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.
Lacrosse Finals Continue MHSAA TV Championship Coverage
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 8, 2021
Four Girls & Boys Lacrosse Finals highlight Michigan High School Athletic Association streaming this weekend on the NFHS Network and MHSAA.tv, with a variety of pre-Finals games also being broadcast on the Network this week.
The Girls Lacrosse Finals will be played Saturday, June 12, at Novi High School, and the Boys Lacrosse Finals will be played at Parker Middle School in Howell. All of the action can be viewed by purchasing a Month Pass to MHSAA.tv for just $10.99. The Lacrosse Finals also will have live streaming audio on the MHSAA Network.
The schedule is as follows:
Girls Lacrosse
Division 2 – 2 p.m. – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam685797ce48
Division 1 – 4:30 p.m. – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam260b7d51f9
Boys Lacrosse
Division 1 – 2 p.m. – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam8e7f6f7297
Division 2 – 5 p.m. – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam0f3b692607
All Lacrosse Semifinals will be played Wednesday (June 9). All four girls games and two boys games will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv, and the schedule is linked here: Lacrosse Semifinals.
Additionally, a number of Regional matchups in girls soccer, softball and baseball will be broadcast on MHSAA.tv this week. Among soccer games available Tuesday (June 8) will be a Division 1 Regional Semifinal matching up Troy Athens (14-1-4) vs. Romeo (14-2-2). This week’s Softball/Baseball Regional broadcast schedules are highlighted by the Division 3 Softball Regional hosted by Millington, which includes the top-ranked Cardinals, No. 2 Richmond, Bad Axe and Capac. The broadcast schedules for those three sports are available at these links: Girls Soccer | Baseball | Softball.
The 2020-21 MHSAA Finals schedule will conclude June 17-19 with Softball & Baseball Semifinals and Finals and Girls Soccer Finals; all will be streamed live. All events, including this weekend’s Lacrosse Finals, will be archived for on-demand viewing after their completion. Audio streaming also will be available for next weekend’s Soccer, Softball and Baseball.
Now in its 13th 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. Pixellot – the NFHS Network’s automated streaming solution – is used by schools wishing to live stream games but lacking the ability to staff the events. The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.
NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers will have access to all live video and on-demand video from across the country. School Broadcast Program participants benefit as a portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program. (Subscriptions must be cancelled before the 30-day period is over to avoid recurring charges.)
A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.