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BOTF V: What You Taught Us
February 17, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
We’ve completed our Battle of the Fans statewide tour for 2016, and hopefully you’ve kept up with our visits and learned why our five finalists are candidates to be known as the state’s top high school student section.
But we appreciate as well the great student sections that entered the contest and weren’t chosen this time for the finalists tour. We try to teach sportsmanship and the best way to support your local teams – but all of our applicants taught us something again this winter.
Here’s a look at what we learned from the 17 student sections who didn’t make the BOTF Finals, but should be celebrated as well:
Tradition never graduates
Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard’s video took us through five years of its student section. The Fighting Irish were a BOTF finalist in 2013, and the section brings a strong effort every year although a new class of students joins each fall and a veteran group of leaders graduate each spring. Longevity and doing it right earns a lot of respect – not only from us, but surely in the community as well as the section has become such a prominent and positive part of student life at the school.
Get inspired
The Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary student section was represented in a local contest last year by a photo of a few students sitting in the bleachers. Things had to change. Driven by the student council and a league Sportsmanship Summit, the Superfans were born – in fact, superfan became a verb to mean taking part. They’re off to a great start.
Wyoming Godwin Heights’ “Fred’s Fanatic Fans” also got their start this year as part of the Promote Enthusiastic Price (P.E.P.) Club, which was created to cheer on the school’s teams and “build the right climate.” We couldn’t have described the right goal better ourselves.
St. Johns was a finalist in 2015 even as leaders were still working to sway the entire student body toward a new, positive way of thinking and cheering. That movement continued to pay off this year; the Redwings were back, bigger and better, and we were glad to see it.
Be proud
Big Rapids has a few more than 600 students, but we could count at least 150 making up a rowdy crowd at a number of events used in the application video. Everything we could see pointed toward what has to be a blast in the stands.
Fulton literally spelled out its drive on the screen: “Small Town, Small Teams, Big Hearts, Big Dreams.” The school has 200 students – and like finalist Munising, showed it can be done, filling the stands for a variety of games used in the video.
Manton’s Ranger Rowdies may number no more than 280 students, but they certainly bring the noise, literally, which was immediately obvious. Most of the student body had to be in attendance for the games they filmed.
Follow the leaders
Similar to finalist Traverse City West, Detroit U-D Jesuit’s section is driven by its student government. A student senate committee is dedicated to making the section (and whoever came up with the wrecking ball deserves a few more votes in the next election).
We know about the strength of Dowagiac’s leadership firsthand after awarding the section the BOTF 2015 championship. They had a lot of leaders showing the way last year, and that appeared to be true again – a favorite part was a line of students arm-in-arm in the front row, facing the rest of the section during a back-and-forth cheer. And the The Attack's chant shown below always will be a favorite.
Be creative
Tawas’ Brave Cave is full of ideas, starting with in-game interviews of students during an application “broadcast” by TSPN (Tawas Sports Programming Network). Tawas Proud, indeed, and for good reason.
Even if the “D” was upside-down at first on the line of placards spelling out the school’s name in the back row (which was funny), Wayland brought plenty to join the discussion of possible finalists. The “Den” was filled with costumes, signs, and just a lot of material that surely makes for a fun night.
For starters, Pontiac Notre Dame’s name – Irish Thunder – just sounds powerful. It was hard to tell what was going on as part of the “Whistle Cheer,” but it looked pretty wild, especially in front of what appeared to be a giant pep rally crowd (See below).
Involve everyone
Walled Lake Western’s video included interviews with parents and basketball players as well, and one of the athletes said something that especially stuck out: “They cheer the other team and us on.” That’s taking inclusion to another level, and we applaud it.
Utica Ford’s leaders spoke during its application about how the student section was like something bigger than the school itself – something they all have together. And that’s a great thing. (The student section flag was a cool touch as well.)
Holland’s Dutch Nation leaders take getting everyone involved to the highest level, incorporating the pep band and cheerleaders during games and the athletic director and many others at the school behind the scenes. As one said, “We work to spread participation not only for the students, but the whole community.”
Imlay City’s Spartan Nation made shirts like many student sections, but didn’t reserve them for high school students alone – they made them for elementary and middle schoolers and sold to the greater community as well in an effort to get everyone together. (And bringing in Santa Claus for a Christmas-themed game for the younger kids was a neat idea too.)
Ending on one last strong note, we hope Norway is just beginning its BOTF quest. #UKNIGHTED might be the best campaign of BOTF V. They’re “all knights and all united,” and set a great example of getting a community together.
Click to watch all 22 application videos for this year's Battle of the Fans V.
