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BOTF x 2

April 5, 2013

“Battle of the Fans,” an idea of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, is one of the best ideas to ever flow from the MHSAA.  It has provided a new way of promoting one of the oldest, and most important, defining features of school sports.  That’s sportsmanship.

Where schools have participated in BOTF, attending school sports events is becoming cool again.  Crowds are larger and more positive.  Students and administrators are having positive discussions about sportsmanship.  Media are reporting on the positive changes they are seeing.

Take a look on MHSAA.com at the videos submitted by 27 schools this year to enter the second BOTF competition.  Look at the videos prepared for the five finalists after the MHSAA’s onsite visit.

Spectator stands are filled with students – happy, engaged, energetic, cheering students.  Exactly what we want in school sports; exactly what is missing from other youth sports programs.

It’s our advantage – energized students, cheerleaders, pep bands, marching bands and mascots.  It’s what we have and what the AAU doesn’t have; what US Soccer Development Academies don’t have; what club volleyball lacks and what travel ice hockey is missing.

Using YouTube and Facebook, BOTF is a new way to present and an energetic way to promote school sports that is local, student-centered, high spirited and highly sportsmanlike.

Congratulations to our two winners so far – Frankenmuth in 2012 and Buchanan in 2013.

On Purpose

December 5, 2014

There is a difference between solving problems and creating a future.

Of course, we must solve problems. But it is imperative that we do so in terms of the future we want and are willing to work for.

Therefore, we need to address every day and every decision it presents by thinking how our actions today will make tomorrow different, and how tomorrow’s difference moves us toward the future we envision.

As individual persons, as husbands and wives, as fathers and mothers, as employers and employees, as administrators and coaches and student-athletes, what do we want our future to be like, and how does each decision and action enhance the possibilities for that outcome? 

Answering those questions, and acting on those answers ... well, that’s living a purposeful life.