MHSAA TV Returns to the Mats
March 2, 2016
By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director
Most of the MHSAA Championship action on MHSAA.tv in the coming week can be found on the mat, with nearly 300 hours of live streaming video in Girls Competitive Cheer and Individual Wrestling, plus Student Broadcast Program-produced coverage of Basketball Districts.
Live streaming this week begins at 2 p.m. on Thursday (March 3) from The Palace of Auburn Hills at the Individual Wrestling Finals. A dedicated camera will be on each of 12 mats on the floor, and include full graphics to indicate the participants on each match, plus full in-progress scoring information via Trackwrestling.
Here’s the complete wrestling coverage schedule:
· Thursday – First Round – 2 p.m.
· Friday – Rounds 2-3-4 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 2 at 8:30 a.m. is the first Consolation round. Round 3 at about 10:30 a.m. is the second round in the Championship bracket. Round 4 at about 1:30 p.m. is the second round in the Consolation bracket.
· Friday – Semifinal Round – 7 p.m.
· Saturday – Rounds 6-7-8 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 6 at 8:30 a.m. is the third Consolation round. Round 7 at about 9:45 a.m. is the fourth Consolation Round. Round 8 at about 11 a.m. is the final round in the Consolation bracket.
· Saturday – Final Round & Awards Presentations – 4:45 p.m.
Girls Competitive Cheer coverage begins Friday (March 4) from The DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids. Here’s the complete schedule
· Friday – Division 1 – 6 p.m. (East Kentwood, Grandville, Hudsonville, Lake Orion, Livonia Stevenson, Rochester, Southgate Anderson, Sterling Heights Stevenson, Troy Athens)
· Saturday – Division 2 – 10 a.m. (Allen Park, Dearborn Divine Child, DeWitt, Gibraltar Carlson, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills, Muskegon Mona Shores, Richland Gull Lake, Trenton)
· Saturday - Division 4 – 2 p.m. (Breckenridge, Farwell, Houghton Lake, Hudson, Merrill, Michigan Center, Pewamo-Westphalia, Sanford Meridian)
· Saturday - Division 3 – 6 p.m. (Comstock Park, Escanaba, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Monroe Jefferson, Paw Paw, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Ovid-Elsie, Richmond)
The continued Wrestling and full Cheer coverage is part of six straight weekends of live MHSAA Championship coverage on MHSAA.tv. Online viewers can catch every weekend of action for one low cost of $14.95.
A Month Pass on MHSAA.tv for $14.95 will give a viewer access to events over a 30-day period from the time it is purchased. Over the next three weekends of live Winter championship coverage, the following events will be featured:
- Girls Basketball Districts – March 2-4
- Boys Basketball Districts – March 7-9-11
- Girls Basketball Regionals – March 8-10
- Ice Hockey Semifinals & Finals – March 10-12
- Girls Gymnastics Finals – March 11-12
- Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals – March 12
- Boys Basketball Regionals – March 14-16
- Girls Basketball Quarterfinals – March 15
- Girls Basketball Semifinals – March 17-18
- Boys Basketball Semifinals – March 22
- Boys Basketball Semifinals – March 24-25
A Day Pass is available for $9.95. All events become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.
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.
Upcoming MHSAA Tournament coverage by SBP members includes a Girls Basketball District at Mt. Pleasant which could have a rubber match in its Final on Friday between Saginaw Heritage and Midland Dow, two top five teams in Class A which split their regular-season meetings. At Laingsburg, the three teams that tied for the regular-season title in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference are in the Semifinals, with Bath and Laingsburg squaring off, and Pewamo-Westphalia on the other side of the bracket.
Here’s the schedule of events School Broadcast Program members plan to cover this week for broadcast on MHSAA.tv (As of March 1):
March 2
- Class C Girls Basketball District Semifinals at Laingsburg
· Saranac v. Pewamo-Westphalia – 5:30 p.m. - LIVE
· Laingsburg v. Bath – 7 p.m. - LIVE
- Class A Girls Basketball District Semifinals at Mt. Pleasant
· Saginaw Heritage v. Bay City Western – 5:30 p.m. - LIVE
· Midland v. Midland Dow winner – 7:30 p.m. - LIVE
- Class D Girls Basketball District at Rogers City
· Onaway at Rogers City – 6 p.m. – LIVE
- Class A Girls Basketball District Semifinals at Lake Orion
· Waterford Mott at Lake Orion – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Division 3 Ice Hockey Regional at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
· Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood v. Madison Heights Bishop Foley – 7:45 p.m. – LIVE
March 3
- Tawas Area at Alpena – JV Boys Basketball – 5:30 p.m. – LIVDE
- Whittemore-Prescott at Rogers City – JV Boys Basketball – 6 p.m. - On-Demand
- OAA Crossover at Lake Orion – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Lansing Waverly at East Lansing – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – On-Demand
- Escanaba at Calumet – Boys Basketball – 7:20 p.m. – LIVE
- Whittemore-Prescott at Rogers City – Boys Basketball – 7:30 p.m. - LIVE
March 4
- Class A Girls Basketball Finals at Mt. Pleasant – 6:30 p.m. - LIVE
- Class C Girls Basketball District Finals at Laingsburg – 7 p.m. - LIVE
March 5
- Division 3 Ice Hockey Regional at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
· Teams TBA – 3:15 p.m. – LIVE
March 7
- Class A Boys Basketball District First Round at East Lansing
· East Lansing v. Lansing Waverly – 5 p.m. - LIVE
· Haslett v. Grand Ledge – 7:30 p.m. – LIVE
March 8
- Class A Girls Basketball Regional Semifinals at Mason - 6 & 7:30 p.m. - LIVE
- Class A Girls Basketball Regional Semifinals at Hudsonville - 6 & 8 p.m. - LIVE
Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.
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.)