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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.

Different Treatment

February 25, 2014

In a perfect world we would treat every transfer student in the exact same way. We would declare every transfer student from anywhere to anywhere eligible immediately. Or we would declare every transfer student from anywhere to anywhere ineligible for a period of time that applied identically to everyone; there would be no exceptions for any student.

But educators who have been conducting interscholastic programs in every state across the country have determined that “one size doesn’t fit all.” One single rule, with no exceptions, doesn’t work. It’s either too lenient in some cases or it’s too limiting in others.

So every state high school association has developed a general policy – that students who are new to a school are not immediately eligible for interscholastic athletics; and every state high school association in the country has made exceptions to that general rule for certain students and modified the period of ineligibility for other students.

Different treatment for different students is inherent in every state association’s transfer rule. Different treatment is not only reasonable; it’s inescapable.

It is not unfair to treat some students differently than others. Very often it’s the only way to promote and protect fairness in school-sponsored sports.