MHSAA TV: Live and On-Demand
December 9, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director
More than two dozen sporting events in four different sports will be streamed this week on MHSAA.tv – most of them live – through the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program.
In its seventh 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 this week for broadcast at MHSAA.tv. On-Demand listings may be available as soon as one hour following an event’s completion. (List as of Dec. 9):
Thursday – Dec. 10
- Tawas Area at Whittemore-Prescott – Girls Basketball – 7:30 p.m. – On Demand
Friday – Dec. 11
- Cadillac at Alpena – JV Boys Basketball – 5:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Owosso at Haslett – Girls Basketball – 6 p.m. – LIVE
- Cadillac at Alpena – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Rochester at Calumet – Ice Hockey – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Clarkston at Lake Orion – Girls Basketball – 7 p.m. - LIVE
- Three Rivers at Plainwell – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Salem at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood – Ice Hockey – 7:15 p.m. – LIVE
- Eagle River Northland Pines, WI at Calumet – Girls Basketball – 7:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Owosso at Haslett – Boys Basketball – 7:30 p.m. – LIVE
Saturday – Dec. 12
- Cheboygan at Alpena – Ice Hockey – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Hartland at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood – 7:15 p.m. – LIVE
Monday – Dec. 14
- Cheboygan at Alpena – JV Boys Basketball – 5:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Kingsford at Negaunee – Ice Hockey – 7 p.m. – On Demand
- Cheboygan at Alpena – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
Tuesday – Dec. 15
- Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern at Comstock Park – Freshman Girls Basketball – 4 p.m. – LIVE
- Sault Ste. Marie at Alpena – JV Girls Basketball – 5:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern at Comstock Park – JV Girls Basketball – 5:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Haslett at East Lansing – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – On Demand
- Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern at Comstock Park – Girls Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Hancock at Calumet – Girls Basketball – 7:20 p.m. – LIVE
- Sault Ste. Marie at Alpena – Girls Basketball – 7:30 p.m. – LIVE
Wednesday – Dec. 16
- Greenville, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer & Howard City Tri-County at Comstock Park – Wrestling – 5 p.m. – LIVE
- GAC Cheer at Montrose – Girls Competitive Cheer – 5:55 p.m. - LIVE
Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.
This week’s MHSAA.tv package includes clips from the Detroit County Day/Midland Dow girls basketball and Calumet/Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood ice hockey games.
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.)