Casting Lines for Future Tournaments
August 12, 2016
By Jack Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
The MHSAA is best known to the public for the tournaments it conducts to conclude the fall, winter and spring seasons each school year.
These tournaments, the first and largest program of the MHSAA, have survived the Vietnam War, the Korean conflict and two World Wars. They have survived the technology bubble, the housing collapse, the energy crisis and the Great Depression.
MHSAA tournaments existed at the dawn of aviation and at the time of our nation’s lunar landing. Popes, presidents and governors have changed and changed again and again, and MHSAA tournaments roll on year after year.
But the sense of tradition and permanence and inevitability of MHSAA tournaments doesn’t dissuade us from asking questions about our tournaments, even some of the most basic questions. Here are two.
Question #1
I have long been and will always be an advocate for a Ryder Cup format for the MHSAA Golf Finals, and a team tennis approach to the MHSAA Tennis Finals; but 90 years of tradition is hard to overcome. Might this be a more exciting format? Could it be co-ed? Could it reverse the decline in boys tennis participation, and increase girls golf participation? Wouldn’t it be fun to try?
Periodically, the International Olympic Committee requires each of the designated Olympic sports to defend its status, to state its case why the sport should remain a part of the Olympic program. Then, after a series or votes that retain one sport at a time, the IOC drops the sport that makes the weakest case. It does so to make room for one of the previously unlisted sports that makes the best case for inclusion.
This would appear to keep the existing Olympic sports on their toes, and to keep the Olympic movement fresh and reflective of modern trends in sports.
While I would not enjoy the controversy, I can see the potential for some positive results if the MHSAA were to invoke the same policy for determining the 14 tournaments it will provide for girls and the 14 for boys.
This might cause us to consider more deeply what a high school sport should look like, or at least what an MHSAA tournament sport should stand for.
On the one hand, we might be inclined to drop tournaments for those sports that involve mostly non-faculty coaches and non-school venues, or require cooperative programs to generate enough participants to support a team, or resort almost entirely to non-school funding, or cater to individuals more than teams.
Or perhaps this process would cause policymakers to forget traditional thinking and ask: “In this day and age, should we shake off traditional notions of sport and consider more where modern kids are coming from?” That might mean fewer team sports and more individual sports, more “extreme” sports like snowboarding and skateboarding, and more lifetime sports, meaning not just golf and tennis and running sports, but also fishing and even shooting sports.
Currently, MHSAA policy states that the MHSAA will consider sponsorship of a tournament series for any sport which 64 member schools conduct on an interscholastic basis as a result of action by the governing boards of those schools.
Should the only question be how many schools sponsor a sport, or must an activity also have certain qualities and/or avoid certain “defects?” What should an MHSAA tournament sport look like and stand for?
Question #2
Bristling from criticism that his association is a money-grabbing exploiter of children, my counterpart in another state said, “If we were running our programs just to make money, we would do very many things very differently.” I knew exactly what he meant.
Because we care about the health and welfare of students, because we mean what we say that the athletic program needs to maximize the ways it enhances the school experience while minimizing academic conflicts, and because we try to model our claim that no sport is a minor sport when it comes to its potential to teach young people life lessons, we operate our programs in ways that make promoters, marketers and business entrepreneurs laugh, cry or cringe.
If money were the only object, we would seed and select sites to assure the teams that attracted the most spectators had the best chance to advance in our tournaments, regardless of the travel for any team or its fan base. If money were the only object, we would never schedule two tournaments to overlap and compete for public attention, much less tolerate three or four overlapping events. If money were the only object, we would allow signage like NASCAR events and promotions like minor league baseball games.
Those approaches to event sponsorship may not be all wrong; they’re just not all right for us. And we will live with the consequences of our belief system.
During a typical school year, more than 20 percent of the MHSAA’s 2,097 District, Regional and Final tournaments lose money. Not a single site in golf, skiing or tennis makes a single penny. In no sport did every District, Regional and Final site have revenue in excess of direct expenses.
In fact, in only three sports – boys and girls basketball and football – is revenue so much greater than direct expenses overall that it helps to pay for all the other tournaments in which the MHSAA invests.
That’s right: invests. When we present our budget to our board, we talk about the MHSAA’s investment in providing tournament opportunities in all those sports and all those places that cannot sustain the cost of those events on their own. How much is this investment worth to students, schools and society?
These two are core questions that require our focus far in advance of talk about scheduling, site selection, seeding and the myriad matters that too often hijack our time and attention.
Kalamazoo Christian's Senior-Loaded Lineup Eying Another High Finals Finish
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
August 27, 2024
KALAMAZOO – Scarlett Hindbaugh’s parents tried to get her into golf when she was in early elementary school, but she did not like it at all.
But as she headed into ninth grade at Kalamazoo Christian High School, Hindbaugh decided to play a fall sport.
All of a sudden, golf was looking pretty good.
Now, as a senior, she is one of the top golfers on a team loaded with talent – and a team that also made program history last season with its highest MHSAA Finals finish coming in runner-up to Lansing Catholic in Lower Peninsula Division 4.
With four seniors returning from that team, fifth-year coach Mike Schield will have a tough time filling the final spots in his lineup.
“We’re looking throughout the season who that No. 5 player is going to be,” he said. “What we’ve done differently this year, instead of taking six varsity players (to matches), we’re taking eight.
