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The Best Is Yet To Come

June 17, 2014

My last posting was built on six words from the novel, No Small Mischief, a fictional memoir of life in Nova Scotia’s northernmost region. Today’s posting is launched from an 11-word passage from the same work: “Living in the past is not living up to our potential.”
How horrible it is to peak in high school. 
To remember high school as the best days of life is not such a problem, unless it is true. If, in fact, we were at our best during our high school years, then we have failed to fully develop as human beings.
I heard an athletic director close a senior student-athlete awards program recently by saying, wisely, “I hope you will visit us, but not too long or too often. You need to get on with your lives.”
The high school experience – including competitive athletics – is not the end, not the fulfillment of anything. It is, at its best, the launching pad for life.
That it can be the best days of one’s youth should not make school sports the best years of one’s life.

An Extraordinary Choice

May 11, 2018

A decade and a half ago when there was a vacancy on the staff of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, my colleague Randy Allen mentioned that I should take a look at an impressive young guy from southwest Michigan. A guy I had never met, or even heard of. A 29-year-old by the name of Mark Uyl.

I did take a look, and a second, and a third. Given his youth, I realized this might be the first person I would hire who not only would outlast me on the MHSAA staff, but who also would be both youthful enough and experienced enough to lead the MHSAA after me.

When, at the conclusion of the Representative Council’s spring meeting on Monday, MHSAA President Scott Grimes announced the selection of Mark Uyl to be the next MHSAA executive director, he said, “It was the easiest decision of the weekend.”

I consider the assembly of an outstanding MHSAA staff, and the swift succession of Mark Uyl to executive director, to be among the most significant contributions of my turn to lead the MHSAA.

Mark has the philosophy, people skills and practical knowledge of local school sports that made him the obvious choice. His connections and communication skills make him an extraordinary choice. He will do great things during his turn to lead this extraordinary organization.