The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) is a service organization for high school sports in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

and is headquartered in East Lansing. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Unlike many other NFHS member organizations, *The MHSAA does not charge membership fees for schools; it derives its income from ticket sales at tournament level games and a handful of corporate sponsorships. *It is independent of and not officially recognized by any governmental body, local or statewide. *Membership is voluntary; no Michigan high school is compelled by law to be an MHSAA member. As of August 13, 2019, the MHSAA has 749 member high schools, comprising virtually all high school athletics in Michigan, public and private. Only a small number of private schools and a few nontraditional public schools in Michigan forgo MHSAA membership. MHSAA member schools may compete against non-member school in interscholastic athletic competition. The MHSAA supports 28 sports. Boys:

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

Bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

, Cross Country, Football,

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

Alpine Skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, Swimming & Diving,

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

Track & Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...

Girls:

, Competitive Cheer, Cross Country,

Gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, Swimming & Diving,

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

Technically, all "boys" teams are officially "boys & girls" teams, while "girls" teams are "girls only," although having girls actually play on "boys & girls" teams is approximately as uncommon as in the many other states using a similar arrangement. (An example is Norway, Michigan's tennis team). Traditional classifications used are labeled A, B, C and D from largest to smallest. Each grouping consists of 25% (or as close as is mathematically practicable) of all member schools sorted by student population, including a variety of correction factors. Total 4-year coed enrollment cutoffs for the 2019–20 school year are as follows: * Class A: 863 and above * Class B: 395-862 * Class C: 189-394 * Class D: 188 and below The traditional classifications have the same number of ''schools'' (or as close as mathematically possible) in each of them, but not necessarily the same number of ''teams'' in a given sport's tournament; smaller schools are unable to support as many sport teams, although they may form cooperative programs classified by the combined enrollments of the schools involved. In order to prevent distorted tournament structures, for all sports the MHSAA uses "nearly equal divisions," where only those schools sponsoring a team in the given sport are broken into as many equally sized groupings (or as close to equal as is mathematically possible) as the Association feels is appropriate given the number of schools sponsoring the sport. The MHSAA's tournament structures are similar to those used in many other States; schools are assigned to Regions and, in those sports where it is appropriate, Districts. Assignments are made on a sport-to-sport and year-to-year basis, meaning that as no two sports have identical classification methods and sponsorship levels, a given school will usually have at least minor variations in its overall tournament path from sport to sport. Unlike in some states, regional and district placement has no bearing on regular season scheduling; schools form conferences on their own or compete as independents, although conferences generally consist of similarly sized schools which are geographically proximate to each other. Except in football, all schools in good standing fielding teams in a particular sport are allowed to enter that sport's postseason tournament which crowns a champion. Some sport championship tournaments are divided into separate Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula tournaments; an example of this is tennis. Schools pay no entry fees to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which are paid for out of ticket sales, sponsorships and broadcast rights fees. For football, postseason inclusion was, through 2019, determined by wins and a computer point value, calculated for each team based upon its record and strength of schedule, with the top 256 teams (including all teams with six victories if playing a nine-game schedule) qualifying. These 256 teams were then ordered by enrollment and divided into 8 divisions of 32 teams each. This was nearly unique amongst high school football competition in the U.S. in that many teams do not know which classification they will compete for a state title in until after the regular season has ended; the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fe ...

, North Carolina High School Athletic Association, and Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association also have a similar format. The MHSAA announced in 2019 that, beginning with the 2020 season, its football playoff system would change: The aforementioned computer point value (derived from a combination of a team's own record, its opponents' record and its opponents' opponents' record, with points awarded based on which of the four classes each opponent is in) will be the sole method to select playoff teams, and the eight divisions will be set in advance of the season. Participation in Michigan is generally limited to eligible 9th through 12th graders; students are given eight consecutive semesters of eligibility beginning with the 9th grade. Schools with a four-year high school enrollment of 99 or less may draw upon the 8th grade for varsity competition in all sports except football, ice hockey and wrestling, while schools with a four-year high school enrollment of 49 or less may also draw upon the 7th grade. The MHSAA is considered a leader among state high school offices and is known for pro-actively implementing solutions to problems faced by all state offices and for committing substantial resources to technological improvements.

Participation

Michigan maintained its standing nationally in high school sports participation statistics for the 2018–19 school year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. The total for the 2018–19 year was 281,992, with 120,378 girls and 161,614 boys taking part.

Student leadership

MHSAA Scholar-Athlete Award

Each year, the MHSAA recognizes 32 student-athletes throughout the state of Michigan with its Scholar-Athlete Award. Recipients receive a $1,000 scholarship. The award is sponsored by Farm Bureau Insurance. Captains-clinic-09

MHSAA Captains Clinic Series

In conjunction with

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It ...

's Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, the MHSAA provides programming to member schools via their leagues and/or conferences in the form of one-day trainings. Curriculum is geared toward developing leadership skills for current and future team captains.

Student Advisory Council

In 2005, the MHSAA created a 16-member student panel to act as the voice of Michigan's

student athlete A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or element ...

population, serve as a sounding board for the MHSAA's Representative Council, assist in planning Sportsmanship Summits and Captains Clinics, and to help with medal and trophy ceremonies at MHSAA championship events. The council is composed of eight boys and eight girls, all of either junior or senior high school status.

MHSAA tournaments

Boys

Girls

MHSAA Student Advisory Council

References

External links

MHSAA homepage

MHSAA Scholar-Athlete Award

MHSAA Captains Clinic Series
{{Authority control Education in Michigan High school sports associations in the United States Sports in Lansing, Michigan