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Varsity, JV and Regional Policy

This document outlines the policies and structure for MiHSEF competition levels.

Competition Level Overview​

CategoryVarsityJunior Varsity / ClubMiddle School
Player Eligibility8-12th Grade (13+)8-12th Grade (13+)5-8th Grade (no age requirement)
Team CompositionA majority of the team has to be 9-12 grade. District residing homeschool students or students in a district without a program. Shared Agreement school students (Co-op). One varsity team per program. Unlimited solo players. Unlimited JV teams. 8th graders must be from the same campus/building as the 9-12 grade. Half year seniors allowed.Same as VarsityNo 9-12th grade students. Must reside within same school district.

Season Format​

Varsity​

Solo Games or Small Team Pools: If a season is a solo game or has fewer than 12 teams (or fewer than 20 teams for Apex), the season will be organized as one region using a swiss queue system.

Team Games with Larger Pools: If a game is a team game with 12 or more teams, regions will be formed based on school zip codes, current athletic conferences and traditional rivalries. This regional division will be set up the weekend after registration closes.

  • A Round Robin regular season will be scheduled for each region
  • A top percentage of teams from each region will automatically qualify to play in-person at the state championship
  • The next top percentage of teams in each region will compete in play-in games, sometimes against teams from other regions
  • These games will take place during the week following the regular season's end, before Thanksgiving
  • The specific number of regions and the percentage of teams qualifying directly or needing to play in will be determined the weekend before varsity play begins as we get finalized numbers
  • Qualifying and organized regional leagues and/or conferences will be given autobids based on number of schools
  • If a school only has one team per game, that team must play in varsity unless it is the school's first season in MiHSEF

Junior Varsity / Club​

All Games: State Wide Swiss Queue System

  • Team games will have online championships
  • Solo games queue with varsity and are considered varsity, and will play in varsity brackets

Middle School​

All Games: State Wide Swiss Queue System

  • Top teams play in person at the same state championship as high school

Player Qualifications​

LevelRequirements
VarsityAll players must be ranked on the account they register with and must have a public profile where applicable.
Junior Varsity / ClubNo specific qualifications
Middle SchoolNo specific qualifications

Substitution Rules​

LevelPolicy
VarsitySubs must come from a JV team at the same program. Varsity rosters lock on November 1st. Players are prohibited from participating with more than one team for a game in a season level. Players may play up a level but are not allowed to play down a level. A player who subs up more than 3 times is automatically on that Varsity roster.
Junior Varsity / ClubSubs must come from the same program. Players are prohibited from participating with more than one team for a game in a season level.
Middle SchoolSubs must be within the same district.
Movement Restrictions
  • ✅ Allowed: JV → Varsity
  • ❌ Not Allowed: Varsity → JV

State Championship Spots​

note

MiHSEF holds discretion to combine Varsity and JV team pools depending on the number of teams at each level. Number of teams that auto qualify and play in per region won't be known until final season varsity numbers are known.

Game TitleTeams In PersonAuto Bid %Play-In %
Overwatch 216TBDTBD
Madden4TBDTBD
Fortnite Box Fights16TBDTBD
Mario Kart16TBDTBD
Rainbow 6: Siege4TBDTBD
Call of Duty: BO64TBDTBD
Rocket League16TBDTBD
SSBU Solos32TBDTBD
SSBU Crews32TBDTBD
ValorantOnlineTBDTBD
MS Rocket League4TBDTBD
MS SSBU Crews4TBDTBD
MS Mario Kart4TBDTBD
MS Fortnite4TBDTBD