Michigan High School Athletic Association - Promoting Educational Athletics
Michigan High School Athletic Association - Promoting Educational Athletics |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 1, 2007 Girls Volleyball Finals To Stay In Southwest Michigan; EAST LANSING, Mich. – May 1 – Southwestern Michigan has long been recognized as a hotbed of girls volleyball, a fact which has seen the region serve as the host of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Finals since 1990; and the area will continue to be involved as the Semifinals and Finals for the 2007-08 school year move to a new home in Kellogg Arena in downtown Battle Creek. Kellogg Arena, which can seat 4,675 fans in a volleyball configuration, will be the site for the Semifinals and Finals on Nov. 15-17, and adds a fall event to complete a year-round calendar of championships the Association conducts in the Cereal City. “Battle Creek has always been a great host for MHSAA Tournaments, and in Kellogg Arena becoming the new site for the Girls Volleyball Semifinals and Finals, we also are able to maintain a tradition of having the tournament played in Southwestern Michigan,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “The community of Battle Creek welcomes the MHSAA Volleyball Finals to the Kellogg Arena,” said Larry Wegener, Director of Sports Promotion for the Battle Creek/Calhoun County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have hosted MHSAA Final Tournaments in many sports and are proud to play host to the 2007 MHSAA Volleyball Finals. It is our intention to work with the strong staff in Kalamazoo to build on the southwestern Michigan tradition of excellence in volleyball.” Built in 1980, Kellogg Arena has a long history of service to the MHSAA. The Arena was the primary site of the Lower Peninsula Individual Wrestling Finals from 1988 to 1998, playing to standing-room only crowds. It has served as the site of the Team Dual Wrestling Finals since its inception in 1988, and was the host of the Girls Basketball Semifinals and Finals from 1990 to 1996. In addition, it has also been a site for MHSAA Boys Basketball Tournaments. Battle Creek has been the host of the Baseball-Softball Semifinals and Finals since 1990 at Bailey Park; and has also been an occasional host of the Lower Peninsula Tennis Finals for boys and girls. Kellogg Arena is located in the heart of downtown Battle Creek, and is part of the McCamly Square complex which includes the 239-room McCamly Plaza Hotel and McCamly Place, an indoor plaza that links the hotel with Kellogg Arena and an atrium mall that boasts unique shops and national brand eateries. There is a 763-car parking ramp attached to the facility, and there are over 1,500 spaces available in a two-block area. Since 1997, University Arena on the campus of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo had served as the home to the Semifinals and Finals of the Girls Volleyball Tournament. University Arena had also hosted the Finals of the event in 1996. In the 11-year span in which University Arena hosted the Semifinals and Finals of the tournament, the annual attendance grew from approximately 7,000 spectators to nearly 10,000. From 1990 to 1995, the Finals took place at Kalamazoo Central High School, and Semifinal rounds were played at other area high schools. “We are thankful for the wonderful job that the Kalamazoo community and Western Michigan University performed as the host of the tournament for the past 18 years,” Roberts said. The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,200 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 approximately 1.6 million spectators each year. -0- RL07-056 AT&T, Farm Bureau Insurance, Henry Ford Health System and MEEMIC Insurance |