'Yard Squad' Enjoys Unexpected Response
May 20, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The task itself was a simple one, and the reasons for doing it simple at first.
An elderly woman called Colon High School – on the advice of her daughter, who teaches in the Upper Peninsula – looking for a student group that might be interested in assisting with some yard work.
Sophomore Andrew Smolarz, meanwhile, always is looking for community service hours to go toward membership in his school’s Varsity Club and National Honor Society chapter.
So he and four track & field teammates volunteered and spent a few hours picking up sticks, raking around her house and cleaning up brush. But they never anticipated the response.
“After the first time we did it, the reaction we got from people – it was more than just doing work for them,” Smolarz said. “When she saw us, the first lady said we’d restored her faith in the youth in the community. She got pretty teary-eyed, so it meant a lot to us, and she wanted a hug from all of us too.”
Since, Smolarz and his “Yard Squad” – sophomores Isaiah Fellers and Andy Stoll and freshmen Philip Alva and Austin Stoll – have taken their cleaning talents to two more homes, with three more and a restaurant also on the schedule.
Colon’s Yard Squad is a recipient of an inaugural MHSAA/Lake Trust Credit Union “Community Service Award” recognizing contributions by Michigan’s high school student-athletes away from the field. The Yard Squad will receive $1,000, which will go toward Colon’s athletic department and equipment for the track & field and baseball teams. Six honorees total are receiving awards this spring; Second Half will feature one a day this week.
While there are a multitude of ways to serve one’s community – over the next few days we will feature some incredibly impressive campaigns to raise money, awareness and donate goods to those in need – Colon’s Yard Squad found a way to help that students at any school can replicate, and to the same unexpected benefits.
That first call ended up on the ear of Colon athletic director Paige Smolarz – also Andrew’s mother and the school’s boys track & field coach – and when she offered the opportunity, these five underclassmen stepped up. It’s not that they don’t have other things going on; all five are dual sport athletes also playing baseball or golf, so clean-ups so far have come on Sundays adding up to about 15 hours total by each student with many more yet to be worked this spring.
Among others they’ve helped were a second elderly woman and her disabled husband, and a young couple where the wife is fighting cancer and the husband is working long shifts to support the family.
The village of Colon, tucked south of Kalamazoo and north of Sturgis, has roughly 1,200 residents, and word quickly gets around. The first woman helped by the Yard Squad told her friends, and there was some Facebook buzz as well. Smolarz said he and the “squad” are just a bunch of friends (and the Stolls are cousins) having fun working together to do something good.
“People think so much more of the little things you do for them than I actually thought (they would),” Andrew Smolarz said. “I just thought we’d go clean up, say thanks, and leave. But they thought so much more over it.
“It’s gotten a lot more fun in my opinion. The reaction is really cool to see on people’s faces. People just can’t believe we’d come out and do that for them.”
The Community Service Awards are sponsored by the Michigan High School Athletic Association and Lake Trust Credit Union to recognize student-athletes' efforts to improve the lives of others in their communities. In addition to the $1,000 award, the Lake Trust Foundation is awarding an additional $500 to each honoree, to be donated to a non-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization of the awardee’s choice.
PHOTO: Colon High School's "Yard Squad" from left: Isaiah Fellers, Andy Stoll, Andrew Smolarz, Phillip Alva and Austin Stoll. (Photo courtesy of the Colon athletic department.)
MHSAA Member Schools Enjoy Significant Rebound in Sports Participation in 2021-22
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 13, 2022
Participation in Michigan High School Athletic Association-sponsored sports rebounded tremendously during the 2021-22 school year, despite a slight decline in enrollment among the MHSAA’s 750 member high schools.
The onset of COVID-19 during the spring of 2020 was followed by a significant decline in participation in MHSAA sports during 2020-21. However, participation for the most recent school year concluding this spring saw an increase of 6.6 percent from 2020-21 to a total of 260,542 participants across the 28 sports for which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments – even as statewide enrollment fell 0.76 percent to 440,728 students this past school year.
Girls participation increased 6.8 percent to 109,128 athletes, while boys participation was up 6.5 percent to 151,414. The overall MHSAA participation totals count students once for each sport in which they participate, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once.
