EAST LANSING, Mich. – Participation in high school sports with postseason tournaments sponsored by the Michigan High School Athletic Association decreased slightly for the third straight school year in 2013-14, reflecting the trend of declining member school enrollments. However, nine MHSAA sports saw increases in participation from 2012-13, and four sports set records for the second straight school year.
A total of 288,230 participants took part in the 28 tournament sports offered by the MHSAA during the past year. The MHSAA counts students once for each sport in which they participate, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once. The number of participants represented a 1.9% decrease from the 2012-13 figure of 293,810. In comparison, enrollments at member schools decreased 0.7% from 2012-13 and have fallen 10% since the 2006-07 school year – while MHSAA participation has fallen only 7.9% during that time. This year’s dip was slightly larger than the 1.2% decrease from 2011-12 to 2012-13.
Overall, boys’ participation fell 1.7% from 2012-13 to 2013-14, while girls’ participation fell 2.2%.
For the second straight school year, both boys’ and girls’ lacrosse (5,089 and 2,540, respectively) and boys’ and girls’ cross country (8,882 and 8,703) set participation records. Both lacrosse totals have increased annually during their 10 years as MHSAA tournament sports; the girls saw an increase of 1.6 % from 2012-13. Participation in both boys’ and girls’ cross country increased for the fifth straight season – the girls this time by 3.9%.
Three girls’ sports rebounded from recent declines. Girls’ swimming and diving (6,604) broke a two-year downturn in participation with its highest total since 2010-11, while girls’ golf (3,427) increased by 2.8% and girls’ soccer (13,619) increased 1% after also falling from 2011-12 to 2012-13. Girls’ track and field (17,259) posted its second straight increase and highest participation total since 2009-10.
However, troubling trends continued in two of the most popular girls’ sports. Girls’ basketball participation fell for the eighth straight season to 16,329 participants, the sport’s fewest since records first were first kept in 1991-92. The girls’ basketball total has decreased 14.7% since a U.S. District Court decision led to the switching of girls’ basketball season from fall to winter beginning in 2007-08. Comparatively, girls enrollment at MHSAA schools during that time has fallen 10.4%.
The sport that swapped seasons with girls’ basketball and moved to fall, volleyball, saw a 6.5% drop in participation this school year to 18,607 athletes, its fewest since 1993-94 and a decrease of 13.6% since its final season as a winter sport.
Also of note in this year’s survey:
§ Nine sports saw increases in participation in 2013-14 (three boys’, six girls’), while 19 had decreases (11 boys’, eight girls’).
§ Football participation, 11- and 8-player teams combined, dropped for the sixth straight season, but this time by only 2% to 40,673 athletes. The drop from 2011-12 to 2012-13 was 3.7%.
§ Wrestling saw a decrease for the fifth straight year, but by a smaller percentage than the year before, 2.2% versus a 4.8% drop from 2011-12 to 2012-13.
§ Baseball participation increased for the second straight year, up 0.7% to 18,227 participants. But softball saw the third-largest dip in 2013-14, 7.2% to 13,443 participants.
§ Gymnastics (600) saw a decrease for the second straight year, this time by 11%, the largest percentage decrease of any sport this school year. Boys skiing (745) saw the second-largest drop, 9.7%.