THE
SECTION FOR
STUDENT-ATHLETES
AND PARENTS
This Information was compiled to assist student-athletes and their families. If you have questions related to this information, please ask them of your high school Principal or Athletic Director, who are the MIAA's local representatives.
In the United States there are 7 million young men and women who participate annually in interscholastic athletics. For these 7 million students, high school sports is a privilege unique to American education.
Only in America is this after-school activity so tightly entwined with a school’s mission - educating boys and girls to become productive members of society and, "Building the Future through Athletics".
However, in our sport-crazed society, some people expect successful educational athletics to be defined by the goals or mission of collegiate and professional sports. Such is not the focus of high school sport.
The opportunities to play organized athletics beyond high school come only to a select few. The samples offered below demonstrate the percent (by sport) of student-athletes who rise to higher athletic levels.
PERSPECTIVE |
|||
| Collegiate Athletics | Professional Athletics | ||
|
5.8 % |
|
0.5 % |
|
5.6 % |
|
0.4 % |
|
3.1 % |
|
0.09 % |
|
2.9 % |
|
0.08 % |
|
0.03 % | ||
|
0.03 % | ||
Clearly, if the Mission of Educational Athletics was to advance athletes to the "next
level", then we would focus on the elite few. If rather, the Mission is to
attract many participants so that they might learn LIFE LESSONS through Educational
Athletics, we are on the right track. Such life lessons are reinforced through the
Association's STUDENT SERVICES INITIATIVES.
MIAA is the
amateur sports leader in Massachusetts. The Association supports 33 different sports
for boys and girls, who participate in 100,000 high school competitions annually,
involving approximately 200,000 student-athlete participants.
SELECT RULES - FYI