5 Ways Charlotte’s Flight Club Soars
January 31, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
CHARLOTTE – “One night to become State Champions.”
On social media and written at the bottom of its itinerary for the night, Charlotte’s Flight Club made perfectly clear what Saturday’s Battle of the Fans visit meant to a student section that while only a few years old has quickly become one of Michigan’s most accomplished – and is striving to become known as the state’s best.
Students filled stands covering one end of the court at Charlotte’s “Dome” as we enjoyed the third of our five-visit tour on a night saluting local law enforcement.
The breakdown: In two years, Charlotte’s student section has come from nonexistent to become a two-time BOTF finalist. As we learned during our 2016 trip, it was hatched during a series of January 2015 snow days, when student leaders took advantage of the break by meeting and forming a Flight Club to give more support at first to the school’s basketball teams and then to all Orioles athletes. The section gained steam over the course of last school year and especially last winter during a strong start for the boys basketball team, and despite graduating nearly all of its leaders last spring returned in force this fall to become a regular part of student life at the school.
We visited for Saturday’s boys basketball game against DeWitt and met with seniors Jess Ramos, Grant Seavolt, Cassie Cotter, Connor Rosekrans and Ari Beutler.
See our video below, followed by five reasons the Flight Club continues to take off.
1. They have been building – literally.
The Flight Club claims to have more props than any student section in the state, and it’s a strong argument. They sadly waved goodbye to the S.S. Flightanic – a rolling boat they featured last season – after it ran aground in storage. But section leaders came back in August with their tools and paint cans ready. They built a giant “bird cage” out of PVC pipe to house Charlotte’s football teams at their field entrance before they busted out before games this fall. They created a second giant tifo (a.k.a. giant banner seen in photo below) that makes trips to most big games. And we enjoyed watching again as a member of the Club popped from the homemade oversized jack-in-the-box rolled out after the third quarter. A fan slip-n-slide set up for an early football game didn’t really take off, but most of the rest have been big winners – including the face-paint station in one corner of the gym where anyone can get made up to further show support.
2. They got organized.
As noted above, the Flight Club is barely two years old but quickly has grown into a force – and especially this school year as it’s become more organized. They received a new “nest” (our word, not theirs), a classroom where they store their many gizmos and gear and plan their work. White boards on one wall were loaded with lists and maps of the gym showing which sections of fans would sit where Saturday, while newspaper clips detailing their successes filled a bulletin board on another wall and a mural created by section co-creator and 2016 graduate Lindsey Carlson hung next to a letter sweater formerly worn by the dad of faculty section adviser Tyler Bartolacci, a 2007 grad. Section leaders now attend meetings every Monday and others as needs arise, created an itinerary for Saturday that was sent around on social media before the game, and members of the section proudly wore around their necks “boarding passes” – not that they needed identifying, but a neat show of solidarity nonetheless.
And leaders are still giving “Flight Club” lessons – videos over Twitter to show some of the cheers they’ll use at future events.
Be ready for tomorrow!!!! pic.twitter.com/TgbBGSTxxt
— The Flight Club (@chsflightclub) January 27, 2017
3. The pilots guide them home.
Last year, section leaders patrolled in front of the section – “flight attendants” showing the way. Taking the reins during games this year are “pilots,” one on each side of the baseline, standing on risers, megaphones in hand to provide the direction for all to hear and see. On Saturday, new leaders stepped up every quarter to guide the section and unify it for some awesome chants including a drum clap during the first half that will be a highlight of this year’s BOTF tour.
4. They’re making ‘highlights’ along the way.
Most schools with student sections can count on seeing them at football and basketball games. Starting in the fall, the Flight Club selected “highlight games” in every sport to also cheer – and not just for the more popular spectator sports like volleyball or soccer. The Club has cheered at girls and boys swimming & diving meets and at a hockey game this winter despite having only one Charlotte student on a co-op team with Lansing Catholic, Mason and Lansing Christian players. The first highlight game was a girls golf match during the fall, where 10 members of the Club cheered from the clubhouse as their classmates played the ninth fairway. And they packed local Char Lanes for a Neon Out and lots of “Strike, Strike, Strike” for a bowling match. “A lot of kids on the bowling team were really excited to see us there,” Rosekrans said. “They were talking about it the whole next week: ‘Thanks for coming. That was awesome.’”
