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.
Ranked Volleyball Powers Set to Serve on MHSAA.tv
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 8, 2021
A pair of potentially rankings-rocking volleyball matchups highlight another exciting week of broadcasts on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network.
On Wednesday (Sept. 8), Division 1 No. 6 Farmington Hills Mercy takes on No. 9 Novi at 5 p.m. Also Wednesday, Division 2 No. 2 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep hosts a quad including Division 1 top-ranked Bloomfield Hills Marian, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek and Flint Powers Catholic, also beginning at 5 p.m.
Nearly 150 varsity football games will again be broadcast on MHSAA.tv this week, with that list including matchups of anticipated state powers DeWitt at East Lansing and Grand Blanc at Midland Dow. MHSAA media partners Bally Sports Detroit and State Champs! Sports Network will continue their weekly live broadcasts with Detroit-area matchups – Bally with a live cable TV broadcast of Detroit Martin Luther King and Detroit Cass Tech on Friday on Bally Sports Detroit PLUS, and State Champs with a Saturday live stream of Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood vs. Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes.
See links to those matches/games and more below:
VOLLEYBALL
Sept. 8: Farmington Hills Mercy vs. Novi, 5 p.m.: MHSAA.tv
Sept. 8: Pontiac Notre Dame Prep quad, 5 p.m.: MHSAA.tv
All volleyball matches this week: MHSAA.tv
FOOTBALL
Sept. 10: Detroit Cass Tech at Detroit Martin Luther King, 7 p.m.: Bally Sports Detroit PLUS, BSD website
Sept. 10: DeWitt at East Lansing, 7 p.m.: MHSAA.tv
Sept. 10: Grand Blanc at Dow, 7 p.m.: MHSAA.tv
Sept. 11: Our Lady of the Lakes at Cranbrook Kingswood, 3 p.m. - State Champs! Sports Network (also on MHSAA.tv)
All football games this week: MHSAA.tv
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.