EAST LANSING, Mich. – Sept. 2 – Since 1925, the official publication of the Michigan High School Athletic Association was its monthly Bulletin, which chronicled various committee minutes, provided information about MHSAA tournaments, and contained articles focused on the educational nature of school sports.

     

Since 1987, the Association published separate tri-annual opuses for coaches and officials – Mentor for coaches, and Stripes for officials; which united under the Mentor banner in 2003. The two covered topics focused on their respective avocations, but still with an educational emphasis.

      

Along the way, the publications were less frequently published, going from a high of 15 editions between the three titles; to the Bulletin being put out five times annually and Mentor reduced to two during the 2008-09 school year.

      

With the start of the new school year comes a new publication to serve schools, administrators, coaches and officials – benchmarks, which will continue to provide a standard on issues important to school sports. The new magazine will help communicate news and views to over 30,000 recipients three times a year with more style and substance than any previous periodical in the Association’s history.

      

The first edition of benchmarks will come out this month, with subsequent editions being published in December and March. The magazine will also be available online at MHSAA.com.

      

“It is both surprising and perfectly natural that the MHSAA would launch a new publication at this time,” says John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the Association. “While it is surprising to observe the end of these familiar titles and formats, it makes perfect sense in this electronic age that the MHSAA would be trending away from print and towards electronic communications. 

      

“A benchmark is defined as a standard or a point of reference,” Roberts said. “We intend benchmarks to provide ‘standards or points of reference’ as the leaders of our school sports programs design and deliver educationally based athletic programs for the benefit of the more than 300,000 participants, the most important people in Michigan high school sports.”

      

Minutes from the meetings of the Association’s 30-plus committees – including the Representative Council and Executive Committee – will still be accessible to schools and the general public at MHSAA.com either from the Administrators page or on sport-specific pages. Some MHSAA operational topics previously featured in the Bulletin will appear in benchmarks in its “business” section.   

      

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,600 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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