Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting

Highlights

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

December 7, 2021

DETROIT – An hour before kickoff of the first game of 11-Player Football Finals weekend – the Division 8 championship decider between Hudson and Beal City – Bally Sports Detroit announcers Evan Stockton and Rob Rubick were busy preparing to call the action from the television booth on the third level of Ford Field.

Four levels above them, in the press box, a group of prospective broadcasters were touring the facilities. The high school students had spent the Fall sports season streaming games to the NFHS Network and now were learning about a career in broadcasting from Eric Vandefifer, a Montrose High grad currently serving as the radio voice of Saginaw Valley State University basketball and as a contributor to a variety of high school broadcast channels including the MHSAA Network.

Seven years ago, Vandefifer was in a similar situation. He was part of a field trip to Ford Field for the Finals that helped him realize sports broadcasting was a career he wanted to pursue. Those field trips were headed by Tom Skinner and Thom Lengyel, who became mentors to Vandefifer. As a high school junior in 2017, Vandefifer was named Best Student Broadcaster nationally by the NFHS Network.

Mount Pleasant SBP “With Tom Skinner now deceased and Thom Lengyel retired from the broadcast business, I just felt like I had to continue this and their legacy,” Vandefifer said. “It was important to me to keep it going because when I was in school, it was something I looked forward to.”

Nearly 50 students from Lowell, Montrose, Lake Orion, Mount Pleasant and Ann Arbor Greenhills high schools made the Nov. 26-27 trip to Ford Field. They were able to film highlights, interview players, practice announcing the games, meet other members of the press and more. For Vandefifer, giving back to students who are in the position he once was is very rewarding.

“We had the ability to feel like real media members for a day. I wanted to be able to give other students that same opportunity,” Vandefifer said. “Seeing kids who have a love for sportscasting and that drive to get better gives me real hope for the next generation in this business.”

And after the field trips were done each day, Vandefifer put his headphones on, got behind the microphone and called the two afternoon games for the MHSAA Championship Network.

PHOTOS (Top) Eighth grader Sam Belill, left, and freshman Owen Leitelt from Montrose practice calling a game from the Ford Field press box. (Middle) Mount Pleasant make a stop at the press conference room. (Photos provided by the Montrose and Mount Pleasant School Broadcast Programs.)

Highlights

Track Finals Live on MHSAA TV

May 28, 2019

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

Live streaming video of Saturday’s (June 1) MHSAA Track & Field Finals will take place beginning at 10 a.m. on the NFHS Network and MHSAA.tv.

Saturday’s Track Finals kick off three straight weekends of MHSAA Spring Championships action on MHSAA.tv. All of the action can be viewed by purchasing a Month Pass for just $9.95.

Track action begins on Saturday at 10 a.m. (EDT) at Lower Peninsula sites in the greater Grand Rapids area at East Kentwood (Div. 1), Zeeland (Div. 2), Jenison (Div. 3) and Hudsonville (Div. 4), as well as at the Upper Peninsula Finals in Kingsford. Here’s the complete schedule (Girls run first in all events in 2019):

Lower Peninsula Finals (All times EDT)

10 a.m. – 3,200-Meter Relay Final; Round One – 100-Meter Dash, 100 & 110-Meter Hurdles, 200-Meter Dash
1 p.m. – Running Finals (100 & 110 Hurdles, 100 Dash, 800 Relay, 1,600 Run, 400 Relay, 300 Hurdles, 800 Run, 200 Dash, 3,200 Run, 1,600 Relay)

Upper Peninsula Finals (All event times approximate & EDT)

10 a.m. – 3,200 Relay
11:45 a.m. – 110 & 100 Hurdles
12:15 p.m. – 100 Dash
12:45 p.m. – 800 Relay
1:15 p.m. – 1,600 Run
1:45 p.m. – 400 Relay
2:15 p.m. – 400 Dash
2:45 p.m. – 300 Hurdles
3:15 p.m. – 800 Run
3:45 p.m. – 200 Dash
4:15 p.m. – 3,200 Run
5:15 p.m. – 1,600 Relay

In its 10th year, the School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events, with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. Pixellot – the NFHS Network’s automated streaming solution – is used by schools wishing to live stream games but lacking the ability to staff events. The SBP also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.

NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $9.95 a month. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. All content becomes available for free, on-demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live. School Broadcast Program participants also are selling Season and Annual Passes at a discounted rate. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.

A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.

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