Stoney Creek Leaders Speak Up to Save Lives
May 26, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The crowd for Rochester Hills Stoney Creek’s boys basketball game against rival Rochester was as rowdy as could be hoped for most of the evening Feb. 28.
But it fell silent during halftime as Stoney Creek juniors Nate Davis, Kevin Price and Isabella Ubaydi spoke of how suicide had affected them and their community.
A student had committed suicide every year during their high school careers – including Price’s brother just six months before.
All three are members of the school’s Cougar Athletic Leadership Council, which put on the Suicide Prevention Awareness basketball game not only to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, but also to start the conversation on a sensitive topic that has hit home.
“We wanted to get the word out that it’s OK to talk about these issues – help the topic get out of the dark,” Ubaydi said.
“It was insane. It was awesome. There were so many people. Our student section area where we all sit was filled up to the top row. There were a lot of people from the community who didn’t go to Stoney Creek, or have alumni (associated with the school) or anything like that. But they were at Stoney Creek, and it was great to show people actually care in our community.”
The leadership council is a club made up of Stoney Creek athletes who coordinate special events, including for athletics, with an eye especially on helping the community’s youth, elderly and those with disabilities. Ubaydi, Price and Davis are co-chairs of the CALC’s special events committee.
The tragic circumstances of the last three years led the group to bring suicide prevention to the forefront. While Ubaydi spoke mostly about why the event was held and how donations would be spent, Price and Davis (Price’s best friend) talked about how suicide had affected them personally. “You could hear a pin drop,” Ubaydi said. “After we were done, (the crowd) gave a standing ovation.”
CALC raised nearly $3,500 selling T-shirts that also included free student admission to the game. After Ubaydi, Price and Davis spoke, buckets were passed through the crowd during a “miracle minute” and filled with another $1,200.
All profits from the night, including $500 from concessions, were donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Ubaydi said the $1,000 from the Community Service Award also will be sent to AFSP.
She’s since heard stories from teachers of classmates coming forward to express worries about people in their lives, a sign awareness is paying off. At the same time, Ubaydi and her co-chairs are just as concerned about people who didn’t attend the Suicide Prevention Awareness game and might be experiencing troubles in their lives – but the hope is the event spoke loudly enough to be heard by anyone who needs help.
All three leaders are juniors beginning to contemplate their futures after high school; Ubaydi is leaning toward Roanoke College in Virginia to study political science and minor in theology, while Price is considering Michigan State to study environmental science and Davis is looking at options for pre-law or political science. They hope to host the suicide prevention event again as seniors before they graduate, with future CALC students then carrying on the mission.
“Suicide is an uncomfortable topic to talk about. Since people saw us relating to how it has affected us personally, the community will become comfortable discussing mental illnesses together,” Ubaydi wrote in CALC’s award application.
“I wanted to have this event so people understand that the influence that one person can make may be life-changing. This then causes them to be there for others, see the signs quicker, and save more lives.”
PHOTO: (Top) Cougar Athletic Leadership Council leaders Kevin Price, Isabella Ubaydi and Nate Davis show their shirts from the school’s Suicide Prevention Awareness night. VIDEOS: (Top) State Champs! Network covered the event and interviewed its organizers. (Below) Davis, Ubaydi and Price speak during halftime, also filmed by State Champs! Network.
2017 Community Service Awards
Sunday: Colon "Yard Squad" - Read
Monday: Bailey Brown, Brighton - Read
Tuesday: Justice Ottinger, Newaygo - Read
Thursday: Katie Sesi, Ann Arbor Huron - Read
Friday: Nikki Sorgi, Utica Ford - Read
Friday: Cougar Athletic Leadership Council, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek - Read
Nearly 100,000 Student-Athletes Set to Start MHSAA Fall Practices
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 9, 2024
Nearly 100,000 Michigan high school student-athletes are anticipated to begin Fall 2024 practices on Monday, Aug. 12, across nine sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments.
