MHSAA TV Serves Up Volleyball Powers
September 12, 2018
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
Four of the state’s top-ranked volleyball teams will be in action as part of an 80-game-plus schedule this week on MHSAA.tv.
Lake Orion, third-ranked in Division 1; and Schoolcraft, Manchester, and Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian – the third, fourth and ninth-rated teams, respectively, in Division 3 – all grace this week’s schedule of games produced by members of the School Broadcast Program.
Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams being produced by School Broadcast Program members and the NFHS Network:
Tuesday - Sept. 11
- Freshman Girls Volleyball - Schoolcraft at Kalamazoo Christian - 4:15 P.M.
- Freshman Girls Volleyball - Hancock at Calumet - 4:30 P.M.
- JV Girls Volleyball - Plymouth at Howell - 4:55 P.M.
- Freshman Girls Volleyball - Hartland at Novi - 5 P.M.
- JV Girls Volleyball - Hartland at Novi - 5 P.M.
- JV Girls Volleyball - Hancock at Calumet - 5:30 P.M.
- JV Girls Volleyball - Schoolcraft at Kalamazoo Christian - 5:30 P.M.
- Boys Soccer - Spring Lake at Comstock Park - 6 P.M.
- Girls Volleyball - Plymouth at Howell - 6:25 P.M.
- Girls Volleyball - Hartland at Novi - 6:30 P.M.
- Girls Volleyball - Schoolcraft at Kalamazoo Christian - 7 P.M.
Wednesday - Sept. 12
- Freshman Boys Soccer - Northville at Saline - 4 P.M.
- Middle School Girls Volleyball - Belding at Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian - 4:15 P.M.
- Middle School Girls Volleyball - Belding at Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian - 5:30 P.M.
- JV Field Hockey - Farmington Hills Mercy at Saline - 5:30 P.M.
- JV Girls Volleyball – Midland Bullock Creek at Frankenmuth - 5:30 P.M.
- Freshman Girls Volleyball – Midland Bullock Creek at Frankenmuth - 5:30 P.M.
- Middle School Football - St. Joseph at Stevensville Lakeshore - 6 P.M.
- Field Hockey - Farmington Hills Mercy at Saline - 7 P.M.
- Girls Volleyball – Midland Bullock Creek at Frankenmuth - 7 P.M.
Thursday - Sept. 13
- Freshman Girls Volleyball - Allendale at Comstock Park - 4 P.M.
- Freshman Football - Allegan at Plainwell - 4:15 P.M.
- Freshman Football - Novi at Howell - 4:25 P.M.
- Freshman Football - Shepherd at Freeland - 4:30 P.M.
- Freshman Football – Flint Carman-Ainsworth at Grand Blanc - 4:30 P.M.
- JV Girls Volleyball - Allendale at Comstock Park - 5 P.M.
- Boys Soccer - Lansing Eastern at Fowlerville - 5:30 P.M.
- JV Girls Volleyball - Waterford Kettering at Grand Blanc - 5:30 P.M.
- Freshman Girls Volleyball - Waterford Kettering at Grand Blanc - 5:30 P.M.
- JV Girls Volleyball - Belding at Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian - 6 P.M.
- Girls Volleyball - Allendale at Comstock Park - 6 P.M.
- JV Football - Allegan at Plainwell - 6 P.M.
- Freshman Football - Escanaba at Marquette - 6 P.M.
- JV Football - Shepherd at Freeland - 6:15 P.M.
- JV Football - Flint Carman-Ainsworth at Grand Blanc - 6:30 P.M.
- JV Football - Novi at Howell - 6:45 P.M.
- Girls Volleyball - Oxford at Lake Orion - 7 P.M.
- Girls Volleyball – Waterford Kettering at Grand Blanc - 7 P.M.
- Girls Volleyball - Belding at Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian - 7 P.M.
Friday - Sept. 14
- Football - St. Joseph at Stevensville Lakeshore - 6:55 P.M.
- Football - Plymouth at Brighton - 7 P.M.
- Football - Allendale at Comstock Park - 7 P.M.
- Football - New Lothrop at Montrose - 7 P.M.
- Football – Temperance Bedford at Saline - 7 P.M.
- Football - Birch Run at Frankenmuth - 7 P.M.
- Football - Michigan Center at Manchester - 7 P.M.
- Football - Chesaning at Ovid-Elsie - 7 P.M.
- Football - Howell at Novi - 7 P.M.
- Football - Iron Mountain at Norway - 7 P.M.
- Football - Troy Athens at Lake Orion - 7 P.M.
- Football - Escanaba at Marquette - 7 P.M.
- Football – Birmingham Brother Rice at Warren DeLaSalle - 7 P.M.
- Football - Fowlerville at Haslett - 7 P.M.
Saturday - Sept. 15
- Freshman Girls Volleyball - Novi Invitational - 8 AM
- JV Girls Volleyball - Frankenmuth Invitational - 8:30 AM
Monday - Sept. 17
- Boys Soccer – Adrian Lenawee Christian at Manchester - 5:30 P.M.
- JV Field Hockey - Chelsea at Saline - 5:30 P.M.
- Field Hockey - Chelsea at Saline - 7 P.M.
Tuesday - Sept. 18
- Girls Volleyball - Hanover-Horton at Manchester - 5 P.M.
- JV Girls Volleyball - Byron at Ovid-Elsie - 5:30 P.M.
- Freshman Girls Volleyball - Byron at Ovid-Elsie - 5:30 P.M.
- Boys Soccer - Fowlerville at Williamston - 5:30 P.M.
- Boys Soccer - Sparta at Comstock Park - 6 P.M.
- Girls Volleyball - Byron at Ovid-Elsie - 6:30 P.M.
- JV Girls Volleyball - Hanover-Horton at Manchester - 7 P.M.
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.
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 will be 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.
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.)