Nurturing Our Lower Level Programs
May 15, 2014
By John E. “Jack” Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
When I’ve been faced with the most difficult choices as to different courses of action for the MHSAA, I’ve tried to face up to this reframing of the issue: “If we were creating the MHSAA for the first time today, would we do this, or would we do that?”
For example, would we or would we not limit coaches’ contact with athletes out of season? Would we have a 90-day period of ineligibility for transfer students or would it be 180 days?
There are other examples of such “either, or” questions I could provide, but none is as difficult or defining as this: Should school sports under the MHSAA’s auspices provide more opportunities for 7th- and 8th-graders and new opportunities for even younger students?
I won’t be coy about what I think our answer should be. I haven’t always felt this way, and I recognize it is a different opinion than some who are quoted in this publication; but today it’s my belief that if we were creating the MHSAA for the first time in 2014, the MHSAA would allow more contests and longer contests for 7th- and 8th-graders, and the MHSAA would have competition policies and programs for younger middle schoolers too.
I believe this is what parents want for their children and what students want for themselves; and I believe, within reason, that the better we serve these students in their junior high/middle school years, the stronger high school sports will be and the better these programs will support the educational missions of schools.
I believe we must begin to serve middle school students more comprehensively, and that our doing so today is the best hope we have for retaining comprehensive programs for high school students tomorrow. Not only does the lower profile and pressure of lower level programs nurture the highest ideals of educational athletics, they provide our highest hope for preserving those ideals at the high school level.
The Lasting Impact of First Impressions
The over-arching question before us is how to maintain policies that encourage multiple sport experiences for students at the junior high/middle school level while at the same time adjusting those policies in terms of grade level served and the numbers and lengths of contests allowed in order to be more attractive to junior high/middle school parents and to school districts which desire additional competition opportunities in the school setting for students prior to high school.
There is a good healthy discussion in our midst about the scope of junior high/middle school athletics – how much should occur and how young it should commence; and the result of these discussions may have long-lasting effect on students, schools and the MHSAA.
Here are two central issues:
1. Contest Limits
Many people over many years have contributed to developing the current season limitations for the number of contests permitted by MHSAA member junior high/middle schools. These good people have believed in a philosophy of sports at this level that encourages students to try multiple sports.
“Kids haven’t fully matured yet,” they say. “Kids haven’t been exposed to some sports yet. They don’t know what they might like or be good at. So let’s have policies and programs that encourage new opportunities and experiences at this level.”
The season limits that have been put in place allow some junior high/middle schools, or their entire leagues, to fit four distinct seasons in a nine-month school year, consistent with this over-arching philosophy to encourage these students to try new things and learn.
There is another educationally grounded and equally astute group of administrators and coaches who are concerned that the current limits are too severe in comparison to non-school youth sports programs. For example, community/club basketball or soccer programs may schedule 15 or 18 or more games per season versus the MHSAA limit of 12 at the junior high/middle school level.
These folks think these restrictive limitations create a disincentive for kids to play school sports, and that many of those who have no place in junior high/middle school sports have no interest later in high school sports.
2. 6th-Graders
Historically, the popular opinion among educators has held that 7th and 8th grade is early enough for schools to provide competitive athletics, early enough to put youth into the competitive sports arena, and early enough to pit one school against another in sports.
Today, however, many educators and parents point out that such protective philosophies and policies were adopted about the same time “play days” were considered to be the maximum exertion females should experience in school sports. Some administrators and coaches argue that both our severe limits on contest limits at the junior high/middle school level, and our refusal to serve 6th-graders, are as out of date and inappropriate as play days for females.
Today, in nearly four of five school districts with MHSAA member schools, 6th-graders go to school in the same building with 7th- and 8th-graders. But MHSAA rules don’t allow 6th-graders to participate with and against 7th- and 8th-graders. In fact, the MHSAA Constitution doesn’t even acknowledge that 6th-graders exist.
Today, in many places, 6th-graders have aged-out of non-school, community sports, but they are not permitted to play on MHSAA junior high/middle school teams.
Last school year, 50 different school districts requested this rule be waived for them, and the MHSAA Executive Committee approved 46 of 50 waivers, allowing 6th-graders to compete on 7th- and 8th-grade teams. During 2011-12, 37 of 40 requests for waiver were approved, in all cases for small junior high/middle schools. Many of these schools want, and some of them desperately need, these 6th-graders to fill out junior high/middle school teams.
Young people are starting sports much younger today than 100 years ago when the MHSAA was created. Younger than even 50 years ago when the MHSAA was incorporated. If the MHSAA were created today to serve any students before 9th grade, I’m certain it would not leave out 6th-graders who are walking the same halls with 7th- and 8th-graders, and who have been playing competitive sports almost since the first day they started walking at all.