5. They’ve got P.R.I.D.E.
Purpose. Respect. Integrity. Dedication. Excellence. PRIDE is a school motto, and a large board near the gym doors explains how students should be guided by those qualities in the classrooms and hallways. But Club members also have a lot of pride (the non-acronym meaning) in their school, and have risen as a giant in fan support at a time when Charlotte’s most recognizable sports teams aren’t having a ton of success. Driving their athletes to do their best only makes the Flight Club cheer louder. Students filled multiple spectator buses for football games, load the stands for basketball games, have worked closely with the middle school’s “Junior Flight Club” that also got organized this year, and had no doubts about making another run at Battle of the Fans after making an impressive debut but coming up short of the title in 2016. “Everyone has a ton of fun at the games,” Rosekrans said. “I think they naturally thought, let’s do it again next year.”
In their words
Setting themselves apart: “We kept seeing what we could do to make us champions,” Ramos said. “We wanted to know what would set us apart, and we spent a lot of time thinking about that and trying to see what we did last year compared to this year that we wanted to do differently.”
Memories made: “I made a lot of great memories just through the Flight Club, especially this year with football,” Seavolt said. “It’ been a lot to remember.”
Just say the word: “Get the community involved. People want to come to the games. They just don’t know about it all the time,” Rosekrans said. “Social media. Tell people. Literally, that’s all it is. The power of talking to someone is very underestimated.”
Next stop on BOTF: We'll visit Petoskey for Wednesday’s boys basketball game against Sault Ste. Marie and Frankenmuth for Friday’s boys basketball game against Millington. Click for coverage of our visits to Boyne City on Jan. 13 and Traverse City West on Jan. 20.
The Battle of the Fans is sponsored in part by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.
PHOTOS: (Top) Charlotte's "Flight Club" chants during a drum clap Saturday. (Middle) Flight Club members hold up two giant tifos during the Battle of the Fans visit. (Photos by Teresa Johns.)
Century of School Sports: Good Sports Are Winners Then, Now & Always
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 12, 2024
The above photo came to us two years ago this fall, from a now-retired athletic director, who was especially taken by these 10 runners from eight schools huddling together before their races during the 2022 Lower Peninsula Boys Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway.
Representing Bloomingdale, Bridgman, Centreville, Coloma, Constantine, Parchment, Schoolcraft and Watervliet, these racers had competed against each other all season, and for some several seasons. But during these moments before what would be the most high-profile event of their athletic careers, they joined together for support, motivation and camaraderie.
Sportsmanship is one of the MHSAA’s core values – the “4 S’s” – of educational athletics. It has served as part of the bedrock of this organization from its beginning 100 years ago, and should remain so as long as school sports are considered a valued part of the educational experience.
Two weeks ago, we covered in this #MHSAA100 space the history of the MHSAA Sportsmanship Summit – first conducted in 1997 – and our latest statewide tour concludes Thursday in Grand Rapids. But those sessions welcoming student leaders every year are just one of many efforts the MHSAA has made to continue teaching sportsmanship through athletics over the last century.
An essay, “Athletics – Why and How” by Grand Rapids Union athletic director John Truesdale, was included with the November 1925 edition of the Bulletin of the Michigan High School Athletic Association and addresses how the creation of the MHSAA from its predecessor organization played a part in immediately improving sportsmanship in school sports during that first year:
“Because of (the creation and fulltime nature of the MHSAA), the standards of sportsmanship are more nearly approached. Bickerings have been reduced to a minimum. Better understanding exists between schools. The conducting of games has become the exhibition not only of skill, strength and wisdom, but of sportsmanship, obedience to accepted rules, and consideration of those who for the moment are in the position of enemies, although friendly.
