Sportsmanship Summits Return in November
September 27, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A focus on high school student sportsmanship, during and also outside of competition, will highlight this fall’s Michigan High School Athletic Association annual Sportsmanship Summit series, which will run during the first two full weeks of November.
The MHSAA has conducted Sportsmanship Summits across Michigan for more than 20 years and again will visit four sites this fall. The Summit series kicks off Nov. 5 in Traverse City and finishes Nov. 14 in Ann Arbor.
MHSAA staff, with assistance from school administrators and the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, conduct Sportsmanship Summits. More than 1,000 students from more than 100 schools are expected to take part in the four workshops, where they will discuss the line that separates good from bad sportsmanship, both as athletes during competition and when it comes to cheering at athletic events. Instruction will be based in part on insights gained during the Student Advisory Council’s Battle of the Fans competitions, which annually began recognizing the best student cheering section in Michigan during the 2011-12 winter season. Details for BOTF VIII will be introduced during all four Summit stops.
This fall’s Summits again will feature hands-on breakout sessions and opportunities for students to meet with and discuss sportsmanship with local game officials, who will explain sportsmanship from their points of view and how they may differ from what students experience as competitors or fans. Members of the Student Advisory Council have developed and will instruct during another breakout session and also play a role in the opening all-Summit presentation. To conclude the Summits, the delegation from each participating school will meet to develop a sportsmanship campaign to implement upon returning to school.
Sessions will take place at the following:
• Traverse City – Nov. 5 – Grand Traverse Resort – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Saginaw – Nov. 7 – Saginaw Valley State University – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Grand Rapids – Nov. 12 – Crowne Plaza Airport – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Ann Arbor – Nov. 14 – Sheraton Ann Arbor Hotel – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Registration at each site is limited to the first 250 students and administrators. Schools are welcome to bring as many as 10 total representatives, including two administrators. For additional registration information, contact Andy Frushour at the MHSAA office – [email protected] or (517) 332-5046. Registration information also is available on the MHSAA Website.
Record Girls Tournament Attendance Drives MHSAA Spectatorship Past 1.4 Million Again
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 18, 2024
A record number of spectators at girls postseason events pushed Michigan High School Athletic Association attendance during the 2023-24 school year past 1.4 million fans for the second straight, with the total of 471,651 spectators for girls competitions breaking the previous all-time best set in 2014-15.
Total, MHSAA tournament events drew 1,449,574 spectators at competitions for which admission is charged – just over a half-percent decrease from 2022-23 but still the second highest overall postseason attendance over the last seven years. Attendance at MHSAA boys tournament events during 2023-24 was 1,008,070, a three-percent decrease from the year before. The MHSAA annually tracks attendance for all sports except golf, skiing and tennis, as single tickets are not sold for those sports.
Record spectator turnout for the Softball and Track & Field Tournaments drove the girls overall increase. Softball set an overall tournament record with 49,636 fans, besting the previous record set just the year before by nearly 2,000, and also set an individual-round record with 4,935 fans at Quarterfinals. Track & Field – with girls and boys competing together – drew a record 42,899 spectators overall, and a Regional record of 25,661. Both track totals bested previous records set during the 2020-21 school year.
Several more sports saw attendance increases during 2023-24. Girls basketball overall postseason attendance was up significantly and for the third-straight year, this time to 158,126 fans for a nine-percent increase from 2022-23. The Individual Wrestling Tournament drew 48,237 fans, an eight-percent increase from the previous season, and set records at the District (13,308) and Regional (11,089) levels. Overall attendance for competitive cheer (29,297, up 12 percent), girls lacrosse (5,627, up six percent), boys lacrosse (17,107, up less than one percent) and boys swimming & diving (6,116, up 33 percent) all were up as well from 2022-23.
Competitive cheer’s increase was keyed in part by record attendance at the District level (14,528). Baseball Districts (36,553), Boys Lacrosse Quarterfinals (3,021) and Girls Diving Regionals (879) also set records.
Football remains the most-attended MHSAA Tournament sport and drew 363,563 spectators for its playoff series – a decrease of nearly five percent from the previous year but including the highest attendance during the Semifinal rounds (32,596) since 2012-13. Boys basketball attendance again ranked second at 280,800 fans, down four percent from the previous year but with increases for the Regional and Quarterfinal rounds. Girls basketball remained third for overall attendance and first among girls sports, followed again by volleyball – which drew 113,239 fans, only 313 fewer than the year before as postseason attendance in that sport has seen less than a percentage point change year to year over the last three seasons.
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.