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.
Breslin Bound: 2022-23 Girls Report Week 3
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 19, 2022
We’ve gained some early insights on local races and statewide superiority as we near the end of the first month of this girls basketball season – but perhaps the most eye-opening play will be tipping off between now and when the ball drops to ring in 2023.
We enjoyed another telling week of mostly nonleague play across the state – including a matchup of potentially the best two teams regardless of division. There’s more of that to come as these next two weeks are filled with holiday hoops events – and we’ll catch up on those when “Breslin Bound” returns the first week in January.
“Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Ypsilanti Arbor Prep 66, West Bloomfield 62 The most intriguing matchup of this season so far saw the reigning Division 3 champion Gators (3-1) edge the reigning title holder in Division 1 West Bloomfield (3-2) during the Arbor Prep Ice Breaker.
2. Chelsea 64, Portland 27 The Bulldogs (5-0) put together their biggest win to avenge two losses from last season against the Raiders (4-2), including their season-ender in a Regional Final.
3. Lake Fenton 51, Grosse Pointe North 33 Lake Fenton’s impressive 6-0 start has arguably its most impressive win so far, as the Norsemen (5-1) also have shown plenty of potential.
4. Hudsonville 48, Wayne Memorial 46 The Eagles (4-2) have navigated a strong nonleague schedule so far, as has Wayne (1-3) with this West Michigan Spotlight matchup its second-straight two-point defeat.
5. East Grand Rapids 61, Redford Westfield Prep 56 The Pioneers (5-1) also pulled out a close win during the “Spotlight” at Aquinas College, against another program in Westfield playing a loaded December slate.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Farmington Hills Mercy (5-0) The Marlins annually are one of the top teams in Division 1, but this has been their best start since 2019-20. Along the way, they’ve handed the only losses so far to Rochester and Northville. Mercy is the reigning Detroit Catholic League Central champ and will begin an attempt at a repeat run Jan. 6 against the other likely favorite, Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard.
Mattawan (4-1) Last season’s 13-9 finish included a run of six wins and a District championship over Mattawan’s final seven games, and the trending upward has continued. After an opening loss to East Grand Rapids – which has quickly established itself as a top team in Division 1 – the Wildcats have won four straight.
DIVISION 2
Haslett (5-0) The Vikings have averaged 16 wins per season over the last four, and regardless of the additional two games on the schedule beginning this winter they have looked early like a contender to match or exceed that solid level of success. They’ve defeated all five opponents by double digits, including Parma Western (21-2 last season), Jackson Northwest and last week Williamston. The Northwest win was the season opener, and the Mounties haven’t lost again.
Saginaw Swan Valley (4-0) All four of Swan Valley’s opponents so far have continued to maintain records of .500 or better, with Hemlock otherwise undefeated. The Vikings finished 19-5 a year ago and second in the Tri-Valley Conference 8, with three losses (including in the Regional Final) to Frankenmuth – and those two will meet for the first time this season the first Friday of 2023.
DIVISION 3
Blissfield (7-0) The Royals have plowed through the first one-third of their schedule, winning those seven games by an average of 34 points per victory. Blissfield finished an impressive 17-6 last season, and has avenged three of those losses defeating Erie Mason 68-30 and Brooklyn Columbia Central 47-27 after losing to the latter twice last winter.
Farwell (6-0) The Eagles are building on a 15-7 finish and second place in the Jack Pine Conference from last season. Their latest win was 29-24 on Friday over Gladwin, one of the JPC teams they split with last winter, and their first matchup with reigning champion Sanford Meridian is Jan. 13 as they look to avenge three 2021-22 losses to the Mustangs that were all by six points or fewer.
DIVISION 4
Martin (5-0) The Clippers are on the right track coming off last season’s 11-12 finish. They started 5-1 last winter as well before a tough stretch, but this month’s work has already included avenging 2021-22 losses to Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep and Gobles. The 39-35 Hackett win is their only single-digit victory so far.
Onaway (4-0) The Cardinals are halfway already to equaling last season’s eight wins, and they’ve done so with a pair of major highlights along the way. The 41-20 season-opening victory over Posen avenged three defeats from last winter, and Thursday’s 45-39 victory over Johannesburg-Lewiston avenged two more losses from 2021-22.
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Wednesday – Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (3-1) at Chelsea (5-0) – Both are noted above and seen as potentially dominant teams this season in Divisions 3 and 2, respectively.
Wednesday – Imlay City (7-0) at Goodrich (5-0) – Both will be facing potentially their strongest early test, although Imlay City also has a tough one against Frankenmuth tonight.
Dec. 29 – St. Ignace (4-0) vs. Ann Arbor Huron (3-2) at Redford Westfield Prep – This Motor City Roundball Classic matchup provides a solid challenge for both, especially the Division 4 Saints as they play through a string of larger opponents.
Dec. 29 – Detroit Country Day (3-2) vs. Detroit Renaissance (3-0) at Westfield Prep – This is another Motor City matchup, and will tip off barely 24 hours after Country Day plays Rockford at the same event.
Dec. 30 – Lake Fenton (6-0) at Detroit Cass Tech (3-0) – Both have games to play before this meeting, but both also are pushing for the opportunity to enter 2023 undefeated.
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PHOTO St. Louis faced Ithaca in a matchup of Tri-Valley Conference 10 teams Friday; Ithaca won 61-41. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)