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This year, fall sports participation will involve approximately 115,000 of 525,000 enrolled youngsters.

Fall practice begins on Monday (Aug. 6) with football, followed by girls fall golf on Aug. 9. Golf cannot begin competition before Aug. 13. All other fall sports may begin practice on Aug. 13, with competition allowed on the first day of practice in cross country and tennis.

The earliest game date for soccer is Aug. 20, girls volleyball may begin competition on Aug. 24, and girls swimming and diving in the Lower Peninsula may open activity on Aug. 25.

Practice in football had to begin on Aug. 6 for all schools wishing to begin regular season games the weekend of Aug. 23-26.

Schools must have 14 days of preseason practice at all levels before their first game.

All football schools must conduct at least three conditioning days of practice before beginning contact, and the conditioning sessions may not include any pads.

This year, two football dates precede Labor Day, and Thursday varsity games will take place both weeks. In Week 1, 19 games will be played on Thursday, 270 games will be played on Friday, and 17 games will be played on Saturday.

On Labor Day weekend, 240 games will be played on Thursday, 66 games will be played on Friday, and 6 games will be played on Saturday.

Football rules changes made by the National Federation of State High School address illegal helmet contact, define flagrant fouls, add an enforcement option for penalties occurring on touchdown-scoring plays, and require new field markings to keep sideline personnel at least six feet away from the field.

Illegal helmet contact is defined as an act initiating contact with the helmet against an opponent. Such contact includes: butt blocking, an act where contact is initiated against a non ball carrying opponent with the front of the helmet; face tackling, an act by a defensive player initiating contacting with a ball carrier with the front of the helmet; and spearing, an act where contact is initiated with the top of the helmet.

All illegal helmet contact - intentional or unintentional - shall incur a 15-yard penalty.

Teams scoring touchdowns on plays where the opponent is called for a penalty will now have an additional enforcement option beginning this fall.

The offended team can now have the penalty enforced on the kickoff following the extra point attempt.

Previously, the only option was to have the penalty enforced on the extra point. The exceptions are penalties called on touchdown scoring plays prior to a change of possession resulting in a touchdown; and on dead ball personal fouls following touchdown scoring plays.

If the scoring team has a foul called against its opponent prior to the change of possession, it will have to refuse the penalty to keep the touchdown. Dead ball fouls are always enforced on the succeeding play.

To provide for space for officials to work unencumbered outside the sidelines and end lines, and to provide for the safety of sideline personnel, all football fields are required to have a broken restraining line placed at least six feet off the boundary lines around the entire field.

Outside the team bench area between the 25-yard lines, this area may not be occupied by coaches, statisticians, trainers, ball people, media or any other non-team personnel.

Where possible, line to gain crew personnel should also observe these lines. Such markings, and their restrictions, are common at professional and collegiate venues.

Game management shall have the primary responsibility for enforcement of this rule.

In soccer, the penalty has been increased for a player, coach or bench member who receives a simultaneous yellow and red card from the officials. The penalty shall now be suspension from the remainder of that game, plus suspension from the next day of competition.

The previous penalty for what has been termed a "soft red" card was disqualification only for the remainder of that contest.

In swimming and diving, the MHSAA post-season tournament in the Lower Peninsula shall now be conducted in three nearly equal divisions of competition.

The tournament had been conducted in two classes or divisions in the Lower Peninsula since the fifth year of girls competition in 1976; and since the fifth year of boys activity in 1929, with the exception of 1935, when the finals returned to a single open class for one year.

In volleyball, the libero position will now be allowed to serve, providing an opportunity to participate fully while in the back row.

The libero position, added two years ago, has generally been a defensive specialist, but often turns out to be one of a team's better servers.

Another new rule also prohibits the use of artificial noisemakers at all times during a match.