“We’re pretty confident we know who our starting four are. Out of the B Pod of our varsity players, we’re trying throughout the season to give everybody an opportunity to see who’s going to stick out by the end of the season.”
Besides Hindbaugh, the three other current seniors from that 2023 runner-up team are Jordyn Bonnema, Kennedy Gernaat and Ella Adams – Adams another player who picked up golf for the first time as a freshman.
The Comets kicked off the season at the Lober Classic at Crystal Mountain last week.
“It was a great team-building experience,” Schield said. “It’s a very challenging golf course, and the girls got to learn a lot about their games.
“It was a really good snapshot as far as the golf goes for these girls to understand what they need to do from now until October.”
The Comets finished ninth overall at the prestigious 24-team event, but third among Division 3 and 4 teams.
“I didn’t play my best golf, but it was our first time up there,” Bonnema said. “The course is beautiful; it’s a hard course. I feel like it set the stage to where we need to be. It gave us a starting point, and we’re going to work from there.”
Climbing the ladder
For the last three years, Schield has taken Kalamazoo Christian to the MHSAA Finals as a team, finishing sixth in 2021, fourth in 2022 and second last year.
Bonnema led the Comets last October, placing sixth individually.
“The first year, we were happy to be there. The second year, we had a little higher expectation; last year we got a little bit closer,” said Schield, a PGA pro who has taught at X-Golf Kalamazoo since 2018 and previously worked in elite junior golf development at Mission Hills in southern China.
“Seems like each year we’ve been able to make steps up the ladder. I would say we made those steps up because of the way we built our program.”
Of the eight golfers on varsity, Bonnema is one of the leaders.
“Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to coach a Jordyn Bonnema?” Schield asked. “She’s an elite athlete, multiple sports (basketball, soccer). She brings that extra level of intensity and determination that you expect from an elite athlete.
“The cool thing about Jordyn is that she’s playing these multiple spots, which she should, but it does take time away from her ability to play golf all year round. She is one of the top players in Division 4.”
Bonnema realizes she is one of the team leaders.
“Every day, I try to bring as much energy as I can and be the leader that everyone is looking for and try to set a good example for not only underclassmen but setting the standard that we need to be at every day,” she said.
Schield said that No. 1 spot is shared by Gernaat.
“Kennedy’s sister (Kylie) was a former No. 1 on our team, and I feel that Kennedy has stepped into those shoes,” he said. “She’s a very polished golfer and was the individual Regional champion.
“She’s got one of the best short games, putting strokes that I’ve been able to coach since my time being here.”
As novice golfers three years ago, Hindbaugh and Adams said they both benefited from Schield’s teaching.
“(Coach) was very welcoming, good environment, very open, very relaxed, no-pressure kind of environment,” Adams said.
Schield said Adams has a great attitude that rubs off on her teammates.
“She could have just hit the best shot or the worst shot, but always has a smile, is always looking forward to the next shot, which is a great trait that all coaches want their players to have,” he said.
As for Hindbaugh, Schield said she has become a more complete golfer since last season.
“Over the last year, she’s taken a constructive approach to evaluating her game and trying to find the right areas to focus on for her own self-development,” he said.
Another key senior is Kyah Klok.
“The last two years she has been very close to making our varsity team,” Schield said. “This is the year she’s punched through. She packs a punch. She’s got some power.”
The lone junior is Lizzie Yonkers, who played the second day of the Finals last year and has improved over the offseason.
“She is a well-balanced player from tee to green,” he said. “The special thing about Lizzie is she helps all of our players keep things light and fun, which helps balance out the intensity of our team.”
Lilly Locker, the only sophomore, was a “star of the JV team last year,” Schield said. “This is what you could easily consider the future of the girls golf program.
“She has length, understanding of the game and can perform well, iron play, short game and putting. All she needs now is experience in tournament play.”
Although she is just a freshman, Rylee Slater made varsity because “she’s athletically gifted and a quick learner,” Schield said. "She has this season with very little pressure on her to learn and develop herself as a player. She’ll be fun to watch.”
No matter who rounds out the roster, Hindbaugh said the team knows what to expect if they make it back to the Finals.
“We played with East Lansing (last year), and one of the things they could do so well is they could get up to the green and chip in a putt and not screw up around the green,” she said. “That’s what we’re focusing on this year, that short game.”
***
One bonus of the Lober Classic trip was a chance to learn about nutrition and prepare food with Schield’s wife, Lindsey Stillian, a nutritionist at Thriving Bite in Kalamazoo.
“Golf is not as obviously an intense sport,” Schield said. “It’s a season where we have to play golf in different weather conditions.
"First and foremost, you have to take care of your health so that you’re available to play.”
Gernaat said she learned a lot from Stillian.
“As athletes, it’s important to keep a balanced diet, and also food is fuel for your body, so it’s important to make sure you’re getting the right food groups and enough of the right food,” Gernaat said.
“It made me feel more energized during the round. Instead of going to get fast food, homemade food was definitely better.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Kalamazoo Christian senior Scarlett Hindbaugh putts during a recent practice, surrounded by teammates (from left) Ella Adams, Lilly Locker, Kennedy Gernaat, Lizzie Yonkers, Kyah Klok, Jordyn Bonnema and Rylee Slater. (Middle) Clockwise from top left: Bonnema, Gernaat, coach Mike Schield and Adams. (Below) Hindbaugh works on her chipping. (Photos by Pam Shebest.)