MHSAA TV Ramps Up as Students Return
September 9, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
This week’s MHSAA.tv highlights package includes clips from the East Lansing/East Kentwood and Comstock Park/Wyoming football games and Montrose/Burton Atherton volleyball match, produced by the School Broadcast Program.
In its seventh 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.
The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.
All sporting events – live or delayed - are available on a subscription basis only for their first 72 hours online. They become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.
Here’s the schedule of School Broadcast Program events that members plan to stream this week for broadcast at MHSAA.tv (As of Sept. 8):
- Jackson at East Lansing – Boys Soccer – Wednesday – 6:30 p.m. – On Demand After Game
- Chassell at Calumet – Girls Volleyball – Thursday – 7 p.m. - LIVE
- Ishpeming at Calumet – Football – Friday - 7 p.m. - LIVE
- Greenville at Comstock Park – Football – Friday - 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Jackson at East Lansing – Football – Friday – 7 p.m. – On Demand After Game
- Flushing at Flint Kearsley – Football – Friday – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Lake Fenton at Montrose – Football – Friday – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Sparta at Cedar Springs – Boys Soccer – Monday (Sept. 14) – 6:45 p.m. - LIVE
A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website. Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.
In its third week of the season at midnight is MHSAA Football Friday Overtime on FOX Sports Detroit. Mickey York and Rob Rubick host the weekly 30-minute highlights show. The show will re-air most Saturday and Sunday mornings – and will be archived on the FOX Detroit Website. This week, FFOT will re-air at 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 10:30 a.m. Sunday on FOX Sports Detroit.
The following games are scheduled to be highlighted this week on Football Friday Overtime:
- Farmington Hills Harrison at Oak Park
- Clarkston at West Bloomfield
- Detroit Pershing at Detroit Southeastern
- Wyandotte at Southgate Anderson
- Lincoln Park at Trenton
- Holly at Linden
- Swartz Creek at Fenton
Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
December 7, 2021
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.
“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.)