Eyes on the future
The most important thing we can do to enhance high school sports is to grow junior high/middle school sports programs. The earlier we disconnect young people from non-school sports and engage them in school-sponsored sports, the better our chances are of keeping high school athletic programs healthy, and the better our prospects are of keeping both participation rates and conduct standards high.
School sports are in competition for hearts and minds of young people. Our competition includes movies, jobs, cars, video games, boyfriends and girlfriends and club sports ... especially club sports. School sports needs to market itself better, and part of better is to be available earlier – much sooner in the lives of youth. More contests at the junior high/middle school level and more opportunities for 6th-graders should be parts of our marketing strategies on behalf of educational athletics generally.
For at least 50 years there have been predictions by people outside of our member schools that the system of school-sponsored sports that is almost unique to the United States would someday give way to the system of most countries where youth sports is provided by non-school community groups and private athletic clubs. Some people challenge school-sponsored sports on a program basis – for example, that competitive athletics creates a distraction to the core educational mission of schools. Others may challenge school-sponsored sports on a financial basis – that interscholastic athletics compete for the limited resources communities have to support their schools.
Today there also exists among our member schools a small percentage of administrators who have come to their leadership roles without involvement in school sports and who either desire and believe that interscholastic sports will be moved from schools to communities or who do not want but predict that such will occur as resources for schools continue to shrink.
I believe this is more likely to happen, or to happen sooner, if we do not change our approach to junior high/middle school sports. If we continue to restrict 7th- and 8th-graders to so few contests of such limited length compared to what those students have in non-school sports, and if we continue to offer nothing for younger students, we essentially and effectively force these students to non-school sports.
It is an often cited statistic that between 80 and 90 percent of all young people who ever begin playing competitive athletics stop playing before they reach the age of 13, meaning the vast majority of young people never, ever are involved in school programs. Thus, it is no mystery why people question the future of school sports. We’re doing nothing to make programs available to them. They have no experience in them.
Our restrictive and possibly outdated policies and procedures regarding contest limits and lengths and the age at which we begin to serve junior high/middle school students may assure that the dire predictions about school sports’ future will be accurate. We are doing too little, too late. It is marketing at its worst.
In my mind there is little doubt that we are doing too little too late with junior high/middle school students. Now the challenge before us is to think beyond “we can’t afford it” and make some necessary changes, while still avoiding a system that allows or even encourages schools doing too much too soon.
New Field Next Step in Glen Lake Surge
August 31, 2017
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
MAPLE CITY – With school about to begin, Glen Lake will be hosting perhaps its biggest event of the school year tonight.
Perennial power Traverse City St. Francis heads up to Leelanau County to take on the Lakers in a Week 2 football showdown.
Glen Lake, a 42-20 winner over Kingsley in last week’s season opener, is coming off an 11-3 campaign that ended in the MHSAA Division 6 Final at Ford Field. The Lakers lost the title game to Jackson Lumen Christi 26-14.
St. Francis, a 21-7 victor over Marquette last weekend, finished 11-1 a year ago, losing to eventual Division 7 champion Pewamo-Westphalia 17-14 in the Regional Finals.
“Anytime you play St. Francis – it doesn’t matter if you play them on the beach – it’s a big game,” Lakers coach Jerry Angers said.
The two teams will not be playing in the sand tonight. They’ll be playing on Glen Lake’s new synthetic field, which workers put the finishing touches on to meet a down-to-the-wire deadline this week.
The field is the latest positive for the Glen Lake program.
The school board considered installing a new natural grass field, but opted for the artificial turf because of its “usability.”
“Once you accept the premise that the football field needed to be replaced, it wasn’t that much of a leap to go to artificial turf (over natural grass) given how much more we can use it,” superintendent Sander Scott said. “Usability – that was the determining factor.”
The field will be used by other sports teams as well as physical education classes.
“That’s the beauty of it,” athletic director Jennifer Johnston added. “Our entire student body and community can reap the benefits of having a field like that.”
The school board approved spending nearly $850,000 on the surface, but Scott said “it’s looking like it’s going to come in well below that.”
Scott said officials put added emphasis on drainage, an issue that’s plagued Traverse City’s Thirlby Field.
“We’re aware of the challenges Thirlby Field has had (with its synthetic surface), so we really made sure we did not duplicate whatever mistake that was done there,” he said. “We probably overbuilt for drainage.”
The field is not the only new enhancement fans will notice tonight. Officials “beefed up” the wireless network at the field and brought back the berms on the home side for those who prefer lawn seating to bleachers.
The upgrades add to the momentum that’s building in the athletic program. Glen Lake was named the Traverse City Record-Eagle’s School of Year in 2016-17 after the football team reached the MHSAA Finals and the girls basketball team the Semifinals. In addition, Nichole Cox won a third consecutive individual MHSAA Finals golf championship.
