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.
'Student-Athlete' Wheaton Combines Elite Academics with 3-Sport Success
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
May 9, 2023
She’s perhaps the definition of student-athlete.
Addison senior Kahlen Wheaton’s athletic career is winding down, but she’s leaving a legacy at the southern Lenawee County school, not so much for record-breaking sports statistics, but for her drive, determination, and classroom success.
This fall, she’ll enroll at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, one of the most exclusive colleges in the nation.
“They accept only 4 percent of the students who apply,” said Barbara Brown, Addison volleyball coach and a teacher in the district. “I have had her in my Advanced Placement English classes the last two years, and she has turned in some of the most impressive work I have received in my 27 years of teaching. She goes above and beyond in everything she does.”
Wheaton has played sports since grade school. At the varsity level, she’s played volleyball, basketball, and softball. She played three years of travel softball in high school and rarely missed summer workouts in the other sports.
Always competitive, Wheaton said she used sports to relax from the rigors of her academic calendar. She estimates she spends 3-5 hours a day on homework or taking college classes online.
“I definitely enjoy it,” she said about sports. “It’s nice to be able to hang out with people. I really like the game itself. It’s a stress reliever. I have that two hours a day where I can kind of chill.”
Wheaton will graduate Addison as its valedictorian. She has a long list of scholarships and academic awards, from being named the Cascades Conference Scholar Athlete to being named outstanding senior in mathematics, English and science at Addison.
“Kahlen is truly one of a kind,” Brown said. “Her work ethic is impressive, and I never heard a single complaint from her. Kahlen is a very quiet young lady, but she is also kind and encouraging to everyone.”
Wheaton, 17, finds time to study every chance she gets – on the bus, in-between games at volleyball and softball tournaments, and just about all her downtime.
“My teammates can attest to this,” she said. “On the bus to games, I’ll be doing my homework, or between games at softball tournaments. I try and stay off my phone when I get home so I can get all my work done.”
Wheaton is playing softball this spring for Addison, which has vastly improved over the last couple of seasons. Head coach Kelly Gahn said Wheaton is a leader who has spearheaded fundraising efforts for the softball program and serves as the team tutor in math.
“She is a completely selfless person,” Gahn said. “She leads by example, and as a senior she is still working harder than ever. In the weight room, on the practice field and on game day Kahlen is working to be better. She is giving to her teammates any help they might need.”
Brown said Wheaton missed part of her freshman year of volleyball due to a concussion she suffered during a softball game the preceding summer. Not playing a lot due to that injury didn’t deter her.
“She worked extremely hard to catch up and by the time she was a senior, she was one of my two middle hitters,” Brown said. “I knew every time she got a set, she would put the ball in play.”
Wheaton grew up in the Irish Hills area of southern Michigan, the daughter of Glen and Dawn Wheaton.
Getting into MIT wasn’t on her radar until her senior year started and she began comparing some of her college entrance exam scores with those of MIT applicants. She gave it a shot and applied.
“I really didn’t think I was going to get in,” she said. “I applied early, in December. When those decisions were released, I was deferred. I was planning on going to the University of Michigan, then on March 14 they released their regular decisions and I found out I got in. I was super surprised.”
Her being accepted goes beyond her 4.2 GPA and test scores, but she’s not entirely sure what set her apart. On her visit to Cambridge, she met students from across the country, most from much larger schools than Class C Addison. She will study engineering with a focus on sustainability. She’s been interested in green energy and solar panels for several years and feels that is the direction her career could be headed.
“I’ve always had a passion for the environment,” she said. “It was my sophomore year where I started thinking about a career in that field. I love math and science so I thought engineering would be a good path to go. Everything I’ve learned about it so far has seemed awesome.”
Her academic schedule hasn’t been set for the fall, but she’s peeked at the freshman year requirements.
“Physics, chemistry, biology, calculus, two humanities – that is my freshman year,” she said.
Whatever the class load, she’s prepared for it.
“I anticipate it being hard. I’m excited for the challenge. I’m going to have to adjust to school being harder,” she said.
“I want to get involved with on-campus sustainability clubs. Research is a big thing at MIT, so I want to get involved with a research project. Other than that, I just want to explore the Boston area and meet new people.”
While her athletic career is winding down, Wheaton takes a lot of lessons from volleyball matches, basketball games and time on the softball diamond.
“The main thing I’ve learned from sports is how to communicate with people,” she said. “I wasn’t close to the girls on my sports teams when I was starting high school. Learning how to communicate with people in different ways has made me more sociable, for example. I used to be way shyer than I am now. Being able to work as a team will be very useful in college and in the workplace.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Addison’s Kahlen Wheaton readies for a pitch during a softball game this spring. (Middle) Wheaton begins her swing during a volleyball match. (Softball photo by Barbara Brown; volleyball photo by Mike Dickie.)