By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

A pair of public service announcements promoting the value – and values – of school-based sports are now available for download from the MHSAA Website.

The annual Student-Athlete Belief Statement, featuring the 2016-17 members of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, is a 60-second message the Association has produced since the SAC created the belief statement in 2007:

As the voice of Michigan’s student-athletes, the Student Advisory Council’s role is to convey the message of how high school sports are supposed to be played. We are responsible for helping the MHSAA maintain a positive and healthy atmosphere in which interscholastic athletes can thrive.

We believe athletes should be competitive, sportsmanlike and excel academically. We believe students in the stands should have fun, but not take the focus away from the game. We believe coaches should act as teachers, helping student-athletes develop while still keeping high school sports in perspective. We believe that parents should always be positive role models and be supportive of their child’s decisions. We believe officials commit their own time to high school sports and respect should always be shown and given to them.

The most important goal for student-athletes is to enjoy high school sports while keeping a high level of respect between all those involved in the games.

The second message was created by the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association in cooperation with The Sports Neurology Clinic at the CORE Institute in Brighton, which the MHSAA first aired during the 11-Player Football Finals in December. The 30-second Opportunities of Sport message promotes the values school sports provide to young people and addresses a need to understand concussions.

Both messages are posted in a high definition format suitable for over-the-air broadcast and a web resolution suitable for posting online. Additional messages promoting officials recruitment and other MHSAA messages can be found on the Public Service Announcement page of the MHSAA Website.

Another busy week looms ahead with live streaming video on MHSAA.tv being produced by members of the School Broadcast Program. Last week, SBP schools created more than 60 events, split between athletic and non-athletic programs.   

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 delayed – 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 this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams produced by SBP members:

Tuesday, Dec. 13

• Girls Basketball – Mt. Pleasant at Midland Dow, 7 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Hopkins at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Pontiac Notre Dame Prep at Lake Orion, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Onaway at Indian River Inland Lakes, 7 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Negaunee at Marquette, 7:10 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Ontonagon at Lake Linden-Hubbell, 7:20 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 14

• Ice Hockey – Grosse Pointe South at Detroit Catholic Central, 7:10 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Remus Chippewa Hills at Vestaburg, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 15

• Boys Swimming & Diving – DeWitt at East Lansing, 6 p.m.
• Ice Hockey – Kingsford at Calumet, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Toronto St. John Paul at Alpena, 7 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 16

• Boys Basketball – Cedar Springs at Comstock Park, 6 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Cadillac at Alpena, 7 p.m.
• Ice Hockey – Orchard Lake St. Mary’s at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 7:20 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Lake Linden-Hubbell at Calumet, 7:20 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Cedar Springs at Comstock Park, 7:30 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Breckenridge at Vestaburg, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 17

• Ice Hockey – Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood at Birmingham Brother Rice, 7:20 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 20

• Boys Basketball – Romeo at Lake Orion, 7 p.m.
• Girls Basketball – Zeeland West at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
• Boys Basketball – Petoskey at Alpena, 7 p.m.

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 can also 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 between Bellaire at Charlevoix; and ice hockey game pitting Warren DeLaSalle at Marquette; and a Girls Basketball game between Escanaba at Negaunee. See below.

Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.

DVDs of MHSAA Fall Championships make a great Christmas gift, and are available for ordering through PrepFilms.com. All Final games in Football, Girls Volleyball and Boys Soccer are available, as are all of the Volleyball Semifinals and a variety of Football Playoff contests from the first four weeks of that tournament. DVDs are $24.95 each.

Audio of all of the Finals in Football, Volleyball and Soccer from the fall sports season, plus the Semifinals of Volleyball also are available for Instant download through the MHSAA Network website. Instant downloads are $4.99 each. Click on Archives.