The Second Half
March 30, 2012
As local print media collapse and school sports receive less and less complete and competent coverage, and more and more immature and inappropriate treatment, the MHSAA has moved to help fill the void.
The “Second Half” is a place where people can find the essential information about school sports in a safe setting at MHSAA.com.
Geoff Kimmerly, previously the high school sports editor for the Lansing State Journal, is the man behind this mission at the MHSAA. With the help of several other staff, Geoff is originating or aggregating both video and editorial content and stories by or about student-athletes, as well as stories and Q & As with coaches. All sports are covered, and always consistent with our core values for educational athletics.
With your first cup of coffee each day, visit the Second Half at MHSAA.com.
Living With Change
December 1, 2017
One of the odd and irksome scenes I observe occurs when a relative newcomer to an enterprise lectures more seasoned veterans about change. About how change is all around us, and inevitable. About how we must embrace it and keep pace with it.
All that is true, of course; and no one knows more about that than the veteran being subjected to the newcomer’s condescension.
No one “gets it” better than those who have lived and worked through it. Short-timers can’t claim superiority on a subject they’ve only read or heard about.
Who has the deeper appreciation of change in our enterprise? The person who started working before the Internet, or after? Before social media, or after?
Who has keener knowledge of change in youth sports? The person in this work before, or after, the Amateur Athletic Union changed its focus from international competition and the Olympics to youth sports?
Who sees change more profoundly? The one who launched a career before the advent of commercially-driven sports specialization, or the one who has only seen the youth sports landscape as it exists today?
Who can better evaluate the shifting sands: newcomers or the ones who labored before colleges televised on any other day but Saturday and the pros televised on any other day but Sunday (and Thanksgiving)?
Where newcomers see things as they are, veterans can see things that have changed. They can be more aware of change, and more appreciative of its pros and cons. They didn’t merely inherit change, they lived it.