Hoopfest Returns to Jenison Field House
March 19, 2018
Second Half editor
March Magic Hoopfest will return to Jenison Field House for this weekend’s MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals, with extended hours and a Project UNIFY tournament highlighting the ninth championship weekend the event has run concurrent with the games being played at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
Up to 10 Special Olympics Project UNIFY teams will take part in a tournament played during the afternoons of March 22 and 23. Unified teams put special education students on the court participating in concert with their general education peers. Lineups must consist of three unified student athletes and two unified student partners on the floor at all times.
Games will be played on the two Hoopfest center courts. On March 24, the center courts will host a number of “JumpBall Jamboree” games made up of teams of boys and girls in grades 3-8.
A number of other favorite attractions will return including slam dunk (on lowered rims), 3-point shootout and half-court shot areas where fans can visit at any time and participate, and the festivities also will include a court for timed “Around the World” shooting games and another court featuring a skills challenge. Also returning is the Walk of History, showcasing championship games, life-size photos and display boards from throughout the MHSAA Finals’ near century-long run.
Hoopfest again also will be home to Hoopie, the event’s mascot who made his first public appearances during the 2014 MHSAA Finals.
Admission to the March Magic Hoopfest is $2 per person, and fans attending the MHSAA Boys Basketball Semifinals and Finals will be admitted free with their game tickets. Hours on March 22 and 23 will be 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.; the event is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on March 24. Jenison Field House, site of Hoopfest, also was the site of the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals for 31 years. To find out general information about the event, visit the March Magic Hoopfest website.
The March Magic Hoopfest is conducted in partnership between the Greater Lansing Sports Authority (GLSA), a division of the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the MHSAA, with vital support coming from the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics at Michigan State University.
“Hoopfest is not just for kids, but the kid in all of us,” MHSAA Director of Brand Management Andy Frushour said. “The adults who stop in seem to love it as much as their children. There are basketball hoops everywhere, and with all of the different games to try it’s like being back on the playground.”
The Greater Lansing Sports Authority’s mission is to be the leading voice of sports tourism in the Greater Lansing area and to promote economic growth by attracting a diverse range of sporting events to the region. The GLSA strives to enhance the quality of life for area residents through the development of local sports and fitness programs for all ages, and supports the continued development and maintenance of safe, high-quality athletic facilities.
“Hoopfest has become the must-attend event for spectators of the MHSAA Tournament,” said Meghan Ziehmer, Associate Director of the Greater Lansing Sports Authority. “With games geared for all ages and abilities, the young and young-at-heart can play before, between and after sessions. With activities like the skills challenge, 3-point shooting contest and lowered rims to show off your athletic prowess, there is no shortage of fun activities.”
Michigan Steady In National Participation Figures
September 14, 2012
For the fourth straight year, Michigan ranked seventh nationally in high school sports participation, according to statistics for the 2011-12 school year released recently by the National Federation of State High School Associations. That level of participation continued to best Michigan’s national ranking for total number of residents of high school age.
Michigan’s participation ranking was based on a number of 308,080, with 131,346 girls and 176,734 boys taking part, and included sports in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association does not conduct postseason tournaments. The totals count students once for each sport in which he or she participates, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once.
Michigan girls participation fell one spot to seventh nationally after two straight years at sixth, while the boys participation figure again ranked sixth. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures from 2011, Michigan continues to rank eighth in both females and males of ages 14 through 17. Girls participation also ranked seventh in 2008-09.
Three sports moved up in their rankings, while seven fell – but none more than one spot. Total, Michigan ranked eighth or higher nationally in participation in 24 of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA conducts a postseason tournament (not counting separately 8-player football).
Girls basketball and golf both rose in 2011-12, basketball to sixth and golf to fifth. Girls tennis held steady in third place, with participation in bowling, volleyball and skiing again ranked fourth. Softball and track and field remained seventh, soccer and swimming and diving both stayed at eighth, and lacrosse stayed at 12th nationally. Girls cross country, gymnastics and competitive cheer all fell one spot – cross country to seventh, cheer to fifth and gymnastics to 12th.
Nine boys sports remained in the same spots nationally, and one – wrestling – moved up one spot, to fifth. Boys bowling stayed constant at third, as did skiing and ice hockey in fourth, 11-player football and tennis in fifth, track and field and golf in sixth, baseball in seventh and cross country in ninth in their respective sport rankings. Boys Basketball fell one spot to sixth, with boys lacrosse falling one to eighth and boys soccer and swimming and diving both moving down one spot to ninth on those lists. Last school year also was the third the MHSAA has had 8-player football, and Michigan ranked 14th of 16 states for participation in that spot.
National participation in high school sports in 2011-12 set a new record again with 7,692,520 students taking part. While boys participation nationally fell 9,419 students from 2010-11, girls participation rose 33,984 students for a record total of 3,207,533.