When Seasons Matter
April 6, 2018
There are people who want to fuss with Michigan High School Athletic Association tournament structures because, they say, they “want the regular season to mean something.” We need to guard against that thinking and such talk.
In school sports done right, the regular season always means something, even for a team which loses every game.
In school sports done right, practice means even more, because coaches and athletes interact in practice far more than games.
People who want to provide tournament postseason perks to teams which win more games than others are likely to reward the wrong things, like the teams that gathered transfers from other schools.
They are likely to miss the right things, like the teams that started slowly but improved over a truly meaningful season of practices and contests.
They are likely to miss the fact that some teams lost key players due to ineligibility or injury or gained them late in a season and where, in either case, team records are not a meaningful measure of the season.
Let’s not be fooled. Let’s not be trapped in the mindset of sport models that are more about business than education.
Gerrymandering postseason tournaments does more to undermine the integrity of the postseason than honor the regular season.
Staying the Course
August 7, 2015
- Scholarship – meaning scholarship in high school, not athletic scholarships to college; maintaining school sports as a helper to the schools’ academic mission.
- Sportsmanship – meaning the environment at interscholastic events, shaped by the attitudes and actions of players, coaches and spectators; seeing good sportsmanship as a precursor to good citizenship.
- Safety – assuring parents that their children not only will be as safe as possible in school sports, but will develop habits that tend to encourage a lifetime of better health.
- Scope – placing borders around school sports that tend to assure a sane and sensible, student-centered educational experience.
I said in 1986 that these would still be our top topics in 1996, 2006 and 2016; and the “Four S’s” have stood the test of time. In fact, they stand even taller now than three decades ago.
On Monday, the first day of this 30th year, 95 representatives of 70 schools gathered for training to execute one of two pilot programs we have launched for 2015-16 to improve the process of concussion detection at interscholastic practices and contests.
When fall practices begin next week, they will do so with three other health and safety changes.
- All member schools, grades 7 through 12, must report all suspected concussions at practices and games to the MHSAA, utilizing a web-based reporting system on MHSAA.com.
- All high school varsity head coaches must have a current certification in CPR.
- All athletes in all levels of all sports in MHSAA member schools grades 7 through 12 will be provided, without charge to either their families or the schools, concussion care insurance aimed at assuring all students have access to prompt, professional medical care, regardless of family resources.