A total of 23 sports saw increases in participation during 2021-22 compared to 2020-21. Ten sports saw double-digit percentage increases, led boys track & field (27.2 percent to 22,120 participants), girls track & field (22.4 percent to 15,594 participants), and boys skiing (22.4 percent to 1,001 participants). Wrestling (17.1 percent) and boys bowling (16.2 percent) also saw double-digit increases, along with girls tennis (11.4 tennis), girls bowling (11.2 percent), girls competitive cheer (10.6 percent), boys golf (10.5 percent) and girls lacrosse (10 percent). Wrestling’s major boost came in part because of a nearly 300-percent increase in girls participants with 620 taking the mat for the first season of the MHSAA offering a girls championship division at its Individual Wrestling Finals.
Also enjoying increases in participation during 2021-22 from the previous year were girls golf (8.1 percent), girls skiing (7.6 percent), boys basketball (6.4 percent), girls soccer (6.3 percent), boys swimming & diving (6.1 percent), boys lacrosse (5.8 percent), softball (3.6 percent), girls basketball (3.1 percent), baseball (3.0 percent), boys tennis (2.8 percent), football (2.4 percent), girls volleyball (2.0 percent) and girls swimming & diving (1.2 percent).
Five sports saw decreased participation in 2021-22. The decline in boys soccer participation can be considered negligible, at only 0.21 percent with 28 fewer participants. Girls cross country (1.4 percent) and boys ice hockey participation (1.2 percent) decreases also were slight, with boys cross country next with a 3.9-percent decrease and girls gymnastics at 4.6 percent fewer participants than the previous school year.
Football, with a combined 33,284 participants over the 11 and 8-player formats, remained the most-played sport during the 2021-22 school year. Boys track & field (22,120) and boys basketball (20,017) were next for total participants followed by girls volleyball (18,798) – the most popular girls sport – baseball (16,528) and girls track & field (15,594).
While the majority of sports are still building back to their pre-COVID participation totals, golf and skiing posted some of their highest totals in some time. Boys golf (6,829) had its most participants since 2012-13, and girls golf (3,875) its highest total since 2003-04. The boys skiing total (1,001) was its highest since 2002-03, and the girls skiing total this past season (837) was the highest for that sport since 1998-99.
The participation figures are gathered annually from MHSAA member schools to submit to the National Federation of State High School Associations for compiling of its national participation survey. Results of Michigan surveys from the 2000-01 school year to present may be viewed on the MHSAA Website.
The following chart shows participation figures for the 2021-22 school year from MHSAA member schools for sports in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament:
|
BOYS |
GIRLS |
|||
|
Sport |
Schools (A) |
Participants |
Schools (A) |
Participants (B) |
|
Baseball |
657/12 |
16,505 |
- |
-/23 |
|
Basketball |
730/4 |
20,006 |
721 |
13,596/11 |
|
Bowling |
422/14 |
4,059 |
415 |
2,684/26 |
|
Competitive Cheer |
- |
- |
360 |
5,741 |
|
Cross Country |
669/1 |
8,057 |
668 |
7,150/1 |
|
Football - 11 player |
531/105 |
30,955 |
- |
-/129 |
|
8-player |
118/16 |
2,181 |
- |
-/19 |
|
Golf |
528/62 |
6,705 |
367 |
3,875/124 |
|
Gymnastics |
- |
- |
102 |
585 |
|
Ice Hockey |
313/14 |
3,160 |
- |
-/14 |
|
Lacrosse |
179/9 |
4,759 |
126 |
3,053/14 |
|
Skiing |
125/5 |
993 |
119 |
837/8 |
|
Soccer |
500/12 |
13,126 |
490 |
11,826/35 |
|
Softball |
- |
- |
648 |
11,800 |
|
Swimming & Diving |
274/20 |
4,311 |
281 |
5,174/48 |
|
Tennis |
308/18 |
6,040 |
340 |
7,936/27 |
|
Track & Field |
694 |
22,120 |
695 |
15,594 |
|
Volleyball |
- |
- |
722 |
18,798 |
|
Wrestling |
492/249 |
8,437 |
/620 |
(A) The first number is the number of schools reporting sponsorship on the Sports Participation Survey, including primary and secondary schools in cooperative programs as of May 15, 2022. The second number indicates the number of schools that had girls playing on teams consisting primarily of boys.
(B) The second number indicates the number of additional girls playing on teams consisting primarily of boys and entered in boys competition.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.