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Members of the Same Team
April 2, 2013
The Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) is a leader among our state’s high school coaches associations, as well as of its counterpart organizations for the sport of basketball across the US.
The MHSAA has partnered with BCAM in numerous ways, including the “Reaching Higher” program to help prepare high school student-athletes for the college experience and in the “Top Shooters” and clinic aspects of the “March Magic Hoopfest” which will return in 2014 after taking a year off due to facility conflicts at Michigan State University.
One of the longest MHSAA-BCAM partnerships has been the Basketball Officials and Coaches Communications Committee (BOCCC). One of the committee members, Mitch Hubbard of Reading High School, offered these candid and insightful comments in BCAM’s March 2013 Monthly Report:
Look Through Someone Else’s Window
I sat through the class nodding my head in agreement. I kept thinking of situations where if people would do this, many conflicts could be avoided. If only people would look at both sides of things, then the world would be a better place.
This season I took on the position of athletic director. Part of the job is to greet the officials and escort them back and forth to the locker room. For the first time in my career, I have had good, honest, open conversations with guys that I have known for years. I found out that these guys have families, careers, injuries, honors, and all kinds of day-to-day happenings. Some live close by and some travel long distances to referee. I was amazed as to just how much these guys were like me!
Officials and coaches want the same thing. They both love the sport and want to protect it. We need to work together to improve and enhance the game. Communication and relationships between officials and coaches is critical. We need to stop and take the time to “look through someone else’s window” and appreciate them.
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Large Topics for the Lower Level
December 22, 2017
Editor's Note: This blog originally was posted May 21, 2013, and the topic continues to be of prime concern today.
Sometimes our meeting agendas give the impression that junior high/middle school programs are unimportant or an afterthought; but that was not the case during the MHSAA Representative Council meeting May 5 and 6, and it will not be the case at many meetings throughout the next 12 months at least.
Here are just two of the tough multi-faceted topics that the Representative Council has asked to be addressed at constituent meetings from now through next February and will be studied by the MHSAA Junior High/Middle School Committee, Classification Committee and many of the MHSAA’s separate sport committees:
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Are current season limitations for contests and limitations on the lengths of contests appropriate for the junior high/middle school level? Do the current limits reflect the correct philosophy for sports at this level? Do they accommodate the four-season approach many schools encourage? Do the limits drive some students to non-school programs? Do they cause some schools to not join the MHSAA?
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Should the MHSAA provide rules, programs and services for 6th-graders who, in nearly 80 percent of situations, are located in the same buildings with 7th and 8th-graders? Does the MHSAA’s lack of involvement encourage the same by schools, and allow non-school programs to fill the resulting void; and does this drive those students away from school-based sports permanently? Or would the MHSAA’s involvement at this level pressure school districts to add sixth grade programs and services at a time of dwindling resources for the 7-12 grade program?
to benefit both kids and their schools at the junior high/middle school level as at the high school. Our agendas for the
We have always maintained that there is at least as much potential for school-based sports next year will have that belief as its foundation as these tough topics get the time they deserve.