The fall season includes the most played sports for both boys and girls; 35,174 football players and 19,119 girls volleyball players competed during the Fall 2023 season. Teams in those sports will be joined by competitors in girls and boys cross country, Lower Peninsula girls golf, boys soccer, Lower Peninsula girls swimming & diving, Upper Peninsula girls tennis and Lower Peninsula boys tennis in beginning practice next week.
Competition begins Aug. 16 for cross country, golf, soccer and tennis, Aug. 21 for swimming & diving and volleyball, and Aug. 29 for varsity football. Football teams at all levels must have 12 days of preseason practice – over a period of 16 calendar days – before their first game.
In girls volleyball this season, for the first time, the top two teams in each District bracket will be seeded based on Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) that take into account a team’s regular-season success and strength of schedule. Those two seeded teams will be determined the Sunday prior to the final week of the regular season and placed on opposite sides of their District brackets.
Boys soccer also will see a slight change to its seeding this fall, as the entire bracket will be seeded based on MPR, not just the top two teams as in previous seasons.
The 11-Player Football Finals schedule at Ford Field also will have a slightly different lineup and earlier start times. On both Friday, Nov. 29, and Saturday, Nov. 30, the first games of the day will begin at 9:30 a.m., with the final games of both days slated to start at 7 p.m. On Nov. 29, Division 8 at 9:30 a.m. will be followed by Division 4 at 12:30 p.m., Division 6 at 4 p.m. and Division 2 at 7 p.m. to conclude the day. On Nov. 30, Division 7 kicks off at 9:30 a.m., followed by Division 3 at 12:30 p.m., Division 5 at 4 p.m. and Division 1 at 7 p.m. to finish the weekend.
A few more game-action rules changes will be quickly noticeable to participants and spectators.
- In football, uniforms now must have clear contrast between the colors of the jersey and body of the numbers (excluding the border); for example, white numbers with blue outline on a white jersey are no longer allowed. The visiting teams must wear white uniforms, and home teams must wear dark jerseys that clearly contrast with white.
- In soccer, the eight-goal differential rule remains but with the addition of a running clock during the first half if the differential reaches eight.
- In volleyball, line judges beginning this fall will switch sides of the court between sets.
The 2024 Fall campaign culminates with postseason tournaments beginning with the Upper Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals during the week of Sept. 30 and wrapping up with the 11-Player Football Finals on Nov. 29 and 30. Here is a complete list of fall tournament dates:
Cross Country
U.P. Finals – Oct. 19
L.P. Regionals – Oct. 25 or 26
L.P. Finals – Nov. 2
11-Player Football
Selection Sunday – Oct. 27
Pre-Districts – Nov. 1 or 2
District Finals – Nov. 8 or 9
Regional Finals – Nov. 15 or 16
Semifinals – Nov. 23
Finals – Nov. 29-30
8-Player Football
Selection Sunday – Oct. 27
Regional Semifinals – Nov. 1 or 2
Regional Finals – Nov. 8 or 9
Semifinals – Nov. 16
Finals – Nov. 23
L.P. Girls Golf
Regionals – Oct. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12
Finals – Oct. 18-19
Boys Soccer
Districts – Oct. 9-19
Regionals – Oct. 22-26
Semifinals – Oct. 30
Finals – Nov. 2
L.P. Girls Swimming & Diving
Diving Regionals – Nov. 14
Swimming/Diving Finals – Nov. 22-23
Tennis
U.P. Girls Finals – Oct. 2, 3, 4 or 5
L.P. Boys Regionals – Oct. 9, 10, 11 or 12
L.P. Boys Finals – Oct. 17-19 or 21-22
Girls Volleyball
Districts – Nov. 4-9
Regionals – Nov. 12 & 14
Quarterfinals – Nov. 19
Semifinals – Nov. 21-22
Finals – Nov. 23
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.