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iWanamaker Provides MHSAA Golf App
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 7, 2020
The MHSAA is providing live scoring of its Regional and Finals events for the girls and boys golf seasons during the 2020-21 school year via the MHSAA Golf app created and operated by the Wanamaker Corporation and iWanamaker.
Girls Golf Regionals began in the Lower Peninsula on Monday, Oct. 5, and will continue through Oct. 10. Lower Peninsula Girls Golf Finals will be played Friday and Saturday, Oct. 16-17, respectively.
Those who wish to follow this year’s MHSAA golf postseasons in real time may download the “MHSAA Golf” app, available for both iOS or Android. The app will provide live scoring, leaderboards and scorecards for all MHSAA postseason events.
“We’re excited to work with iWanamaker on a scoring platform that we believe will add to the excitement of the event for fans and the golfers themselves,” said MHSAA assistant director Cody Inglis, who serves as the Association’s administrator of girls and boys golf. “The opportunity to follow how every competitor is faring on the course, after every hole, has the potential to make this a next-level experience for high school golf.”
Schools across Michigan have used the MHSAA Golf app throughout this fall’s girls golf regular season. The app charges for a “ticket” for events to be followed – $5 each for MHSAA Regionals and Finals. Those who have used the app during the regular season may continue to utilize their $90 family season tickets or $30 single season tickets for MHSAA events as well.
The MHSAA Golf app allows golfers to input their scores after each hole in real-time, with that data then viewable by fans and tournament officials. An added benefit, the use of the digital app by individual golfers also eliminates any need to exchange paper scorecards, further minimizing risk as part of COVID-19 precautions.
Live scores from MHSAA tournament events also are available online, linked from the Girls Golf page of the MHSAA Website. “Tickets” from iWanamaker are still required to watch the live scoring on the website.
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MHSAA ‘AD Connection Program’ Debuts with Start of 2023-24 School Year
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 7, 2023
A first-of-its-kind mentorship program is greeting more than 100 first-time high school athletic directors who are officially beginning their tenures at Michigan High School Athletic Association member schools with the start of the 2023-24 school year.
The “AD Connection Program” has matched those first-year high school athletic directors with one of eight mentors who have recently retired from the field and will now provide assistance as those new administrators transition to this essential role in school sports.
A total of 102 first-year high school athletic directors are beginning at MHSAA schools, meaning a new athletic administrator will be taking over at nearly 14 percent of the 750 member high schools across the state. Athletic director turnover at MHSAA high schools has reached 10 percent or more annually over the last few years, and it’s hoped that this additional mentorship will support athletic directors adjusting to the high pace and responsibilities of the position for the first time.
The AD Connection Program will build on training received at the required in-service program all new athletic directors must attend each fall. There is also a strong connection to programming from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA), the professional development organization for the state’s athletic administrators.
"When you crystalize it, the AD Connection Program is an attempt for us to give a true year-long in-service to new athletic directors with people who have done it,” said MHSAA Assistant Director Brad Bush, who is coordinating the program and joined the MHSAA staff in January after more than two decades as an athletic administrator at Chelsea High School. “This also connects new ADs with a larger professional group, and it will culminate in March at the annual MIAAA conference, where there will be several face-to-face meetings with all ADs.
“These mentors are meant to become that first-year AD’s go-to person.”
Mentors will conduct frequent meetings with their cohorts. They also will meet monthly (or more) with each first-time athletic director individually via zoom, and at least once during the academic year face-to-face at the mentee’s school.
The eight mentors, noting their most recent schools as an athletic director, are Chris Ervin (most recently at St. Johns), Brian Gordon (Royal Oak), Sean Jacques (Calumet), Tim Johnston (East Grand Rapids), Karen Leinaar (Frankfort), Scott Robertson (Grand Haven), Meg Seng (Ann Arbor Greenhills) and Wayne Welton (Chelsea). Leinaar also will serve as the AD Connection Program’s liaison to the MIAAA, which she serves as executive director.
High school practices at MHSAA member schools may begin today, Monday Aug. 7, for the nine fall sports for which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. The AD Connection Program was approved by the MHSAA Representative Council during its annual Winter Meeting on March 24.
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 1.3 million spectators each year.
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