“In fact, athletics in Michigan are in position now to accomplish the purpose for which they were designed – the building of character. … It is entirely reasonable that each, the player and spectator, emerges from a contest a better citizen because of his experiences.”
High Schools change over entire student bodies every four years. Freshman eventually become seniors, and when they leave take their parents and others who have spent a portion of time in the school sports space, to be replaced by the next classes of athletes and families playing, cheering and altogether carrying forward our time-cherished activities.
And as such, the lessons of sportsmanship are constantly in need of renewal.
After both arrived during the mid 1980s, retired MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts and retired Communications Director John Johnson embarked on a mission to transform sportsmanship in Michigan school sports – and in doing so, made the MHSAA a national leader in that work, which continues today.
These MHSAA sportsmanship campaigns from the last 30 years should ring at least a few bells for those who have spent time around our games:
“Good Sports are Winners” – Beginning in 1989 and over the following two decades, the MHSAA (and with help from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and multiple sponsors) annually distributed 100+ page sportsmanship kits to member schools which included materials to assist in promoting good sportsmanship, including letters to be sent out to various stakeholders, public address announcements for events and other content for programs and publications.
An awards program celebrated teams best displaying these ideals from every season – Fall, Winter and Spring – with those winners receiving recognition across statewide media and MHSAA publications through the conclusion of this campaign during the 2010-11 school year.
“What Kids Wish Their Parents Knew About Sportsmanship” – This six-minute video produced for the start of the 1999-2000 school year featured students addressing adult behavior at their events. The video was designed to be shown as preseason meetings, booster clubs, school board meetings and similar athletic department or school gatherings.
“Battle of the Fans” Fast forward to 2012. The MHSAA’s Student Advisory Council, in an effort to affect sportsmanship especially among peers, created a statewide competition to promote positive cheering from the growing number of student sections across the state.
The “Battle of the Fans” continued for 10 years (skipping 2021 due to COVID-19 precautions) and annually recognized not only a champion but additional finalists with banners during the Basketball Finals at Breslin Center. The contest was almost entirely video and social media-driven, and during later years of the competition included multiple rounds that required sections to complete challenges to advance.
The BOTF program also was recognized nationally and copied by other states after seeing what Michigan’s student leaders were capable of influencing.
And that work continues.
The following was created this summer by the Student Advisory Council based on 10 pages of notes from their experiences at 2023 Sportsmanship Summits.
One of the most revealing truths in studying the 100-year history of the MHSAA is that many issues of the day then and now are remarkably similar. It’s not that there haven’t been improvements along the way. But rather, the process of educational athletics is ongoing as generations of students take their turns and continue on – and the work to keep sportsmanship at the heart of competition remains of great importance.
To that end, let’s allow Truesdale to close this latest history lesson.
“Let us then, in this year of 1925, demonstrate to the people as a whole that victory is not all we seek.
“Let each of us, whether superintendent, principal, coach, player or spectator, emphasize the point that to win is welcome, that to demonstrate superiority is one goal we are after. But let us not lose sight of the fact that the means employed are of great consequence, and that the results we seek are not championships alone but victory of the player and the team and the school over the temptations of unfair tactics.
“Championships will be forgotten but character is lasting.”
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Sept. 25: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTO A group of Southwestern Athletic Conference runners huddle up before their races at the 2022 Lower Peninsula Boys Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway, including Bloomingdale’s Jaden Barnes and Joe Stocchiero, Bridgman’s Andrew Mabry and John Sanderson, Centreville’s Logan Weis, Coloma’s Boden Genovese, Constantine’s Ethan Glick, Parchment’s William Winter, Schoolcraft’s Dante Pilot and Watervliet’s Daniel Mandujano. (Photo by Alan Bobalik/Bloomingdale cross country.)