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BOTF IX: Time to Show Us Your Best
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 13, 2020
Congratulations, Battle of the Fans IX semifinalists. You've made it to the "Challenge Round."
Consider this quite an accomplishment – but also an incredible opportunity to give the rest of Michigan an inside look at why your student section should be crowned the state's best.
Nine student cheering sections from Michigan High School Athletic Association member schools have been selected from the first phase of this year’s “Battle of the Fans IX” contest to take part in the “Challenge Round” as they vie for this year’s championship recognizing the top section in the state.
This year’s nine semifinalists are Saginaw Heritage, Traverse City West and Zeeland East from Class A; Buchanan, Caro and Frankenmuth from Class B; and Hart, Petersburg Summerfield and Reese from Class C/D.
Battle of the Fans IX, organized by MHSAA staff and its 16-member Student Advisory Council, kicked off by inviting schools to submit short videos, via YouTube, of their cheering sections in action by Jan. 11. The Advisory Council has selected nine semifinalists to accomplish a list of tasks showing off their sections over the next 12 days – and the Council will then select three finalists for MHSAA visits.
This year’s winner will be announced Feb. 21 and recognized March 27 during the MHSAA Boys Basketball Semifinals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
Semifinalists are required to complete 10 challenges via their social media channels by 11 p.m. on Jan. 25. Five mandatory challenges focus on contest criteria: positive sportsmanship, student body participation, school spirit, originality of cheers, organization of the group, student section leadership and overall fun.
Five elective challenges (taken from a list of 15 options) will allow semifinalists opportunities to show the unique characteristics that make their sections elite. Click for descriptions of all 20 challenges.
“This year’s semifinalists feature some heavyweights of past BOTF competitions, but also some faces we haven’t seen in a while,” said Andy Frushour, MHSAA director of brand management and advisor to the Student Advisory Council. “Over the next two weeks, we’ll learn a lot about what these student sections bring to every game night.”
The Student Advisory Council will select the finalists for announcement Jan. 27 on Second Half. MHSAA staff and Student Advisory Council members will visit all three finalists for home basketball games during the second half of this regular season, with coverage and video from those visits and the announcement of the winner all to be published on Second Half.
The winner will be selected by another Advisory Council vote based in part on support each section receives on the MHSAA’s social media sites. All social media postings regarding Battle of the Fans IX should include the hashtag #BOTF. The MHSAA will share semifinalists’ challenge posts over the next two weeks on its Instagram, Twitter and Facebook sites. The MHSAA also will post from the three finalists visits on those channels.
A total of 20 schools applied for this year’s contest, including nine schools for the first time to bring the total to 105 member schools that have applied for the contest at least once over its eight-year existence.
Buchanan and Traverse City West both have applied seven times and will compete in the semifinals for the third-straight year. Buchanan was the BOTF champion in 2013 and 2018, and West won in 2016. Saginaw Heritage and Petersburg Summerfield also are repeat semifinalists; Heritage advanced to the finals as well in 2019.
Frankenmuth was the BOTF champion in 2012 and 2017 and also a finalist in 2013 and 2014. Zeeland East was a finalist in 2013, and Reese was a finalist in 2012. Hart and Caro are first-time semifinalists – Hart in its second time applying for BOTF and Caro as a first-time applicant.
“We’re basically in the ‘Regional’ round now if you compare this competition to our other tournaments,” Frushour said. “This group of nine is just getting warmed up and preparing for making it to the ‘state finals.’ We’re excited to see the creativity and positivity of the nine semifinalists.”
The other first-time applicants were Fremont, Grosse Ile, Grosse Pointe South, Howell, Lake Fenton, Melvindale, Morenci and Stevensville Lakeshore. Reigning BOTF champion North Muskegon did not apply for this year’s competition. Click to view all applications on YouTube.
The contest is sponsored in part by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan, which promotes Michigan's locally-produced dairy products and nutrition education. Rules plus links to past years’ coverage of the contest can be found on the MHSAA Website.
The Student Advisory Council is made up of eight seniors and eight juniors who each serve two-year terms. The Council acts as the voice of Michigan's student-athletes; it serves as a student sounding board for the MHSAA's Representative Council, assists in planning Sportsmanship Summits, Captains Clinics and other student leadership events; participates in a yearly focus group about the state of high school sports for Michigan State University's Institute for the Study of Youth Sports and assists with medal ceremonies at MHSAA championship events.
PHOTO: Saginaw Heritage "battles" for the BOTF VIII championship in 2019. VIDEOS: Below, check out the videos from our visits to all of the first eight BOTF champions.