PSAs Tout Value of School Sports

December 13, 2016

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 ProgramLast 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

Wednesday, Dec. 14

Thursday, Dec. 15

Friday, Dec. 16

Saturday, Dec. 17

Tuesday, Dec. 20

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.

MHSAA TV Returns to the Mats

March 2, 2016

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

Most of the MHSAA Championship action on MHSAA.tv in the coming week can be found on the mat, with nearly 300 hours of live streaming video in Girls Competitive Cheer and Individual Wrestling, plus Student Broadcast Program-produced coverage of Basketball Districts.

Live streaming this week begins at 2 p.m. on Thursday (March 3) from The Palace of Auburn Hills at the Individual Wrestling Finals.  A dedicated camera will be on each of 12 mats on the floor, and include full graphics to indicate the participants on each match, plus full in-progress scoring information via Trackwrestling.

Here’s the complete wrestling coverage schedule:

·  Thursday – First Round – 2 p.m.

·  Friday – Rounds 2-3-4 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 2 at 8:30 a.m. is the first Consolation round. Round 3 at about 10:30 a.m. is the second round in the Championship bracket. Round 4 at about 1:30 p.m. is the second round in the Consolation bracket.

·  Friday – Semifinal Round – 7 p.m.

·  Saturday – Rounds 6-7-8 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 6 at 8:30 a.m. is the third Consolation round. Round 7 at about 9:45 a.m. is the fourth Consolation Round. Round 8 at about 11 a.m. is the final round in the Consolation bracket.

·  Saturday – Final Round & Awards Presentations – 4:45 p.m.

Girls Competitive Cheer coverage begins Friday (March 4) from The DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids. Here’s the complete schedule

·  Friday – Division 1 – 6 p.m. (East Kentwood, Grandville, Hudsonville, Lake Orion, Livonia Stevenson, Rochester, Southgate Anderson, Sterling Heights Stevenson, Troy Athens)

·  Saturday – Division 2 – 10 a.m. (Allen Park, Dearborn Divine Child, DeWitt, Gibraltar Carlson, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills, Muskegon Mona Shores, Richland Gull Lake, Trenton)

·  Saturday - Division 4 – 2 p.m.  (Breckenridge, Farwell, Houghton Lake, Hudson, Merrill, Michigan Center, Pewamo-Westphalia, Sanford Meridian)

·  Saturday - Division 3 – 6 p.m. (Comstock Park, Escanaba, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Monroe Jefferson, Paw Paw, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Ovid-Elsie, Richmond)

The continued Wrestling and full Cheer coverage is part of six straight weekends of live MHSAA Championship coverage on MHSAA.tv. Online viewers can catch every weekend of action for one low cost of $14.95. 

A Month Pass on MHSAA.tv for $14.95 will give a viewer access to events over a 30-day period from the time it is purchased.  Over the next three weekends of live Winter championship coverage, the following events will be featured: 

  • Girls Basketball Districts – March 2-4
  • Boys Basketball Districts – March 7-9-11
  • Girls Basketball Regionals – March 8-10
  • Ice Hockey Semifinals & Finals – March 10-12
  • Girls Gymnastics Finals – March 11-12
  • Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals – March 12
  • Boys Basketball Regionals – March 14-16
  • Girls Basketball Quarterfinals – March 15
  • Girls Basketball Semifinals – March 17-18
  • Boys Basketball Semifinals – March 22
  • Boys Basketball Semifinals – March 24-25 

A Day Pass is available for $9.95.  All events become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.

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.

Upcoming MHSAA Tournament coverage by SBP members includes a Girls Basketball District at Mt. Pleasant which could have a rubber match in its Final on Friday between Saginaw Heritage and Midland Dow, two top five teams in Class A which split their regular-season meetings.  At Laingsburg, the three teams that tied for the regular-season title in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference are in the Semifinals, with Bath and Laingsburg squaring off, and Pewamo-Westphalia on the other side of the bracket.

Here’s the schedule of events School Broadcast Program members plan to cover this week for broadcast on MHSAA.tv  (As of March 1): 

March 2

  • Class C Girls Basketball District Semifinals at Laingsburg

·         Saranac v. Pewamo-Westphalia – 5:30 p.m. - LIVE

·         Laingsburg v. Bath – 7 p.m. - LIVE

  • Class A Girls Basketball District Semifinals at Mt. Pleasant

·         Saginaw Heritage v. Bay City Western – 5:30 p.m. - LIVE

·         Midland v. Midland Dow winner – 7:30 p.m. - LIVE

  • Class D Girls Basketball District at Rogers City

·         Onaway at Rogers City – 6 p.m. – LIVE

  • Class A Girls Basketball District Semifinals at Lake Orion

·         Waterford Mott at Lake Orion – 7 p.m. – LIVE

  • Division 3 Ice Hockey Regional at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood

·         Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood v. Madison Heights Bishop Foley – 7:45 p.m. – LIVE

March 3

  • Tawas Area at Alpena – JV Boys Basketball – 5:30 p.m. – LIVDE
  • Whittemore-Prescott at Rogers City – JV Boys Basketball – 6 p.m. - On-Demand
  • OAA Crossover at Lake Orion – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
  • Lansing Waverly at East Lansing – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – On-Demand
  • Escanaba at Calumet – Boys Basketball – 7:20 p.m. – LIVE
  • Whittemore-Prescott at Rogers City – Boys Basketball – 7:30 p.m. - LIVE 

 

March 4

  • Class A Girls Basketball Finals at Mt. Pleasant – 6:30 p.m. - LIVE
  • Class C Girls Basketball District Finals at Laingsburg – 7 p.m. - LIVE

 

March 5 

  • Division 3 Ice Hockey Regional at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood

·         Teams TBA – 3:15 p.m. – LIVE

 

March 7

  • Class A Boys Basketball District First Round at East Lansing

·         East Lansing v. Lansing Waverly – 5 p.m. - LIVE

·         Haslett v. Grand Ledge – 7:30 p.m. – LIVE 

March 8

  • Class A Girls Basketball Regional Semifinals at Mason - 6 & 7:30 p.m. - LIVE
  • Class A Girls Basketball Regional Semifinals at Hudsonville - 6 & 8 p.m.  - LIVE

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