Rivaling for a Cause

January 25, 2013

It’s impossible to include all the perspective we gain from every “Battle of the Fans” visit. 

But this anecdote, although it didn't make Tuesday’s story about our Frankenmuth trip, tells of another great example for what student cheering sections can accomplish.

Frankenmuth and Millington are heated rivals, to say the least, separated by 13 miles and made more competitive by plenty of championship-deciding matchups over the years.

But for their boys basketball game Jan. 10 at Frankenmuth, student section leaders from both schools almost completely on their own set up the game as a cancer awareness night, complete with Frankenmuth students in black shirts and Millington’s wearing pink.

The idea was the brainchild of a of Frankenmuth section leader, who then received help from a local bank and contacted Millington to get the ball rolling.

Battle of the Fans has shown us the obvious – these student sections need strong leaders – but also the special things they can accomplish with additional initiative.

“Never Forgotten”

Two more rivals, Fennville and Saugatuck, met late last month for their second “Never Forgotten” boys and girls basketball games with proceeds going to the Wes Leonard Heart Team for the purchase of AEDs.

Players wore jerseys with names on the backs of friends and family members who had died, and those jerseys were then given to family members after the games. Officials Ace Cover, Chris Dennie and Kyle Bowen also donated their game checks to the Heart Team, as did the winner of that night’s 50-50 raffle.

Leonard died from sudden cardiac arrest after making the game-winning shot in a basketball game March 3, 2011. The two schools played their first “Never Forgotten” games last season.

More support for less specialization

I’m asked once a year at least about sport specialization – that is, athletes focusing on just one sport, often from an early age, and if it pays off some way down the road.

Most of my evidence to support my belief in the well-rounded athlete has been anecdotal, based on conversations with people at the high school and college levels over the years. But a British study published this fall in the Journal of Sport Sciences by University of Birmingham researchers provides some interesting empirical findings.

The study of 1,006 people from the United Kingdom showed that those who participated in three sports at ages 11, 13 and 15 were “significantly more likely to compete at a national rather than club standard” between ages 16-18 than those who had practiced only one sport.

In other words, the study found that those who played more sports at earlier ages played at a higher level during their high school-age years, which seems to contradict the one-sport focus philosophy.

Click for more perspective on the study from Chris Kennedy, the Superintendent of Schools in West Vancouver, British Columbia.

PHOTO: The boys and girls teams for Fennville and Saugatuck pose together after their "Never Forgotten" games Dec. 21 at Fennville High. (Photo courtesy of Al LaShell.)

Baldwin Hopes to Set Example for Aspiring Saginaw Wrestlers with Rapid Rise

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

December 11, 2024

When Michael Baldwin began his wrestling career as a freshman at Saginaw Arthur Hill, coach Angel Rodriguez recognized he had a special talent on his hands almost immediately.

Bay & ThumbAlmost.

“I didn’t think I’d be back in that room after a week, to be honest,” Baldwin said. “My first practice, I threw up and passed out, so I thought that was going to be my last time in a wrestling room. So, I definitely didn’t think I’d make it this far.”

Baldwin bounced back nicely from that first day and has turned himself into one of the best wrestlers in the state as he begins his senior season. The now-Saginaw United wrestler is coming off a third-place finish at the 2024 Individual Finals and is ranked No. 1 at 175 pounds in Division 1 by Michigan Grappler. 

It’s a quick rise, but one that Rodriguez has seen as possible all along, despite that rough start.

“You could see it his freshman year,” Rodriguez said. “You could see him wanting to be better and better and better, trying to get better at every situation. His sophomore year, he went straight into wrestling again. You could see it, it’s just that you don’t know how special it’s going to become.”

Baldwin already has put himself among the best wrestlers to ever come through the city. His third-place finish at 165 pounds is tied for the best at Arthur Hill, with his brother Lionel’s third place in 2023. 

Saginaw High, which joined with Arthur Hill to form Saginaw United this fall, had produced a pair of Finals champions – Quinton Moore in 2010 and Yohanas Moore in 1987. Baldwin knows what it would mean to join them representing United’s first-year program.

“It would be huge, and after that, I would really hope that people in our city and our community would start to look at wrestling a little bit more,” Baldwin said. “To be completely honest, it’s all football and basketball here. Those sports are great, and they’re cool and they’re mainstream, and they definitely make the most money if you become the best in the world at it. A sport like wrestling is just so life-changing, that it’s almost like a gift to share it with other people. I’m forever grateful to my brother for introducing me to the sport. So, if I could win states and really put it out there that there’s somebody from Saginaw who’s the best wrestler in the state of Michigan, I feel like then maybe parents would start to encourage their kids to wrestle.”

Baldwin knows that with wrestling seeing is believing, as it’s what flipped the switch for him. It wasn’t until he watched his brother qualify for the 2022 Finals tournament that he really started to believe he could make some noise in the sport.

Baldwin looks to make his move.“When I think about it, I think, ‘What can I do for other people that my brother’s done for me?’ Which is why I go to all these national tournaments and why I try to perform at such a high level,” Baldwin said. “All it took for me was my brother showing me it was possible to go to states, because I didn’t think stuff like that was possible. I never thought about making it to the state Finals as a football team, or for any other sport, I never thought about being the best in the state, at all. Seeing my brother be one of the best wrestlers in the state, it just showed me how possible that stuff was. At this point, four years into my career, I think anything is possible.”

Winning a Finals title is the immediate goal for Baldwin, and he’s off to a good start. He placed third this past weekend at the Grappler Gold Invitational, with his one loss coming to eventual champion Kole Katschor of Dundee, who is a returning Finals champion. Katschor defeated three-time Finals champion Sebastian Martinez of Riverview Gabriel Richard in the final of a stacked GGI 175-pound bracket.

Over the summer, Baldwin wrestled in several national tournaments, and placed fifth at the Grappler Fall Classic, with his only losses coming against nationally-ranked Max Harmon from Tennessee. He’s also been one match away from placing at the nationals in Fargo, N.D., the most illustrious tournament in the country for high schoolers. 

Colleges have begun to notice, as he’s had talks with several from the NAIA level all the way up to Division I.

That’s despite the fact it’s not well-known he’s only been wrestling since his freshman year. Combined with his being ranked No. 1 academically in his class, that makes him a remarkably attractive prospect.

“I’m sure when I tell them that, they start to see the potential,” Baldwin said. “I have so much to learn and so much to get better at.”

The ultimate goal is to be a world champion, and Baldwin spends his offseason wrestling in freestyle and Greco Roman tournaments to make that a reality. 

It’s a lofty goal, for sure, but after seeing what Baldwin has been able to accomplish during his short time with the sport, it does feel as though anything is possible. 

“It’s surreal,” Rodriguez said. “Because, you see the talent in the city. You see the talent in the school. You see the type of kids that have the ability to be great, or fantastic, or do something that someone’s never done. To have it be one of my athletes, one of my wrestlers and a kid in my room, it’s surreal. It’s crazy.

“At one point in time, when I started coaching, I couldn’t get a kid past Regionals. … Seeing these kids wear an Arthur Hill singlet, or a Saginaw United singlet, being from the city area and doing what he’s doing – I don’t know, it’s unreal. You would never expect it, because we’re not a school known for wrestling. We’re not an area known for wrestling. But to have one of the top-level kids in your area, in your room, and have the ability to coach him, it’s probably one of the coolest things as a coach that I’ve been able to do.”

Paul CostanzoPaul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Saginaw Arthur Hill’s Michael Baldwin (left) wrestles Byron Center’s Blake Ottow during a third-place match at last season’s Individual Finals. (Middle) Baldwin looks to make his move. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)