“We’re on an upswing,” Angers said. “Everybody is upbeat.
“I know we savored it (last year’s football tournament run). Hopefully, it will fuel us this year – and in years to come.”
Johnston said her message to fall coaches was “keep doing what you’re doing because it’s working.”
“We have a vision and that’s to work hard to improve every day with pride, class and integrity,” she added.
It’s that motto that the school emphasized in ads that ran in the Record-Eagle fall sports tab and in the Leelanau Enterprise.
“We wanted to promote and brand our athletic department,” Johnston said.
Still, Johnston noted, the school has goals other than winning for its student athletes.
“We want to prepare our students to be successful in the real world and contribute to society in a positive way,” she said. “We have high expectations on the playing field, but it starts in the classroom.”
Speaking of the classroom, Glen Lake is on a roll there, too. The school conducted a search this summer for two secondary math teachers with proven records of increasing student achievement. The school even offered a signing bonus. Forty-six teachers applied, compared to 14 for a similar position at another local high school.
Glen Lake ended up hiring two teachers with more than 20 years of experience.
“The one thing we do that distinguishes us from other schools,” Scott said, “is that we will give teachers credit for all their years. When I was part of other districts, the highest they typically go is six years. If you’re a teacher with 20-plus years, you’re not going to take a huge pay cut to move. We wanted to eliminate that (obstacle). We just posted an elementary opening and had 153 applicants.”
For Johnston, she had another reason to celebrate the 2016-17 sports season. Her father, Roy, who coaches basketball at Beaverton, became the state’s all-time winningest coach in that sport last winter.
“I was really excited for him,” she said. “He’s definitely stood the test of time. He’ll be the first to tell you that you’re not put in that position, to reach a milestone like that, without a lot of good players and without the support of a great community and school. To me, the entire Beaverton community earned that accolade.”
When Glen Lake was making its run to Ford Field last fall, Johnston was quick to mention to Angers that he should enjoy every minute of it.
“I said, ‘Jerry, you have to realize my dad’s been coaching 46 years and the furthest he’s made it is to the Semifinals,” she said. “You never know. (The Finals are) quite an accomplishment. Enjoy it to the fullest.”
One game into the new season, Angers already is raving about the support his team is receiving from the student body and community.
“The crowd we had at Kingsley was unbelievable,” he said. “And I expect it will continue to grow.”
Especially with St. Francis coming to town tonight.
But for all the good cheer, Glen Lake is also without a familiar face this season. Paul Christiansen stepped down as girls golf coach after last season, ending a coaching career that started at the school in 1973.
“I texted him after our coaches meeting in August,” Johnston said. “I said, ‘It was sure weird not having you at that coaches meeting.’ He texted me back and said, ‘Trust me, it was sure weird not being there.’”
When Christiansen started in the fall of 1973, he was an assistant varsity football coach and boys JV basketball coach. By the next year, he had become the head football and boys varsity track coach, in addition to coaching JV basketball for his close friend Don Miller.
“After the second year, our superintendent said three (coaching jobs) is too many, especially with two as a head coach at the varsity level,” Christiansen recalled. “He said, ‘I don’t care which ones you do, but pick two. I think you’ll be better off.’”
Christiansen gave up football. But he later picked up a third sport again when he coached girls middle school basketball. He would end up coaching boys JV basketball for 25 years and boys and girls varsity track 20 years apiece. In all, he coached 92 sports seasons at Glen Lake.
“It’s an odd feeling after 44 years,” Christiansen said. “It’s like, ‘Whoa!’ But it was time to move on.”
Christiansen went out on a high note after Cox became just the third girl in MHSAA history to win three consecutive individual golf titles. She’s now at Bowling Green University.
“I didn’t script it that way, but if you were to script it, going out with an individual or team championship would be the way,” he said.
Glen Lake had just three golfers last season, not enough to compete as a team. The school dropped the sport this season.
“For Glen Lake to allow us to keep competing (last season), even though we didn’t have a full complement of players to count as a team score, I was really thankful for that,” Christiansen said. “And Nichole was especially thankful.”
Cox’s title was part of a “wave of success” that highlighted the last school year.
But this is a new year. New teams. New challenges.
Angers, for one, is hoping to keep that momentum rolling, although he lost some talented players to graduation, including eight defensive starters.
“The key is you want to retool (not rebuild) every year and I think that’s where we are right now with the program,” he said.
St. Francis will be a good test.
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Maple City Glen Lake quarterback Cade Peterson prepares to take a snap last season. (Middle top) A drone's view of the new artificial turf field at Glen Lake, set to debut Friday. (Middle below) Peterson breaks through a hole following a block by teammate Max Guilbeau (43). (Below) Recently retired coach Paul Christiansen. (Photos courtesy of Greg Guilbeau [action] Scott Jozwiak [drone] and Don Miller [Christiansen].)