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.
Districts to be Decided on MHSAA TV
November 5, 2020
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
Girls Volleyball Districts on the NFHS Network/MHSAA.tv continue with nearly 50 matches coming up online over the next three days.
Here is the District broadcast schedule for the rest of the week:
Thursday - Nov. 5
Comstock or Kalamazoo Christian vs. Vermontville Maple Valley 5:00 PM
Leland vs. Traverse City Christian 5:30 PM
Birch Run vs. Caro 6:00 PM
Chesaning vs. Saginaw Swan Valley 6:00 PM
DeWitt vs. St. Johns 6:00 PM
Fraser vs. Harrison Twp L'Anse Creuse 6:00 PM
Goodrich vs. Flint Powers Catholic 6:00 PM
Grosse Pointe North vs. Grosse Pointe South 6:00 PM
Hesperia vs. White Cloud 6:00 PM
Manistee vs. Cadillac 6:00 PM
Morley Stanwood vs. Carson City Crystal 6:00 PM
Niles vs. Edwardsburg 6:00 PM
Otisville LakeVille vs. Burton Bentley 6:00 PM
Richmond vs. Macomb Lutheran North 6:00 PM
South Lyon vs. South Lyon East 6:00 PM
Sterling Heights Parkway Christian vs. Marine City Cardinal Mooney 6:00 PM
Unionville-Sebewaing vs. Bad Axe 6:00 PM
Walled Lake Central vs. Walled Lake Western 6:00 PM
Watervliet vs. Niles Brandywine 6:00 PM
Charlevoix vs. St. Ignace 6:15 PM
Brethren vs. Onekama 7:00 PM
Calumet vs. L'Anse 7:00 PM
Clarkston vs. Lake Orion 7:00 PM
Eben Junction Superior Central vs. Rock Mid Peninsula 7:00 PM
Elk Rapids vs. Traverse City St. Francis 7:00 PM
Escanaba vs. Houghton 7:00 PM
Lake Leelanau St. Mary vs. Suttons Bay 7:00 PM
Grosse Ile vs. Flat Rock 7:00 PM
Houghton Lake vs. Beaverton 7:00 PM
Lansing Catholic vs. Williamston 7:00 PM
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central vs. Ottawa Lake Whiteford 7:00 PM
New Lothrop vs. Saginaw Valley Lutheran 7:00 PM
Peck vs. Dryden 7:00 PM
Portage Northern vs. Portage Central 7:00 PM
Salem vs. Novi 7:00 PM
Friday - Nov. 6
Novi Christian vs. Southfield Christian 5:00 PM
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep vs. Detroit Country Day 5:30 PM
Brown City vs. Marlette 6:00 PM
Davison vs. Grand Blanc 6:00 PM
Garden City vs. Dearborn Divine Child 6:00 PM
Three Rivers vs. Battle Creek Harper Creek 6:00 PM
Traverse City West vs. Traverse City Central 6:00 PM
Troy Athens vs. Bloomfield Hills Marian 6:00 PM
Center Line vs. Warren Regina 6:30 PM
Plymouth Christian Academy vs. Lutheran Westland 7:00 PM
Saturday - Nov. 7
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central vs. Lowell 10:00 AM
Springport vs. Grass Lake 1:00 PM