,125. Girls volleyball, despite a 1.8-percent decline from a year ago, remains the most popular girls sport with 19,072 athletes.
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 on the MHSAA Website.
The following chart shows participation figures for the 2018-19 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 |
639/9 |
17,211 |
- |
0/23 |
Basketball |
731/2 |
21,119 |
693 |
15,376/6 |
Bowling |
398/13 |
4,302 |
370 |
3,093/27 |
Competitive Cheer |
- |
- |
347 |
6,672 |
Cross Country |
634/0 |
9,588 |
619 |
8,144 |
Football - 11 player |
572/82 |
33,868 |
- |
0/94 |
8-player |
79/10 |
1,432 |
- |
0/18 |
Golf |
504/74 |
6,136 |
337 |
3,587/148 |
Gymnastics |
- |
- |
86 |
694 |
Ice Hockey |
242/10 |
3,282 |
- |
-/12 |
Lacrosse |
163/8 |
5,423 |
120 |
3,180/15 |
Skiing |
102/0 |
924 |
95 |
763 |
Soccer |
492/16 |
14,425 |
476 |
13,209/67 |
Softball |
- |
- |
628 |
13,290 |
Swimming & Diving |
248/18 |
4,968 |
262 |
5,794/35 |
Tennis |
290/17 |
6,221 |
330 |
9,286/40 |
Track & Field |
679/0 |
23,548 |
673 |
17,406 |
Volleyball |
- |
- |
713 |
19,072 |
Wrestling |
466/186 |
9,167 |
- |
-/327 |
(A) The first number is the number of schools reporting sponsorship on the Sports Participation Survey, including primary and secondary schools in cooperative programs as of May 15, 2019. The second 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 girls playing on teams consisting primarily of boys and entered in boys competition.
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.