Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
December 7, 2021
Four levels above them, in the press box, a group of prospective broadcasters were touring the facilities. The high school students had spent the Fall sports season streaming games to the NFHS Network and now were learning about a career in broadcasting from Eric Vandefifer, a Montrose High grad currently serving as the radio voice of Saginaw Valley State University basketball and as a contributor to a variety of high school broadcast channels including the MHSAA Network.
Seven years ago, Vandefifer was in a similar situation. He was part of a field trip to Ford Field for the Finals that helped him realize sports broadcasting was a career he wanted to pursue. Those field trips were headed by Tom Skinner and Thom Lengyel, who became mentors to Vandefifer. As a high school junior in 2017, Vandefifer was named Best Student Broadcaster nationally by the NFHS Network.
“With Tom Skinner now deceased and Thom Lengyel retired from the broadcast business, I just felt like I had to continue this and their legacy,” Vandefifer said. “It was important to me to keep it going because when I was in school, it was something I looked forward to.”
Nearly 50 students from Lowell, Montrose, Lake Orion, Mount Pleasant and Ann Arbor Greenhills high schools made the Nov. 26-27 trip to Ford Field. They were able to film highlights, interview players, practice announcing the games, meet other members of the press and more. For Vandefifer, giving back to students who are in the position he once was is very rewarding.
“We had the ability to feel like real media members for a day. I wanted to be able to give other students that same opportunity,” Vandefifer said. “Seeing kids who have a love for sportscasting and that drive to get better gives me real hope for the next generation in this business.”
And after the field trips were done each day, Vandefifer put his headphones on, got behind the microphone and called the two afternoon games for the MHSAA Championship Network.
PHOTOS (Top) Eighth grader Sam Belill, left, and freshman Owen Leitelt from Montrose practice calling a game from the Ford Field press box. (Middle) Mount Pleasant make a stop at the press conference room. (Photos provided by the Montrose and Mount Pleasant School Broadcast Programs.)
Chassell Flashback Feature On MHSAA TV
January 19, 2017
By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director
Sixty years ago, Chassell High School was in the midst of winning three consecutive MHSAA Class D boys basketball titles and setting a record for consecutive victories with 65.
That record is on the brink of being broken by another U.P. Power – Powers North Central – which won its 63rd consecutive game on Monday (Jan. 16). The Jets could be playing for the record next Friday – Jan. 27 – in a home game with Bark River-Harris, which would be streamed live on the MHSAA.tv website.
Ten years ago all of the living members – 13 of 15 – from those Chassell teams were honored at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing during the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals in its first year of the “Legends of the Games” program, and FOX Sports Detroit produced a halftime feature about those teams.
The video is available for viewing on the MHSAA.tv website (Click Here to watch) and on the MHSAA Channel on YouTube (Click Here to watch). Players interviewed on the piece include Don Mattson, who scored 25 points in the 1956 championship win over Portland St. Patrick – in which the Panthers scored the last 18 points of the game to win – Donald Jaakkola and John Pyykonen. You also can read more about Chassell on the Historical Articles page of the MHSAA Website.
Chassell’s 7-2 girls basketball team will appear in one of more than three dozen games which will have live streaming this week on the MHSAA.tv website, produced by members of the School Broadcast Program.
In its eighth year, the School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events, with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics.
The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.
All sporting events – Live or On-Demand – are available on a subscription basis only for their first 72 hours online. They become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.
Here’s the schedule of events School Broadcast Program members plan to stream over the next week for broadcast at MHSAA.tv.
Tuesday, Jan. 17
- JV Girls Basketball – Sparta at Comstock Park, 5 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – Burton Bendle at Montrose, 5:30 p.m.
- Girls Gymnastics – Lake Linden-Hubbell at Negaunee, 6 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Rochester Hills Stoney Creek at Lake Orion, 7 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – Sparta at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Burton Bendle at Montrose, 7 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – Ogemaw Heights at Alpena, 7 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern at Cedar Springs, 7 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Berrien Springs at Plainwell, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 18
- Ice Hockey – Cheboygan at Alpena, 7 p.m.
- Ice Hockey – Detroit Catholic Central at Birmingham Brother Rice, 7:10 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 19
- JV Boys Basketball – Hillman at Rogers City, 6 p.m.
- JV Girls Basketball – Hamilton at Comstock Park, 6:30 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Hillman at Rogers City, 7 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – Tawas Area at Alpena, 7 p.m.
- Ice Hockey – Escanaba at Calumet, 7 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Norway at Negaunee, 7:30 p.m.
- Ice Hockey – Rochester Hills Stoney Creek at Lake Orion, 7:45 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 20
- Boys Basketball – Comstock Park at Hamilton, 5 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – Durand at Montrose, 5:30 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – Sturgis at Plainwell, 6 p.m.
- Ice Hockey – Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood at Plymouth, 6:15 p.m.
- Boys Basketball - Saginaw at Mt. Pleasant, 6:50 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Durand at Montrose, 7 p.m.
- Girls Basketball- Cadillac at Alpena, 7 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Sturgis at Plainwell, 7 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Lake Orion at Oxford, 7 p.m.
- Ice Hockey – Detroit U-D Jesuit at Detroit Catholic Central, 7:10 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 21
- Ice Hockey – Warren DeLaSalle at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 7:15 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 23
- JV Boys Basketball – Onaway at Rogers City, 6 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Onaway at Rogers City, 7 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – Chassell at Calumet, 7:20 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 24
- Girls Basketball – Birch Run at Montrose, 5:20 p.m.
- Wrestling – Quad at Lake Orion, 5:30 p.m.
- JV Girls Basketball – Spring Lake at Comstock Park, 5:30 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Kent City at Cedar Springs, 7 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – South Haven at Plainwell, 7 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – Traverse City Central at Alpena, 7 p.m.
- Boys Basketball – Birch Run at Montrose, 7 p.m.
- Girls Basketball – Spring Lake at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
Be sure to check the Upcoming Events page at MHSAA.tv for schedule additions every day.
The NFHS Network has announced new pricing for 2016-17, eliminating the Day Pass and lowering the cost of a Month Pass to $9.95. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. All content becomes available for free, on-demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live. Some schools also will be selling Annual Passes at a discounted rate. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.
A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website.
Fans also can access scores of games in-progress on the NFHS Network website via ScoreStream. Click on the Scores button in the upper right corner.
A weekly staple on the MHSAA.tv website and the MHSAASports Channel on YouTube is back for another year with highlights of selected games last week produced by members of the Association’s School Broadcast Program.
This week’s highlights package consists of clips of a boys basketball game Gaylord St. Mary’s at Indian River Inland Lakes, a Girls Basketball game pitting Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills at Cedar Springs and an ice hockey game Grosse Pointe South at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.
Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.