MSHSAA's first focus was to ensure uniform eligibility requirements and "control abuses that were creeping into" Missouri athletics.
In 1949, MSHSAA shifted its cause from solely athletics to include activities; the acronym stayed the same, but the name was officially changed.
The organization continued to evolve, and in 1956, the board adopted a program that would aim to use high school activities to educate students in a more holistic way.
MSHSAA removed the color barrier in 1952, allowing schools from the MNIAA (Missouri Negro Interscholastic Athletic Association) to join.
In the late 1960s, the group unified football tournaments (previously only held locally) to form the Show-Me Bowl that exists today.
Schools in Missouri are able to form their own conferences and play whichever teams they wish in regular season competition.
Also unlike other states, there is no "regional" championship designation; during playoff competition schools are generally organized into brackets that are close in geographic proximity.
MSHSAA is governed by a 10-member board of directors whose members are elected to four-year terms by school representatives in eight geographic regions of the state.
Potential changes to MSHSAA's by-laws, such as eligibility standards and activity regulations, are voted on each April, or in special elections, by the associations's 760 member schools.
Member schools may also request specific changes to the association's by-laws and constitution through a petition process that places the item directly on the annual ballot.
The association's by-laws fall into the following general categories: Bona Fide Student, Citizenship, Academics, Residence Requirements, Transferring Schools, Participation Limits, Entering School, Amateur & Awards Standards, Age Limits, Playing Under a False Name, Graduated Students, Nonschool Competition, College Auditions & Tryouts, All-Star Games, Recruiting of Athletes, Transfer for Athletic Reasons, Sports Camps & Clinics, Sportsmanship, and Foreign Student Eligibility.
A three-level appeals process is in place for students not meeting the essential eligibility standards due to unusual, unforeseen or unexpected circumstances.
The association publishes a quarterly magazine, MSHSAA Journal, and sponsors one of the nation's largest annual sportsmanship and student leadership events each August.
The MSHSAA trains and registers more than 5,000 sports officials and adjudicators each year to arbitrate various athletic events and evaluative music festivals.
This, however, has met resistance from most of the other parts of the state, especially St. Louis where the gulf between public and private schools is less noticeable than in KC.
[citation needed] While some believed[weasel words] that it would have a larger amount of support the athletic directors as well as the state board gave it a vote of no confidence before it went to the schools.
[16] She argued that MSHSAA “made the decision to insert themselves into the current ideological culture war[17]” by asking which gender students identified as on a physical evaluation form.
Likewise, House Joint Resolution 82, presented by Representative Robert Ross would require student athletes to compete in birth-assigned roles.
MSHSAA did not reach an agreement with Fox Sports Midwest to televise the 2015 state football championships.
[citation needed] Source:[19] Emerging sports and activities are in their first year of inclusion or do not have 50 schools registered.
Additionally, they have fewer restrictions and more flexibility; however, they also receive limited services through MSHSAA since they are not fully adopted.