Let's Play 2 (or 3, or 4)
February 16, 2012
A few conversations I had at last week's Women In Sports Leadership conference further affirmed a point I've been making for years -- high school athletes, if they'd like, shouldn't hesitate to play multiple sports.
Doing so does not hurt, but might just help their chances at landing that prized college scholarship -- on top of adding another layer to the high school sports experience.
Reaffirming this for me last week was Michigan State softball coach Jacquie Joseph, who spoke on that subject at the WISL conference. She's heading into her 24th season as a head coach at the Division I college level -- so she's been around for some of the evolution of both high school sports specialization and college recruiting. Plus, she coaches a sport that sees its share of athletes playing just that one.
Later, I spoke with a high school coach who leads teams in three sports and also played one at the Division I college level. She's a believer in this as well.
Some of the things I've been told over the years about playing more than one sport:
- It allows an athlete to learn more skills and hone more parts of his or her athleticism.
- Using another range of movement further helps condition an athlete's body and make it more resistant to injury.
- It's hardly rare to see a college football coach watching a prospect's basketball game -- coaches like to see how athleticism transfers across sports, and sometimes will see something from an athlete playing basketball that he didn't show on the football field. (Football and basketball are used in this example, but the same applies to a number of similar situations.)
- Athletes get an opportunity to play whatever they'd like only this once (unless they turn out to be that rare college athlete who takes on more than one sport at that level).
These are hardly new arguments. But they are always worth repeating -- especially when the people frequently making them (college coaches) are the ones single-sport athletes often are trying to impress.
Football Rivalries Top This Week’s MHSAA.tv, Media Partner Broadcast Schedules
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
September 22, 2021
A series of football rivalries will be showcased on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network, as well as media partners Bally Sports Detroit and State Champs! Sports Network during another busy weekend of broadcasts Sept. 24-26.
This week’s Bally Sports Detroit live cable football broadcast will feature Lansing-area rivals Grand Ledge (4-0) and DeWitt (3-1) at 7 p.m. Friday with first place on the line in the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue. That game can be watched on BSD’s PLUS channel or online on BSD’s website or app. On Sunday, State Champs will broadcast live on its website the annual “Boys Bowl” between Detroit Catholic League Central contenders Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (3-1) and Detroit Catholic Central (3-1), with kickoff at 1 p.m.
This weekend’s MHSAA.tv football schedule includes more than 165 games, including a number of notable Friday night rivalry clashes. Annual powers Rockford (4-0) and Hudsonville (2-2) are among four teams undefeated in Ottawa-Kent Conference Red play after two league games, and Dearborn Fordson (4-0) takes on Belleville (3-1) in a matchup that regularly helps decide the Kensington Lakes Activities Association East champion. Pewamo-Westphalia (4-0) faces Fowler (2-2) for first place in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference, Edwardsburg (4-0) and Plainwell (4-0) match up to decide the leader in the Wolverine Conference, and Frankenmuth (4-0) and Freeland (4-0) will clash for first place in the Tri-Valley Conference East. While not a league game, Boyne City (4-0) and Traverse City St. Francis (4-0) also will meet in a matchup of undefeated teams.
See links below to those and a few more events of note being broadcast on the Network this week:
FOOTBALL
Sept. 24, 6:35 p.m.: Fowler at Pewamo-Westphalia
Sept. 24, 7 p.m.: Novi at Canton
Sept. 24, 7 p.m.: Belleville at Fordson
Sept. 24, 7 p.m.: Freeland at Frankenmuth
Sept. 24, 7 p.m.: West Bloomfield at Lake Orion
Sept. 24, 7 p.m.: Montrose at New Lothrop
Sept. 24, 7 p.m.: Edwardsburg at Plainwell
Sept. 24, 7 p.m.: Hudsonville at Rockford
Sept. 24, 7 p.m.: Muskegon Mona Shores at Zeeland East
Sept. 24, 7 p.m.: Clinton Township Chippewa Valley at Romeo
Sept. 25, 1 p.m.: Boyne City at Traverse City St. Francis
VOLLEYBALL
Sept. 22, 5:25 p.m.: Kalamazoo Central at Kalamazoo Loy Norrix
Sept. 23, 6:30 p.m.: Maple City Glen Lake at Leland
Sept. 23, 6:30 p.m.: Cadillac at Gaylord
BOYS SOCCER
Sept. 22, 6 p.m.: Midland at Flint Powers Catholic
Sept. 25, 10 a.m.: Berkley at Rochester
Sept. 25, 12:30 p.m.: Auburn Hills Oakland Christian at Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett
The MHSAA.tv schedule total also includes more than 200 volleyball and more than 80 boys soccer matches this week. Click the links below to see all three sports’ listings in full:
Football – Volleyball – Boys Soccer
NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. School Broadcast Program participants benefit as a portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.
More than 400 MHSAA member schools are participants in the School Broadcast Program, now in its 13th year, producing games using traditional hands-on student crews or via Pixellot cameras installed at stadiums and gymnasiums across the state. A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.