EAST LANSING — Nearly 110,000 student-athletes in eight sports will usher in the 2011-12 fall sports season as member schools of the Michigan High School Athletic Association begin official practices.

Practice sessions begin Monday in football with golf, followed by all other sports Wednesday. Practice in football must begin Monday for all schools wishing to begin regular season games the weekend of Aug. 25-28. Schools must have 12 days of preseason practice at all levels before their first game, which may not occur before 16 calendar days. All football schools must also conduct at least three conditioning days of practice before beginning contact, and the conditioning sessions may not include any pads.

In golf and tennis, competition may commence no earlier than after three separate days of team practice, and not before seven calendar days. The first day competition may take place in golf and tennis is Aug. 17.

In all other fall sports, contests can take place after seven days of practice for the team and not before nine calendar days.  The first day competition may take place in cross country, tennis, soccer, swimming and diving, and volleyball in the fall is Aug. 19.

This year, two football dates precede Labor Day, and Thursday varsity games will take place both weeks. Subvarsity competition may begin Wednesday, Aug. 24.  In Week 1, 68 games will be played on Thursday, 235 contests will be played on Friday and 16 games will be played on Saturday. The following weekend, 234 games will be played on Thursday, 78 games will be played on Friday, and four games will be played on Saturday.

Some football rules have been clarified in 2011. An officials time out is charged for the removal of a player from the game for an apparent injury and the player shall be replaced for at least one down unless it occurs at the end of a half or overtime period.  Teams will no longer be able to call a time out on their own to be able to return the player to the game on the next play. All horse collar fouls will be treated as live-ball fouls. Roughing the passer fouls will be enforced from the spot at end of the play when the spot is beyond the line of scrimmage.

The definition of a chop block was modified by the National Federation of State High School Associations Football Rules Committee to state that a combination of blocks below and above the knee, with or without a delay, is a chop block. Two players blocking in a combination below the knee is no longer a chop block. Finally, eye shade restrictions have been adopted nationally, which limits the use of grease or no-glare strips to a single swipe beneath the eye.  Strips cannot bear logos, symbols or letters. This is in response to the increased trend of face painting in the game.

Football will also see the addition of an eight-player division in the MHSAA Playoffs.  A total of 16 teams will participate in this division of the tournament, with the announcement of the qualifiers and pairings taking place on Selection Sunday (Oct. 23). The four-week tournament will conclude with the finals on Nov. 19. Currently, 20 teams are eligible for the eight-player tournament and others could still be added if they are of Class D enrollment and are playing a minimum of seven regular season games in the eight-player format.

In cross country, competitors may now wear wrist watches during competition by action of the MHSAA Representative Council. Previously, watches were prohibited under the jewelry rule.

The council also adopted beginning this year the MHSAA Cross Country and Track & Field Committee recommendation that in all competitions in cross country and track, a general jewelry rule advisory will be made, and once a race has begun, an athlete seen wearing jewelry by a meet official shall be disqualified from that race.