Martin High School is among the state’s leaders in multi-sport participation, according to the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s latest Multi-Sport Participation Survey, which shows continued growth statewide during the 2024-25 school year.
The survey, conducted last spring, marked the seventh time the MHSAA has measured multi-sport participation among athletes at its member high schools. Results again showed small but steady growth, continuing a positive trend that has now spanned every year of the study.
The annual survey was inspired by the MHSAA’s Task Force on Multi-Sport Participation, which was appointed in 2016 to study early and intense sport specialization — a growing concern related to health and safety at all levels of youth sports. The task force promotes multi-sport participation as a way to help reduce overuse injuries and burnout, which have been linked to chronic injuries and health-related problems later in life.
The 2024-25 Multi-Sport Participation Survey received responses from 82.7 percent of MHSAA member high schools and showed that 45.4 percent of athletes at those schools participated in two or more sports. That figure represents an increase of six-tenths of a percent from the 2023-24 school year. Overall, multi-sport participation has increased every year since the study began, with a combined increase of 2.6 percent since the first survey following the 2017-18 school year.
For the 2024-25 school year, 47.8 percent of male athletes and 42.3 percent of female athletes competed in multiple sports. As in previous years, the percentage of multi-sport athletes remained inversely proportional to school enrollment. Class D schools again posted the highest percentage of multi-sport athletes at 63.1 percent, followed by Class C schools (59.6 percent), Class B schools (49.3 percent) and Class A schools (38.5 percent).
All four enrollment classifications continued to show increases or sustained levels of multi-sport participation. Class A participation rose three-tenths of a percent from the previous year and is now up 2.6 percent from 2017-18 survey results. Class B increased 1.3 percent from 2023-24 and is also up 2.6 percent since the first survey. Class C participation grew two-tenths of a percent from the previous year and sits 4.4 percent higher than in the initial study, while Class D participation remained steady from 2023-24 and has grown five percent over the last seven years.
The MHSAA task force also recommended using the survey to recognize schools that exceed participation norms. Several schools have consistently ranked among the top 10 percent of their respective classes since the survey began.
Battle Creek Harper Creek, Detroit Cody and Grand Rapids Northview have appeared among the top 10 percent of their classes in six of the seven years the survey has been conducted. Decatur, East Grand Rapids, Manton and Warren Michigan Collegiate have each appeared five times, while Detroit Douglass, Parma Western and Lake Leelanau St. Mary have ranked in the top 10 percent four times apiece.
Among the top performers in the 2024-25 survey was Class C school Martin, which ranked second in its class with 89.7 percent of athletes participating in multiple sports.
Jackson Lumen Christi topped Class C at 97.6 percent. Following Martin were Bad Axe (89.3 percent), Cass City (88.6 percent), Center Line Prep Academy (83.6 percent) and Decatur (82.3 percent), as six Class C schools reached at least 80 percent participation for the second straight year.
Across the state, Class A schools were led by Grand Rapids Northview, which posted the highest percentage in the class at 79.4 percent. Macomb L’Anse Creuse North followed at 70 percent, while Detroit Cass Tech (61.4 percent) and Sterling Heights Stevenson (60.7 percent) also reported at least 60 percent participation.
In Class B, Warren Michigan Collegiate paced the field with 91.3 percent of athletes playing multiple sports. Other top Class B programs included Tecumseh (77.7 percent), Yale (76.6 percent), Detroit Cody (71.4 percent), Battle Creek Harper Creek (71.3 percent) and Manistee (70.1 percent).
Watervliet Grace Christian led Class D at 93.8 percent, with Watersmeet (89.7 percent), Lake Leelanau St. Mary (88.2 percent), Detroit Douglass (87.8 percent), Vestaburg (87.7 percent) and Portland St. Patrick (87.3 percent) rounding out the list of top programs.
The full summary report from the Multi-Sport Participation Survey is available on the “Multi-Sports Benefits” page of the MHSAA website.
Thursday, January 08, 2026
