'Green Machine' Gears Up for BOTF V
January 26, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
MUSKEGON – Lots of cheering. Lots of smiles. Everyone in beach gear and standing for a girls basketball game – flippers and all.
The first revving of Western Michigan Christian’s “Green Machine” this winter won’t soon be forgotten by leaders charged this fall with organizing the few hundred students who now regularly fill a corner of the Warriors’ gym to cheer on their classmates.
“It was like, ‘Whoa,’” senior Christopher Visser remembered of that first game together. Freshman Tyler Somers left with an impression that “we can do this.”
“It gave us a lot of confidence,” senior Lily Vander Molen said during Saturday’s Battle of the Fans finalists visit. “Like wow, this is our first try. Look at the great response we’ve gotten. It made me really proud of our school.”
The first four years of Battle of the Fans have uncovered common strategies for nurturing a strong student cheering section. Still, there isn’t a book explaining how to get one started.
WMC’s “mechanics” came up with a blueprint that over a few months has organized an already-enthusiastic student body of nearly 300 and made it a model for student sections statewide.
Western Michigan Christian was the second stop on this year’s BOTF finalists tour, which began with a trip to Yale on Jan. 15 and will continue with visits to Traverse City West, Munising and Charlotte over the next three weeks leading up to the naming of this year’s champion Feb. 19. The public may vote for its favorite on the MHSAA’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sites beginning Feb. 16, with the MHSAA Student Advisory Council taking that vote into consideration when selecting the champion after that vote has concluded.
Here’s how the Green Machine joined the party:
The scene was set for success with a student body that admittedly feels bonded, both by its small size and shared faith. Students at least recognize the rest of their classmates and meet for all-school chapel services weekly – and like most schools with an organized student section, attended games together in the past but en masse only for the big ones.
Athletic director Josh Glerum got the ball rolling at first this fall, showing senior Nathan Landheer the video from last year’s visit to eventual Battle of the Fans champion Dowagiac. Still, the small group of leaders who attended the MHSAA’s Sportsmanship Summit on Nov. 16 in Kalamazoo didn’t really understand what they were getting into even as they were making the trip.
The Summit’s message of positive sportsmanship – and emphasis on Battle of the Fans – sunk in quickly.
“We've always had a really cool student-based student section, just a really cool environment. We've always had this really cool spirit,” junior Kaitlyn Van Hekken said. “Everyone wants to come out and cheer people on. After (the Summit), we were like, this is something that we can do. Let's expand on this, because we already have all the people for it.”
The three leaders came back and started to spread the message. They first met as “mechanics” – Glerum selected the representatives, including Landheer, Vander Molen, Visser, senior Maddy Heffron, Van Hekken and junior Dorie Bekins, sophomore Natalie Van Houwelingen and freshmen Somers and Sarah Moorhead – the Tuesday after the Summit and began hatching the plan.
They would work to have big crowds for Friday night home games – WMC parties students would look forward to all week. And they would point toward Battle of the Fans as the drive for participation.
“I love getting crazy, and I'm also a really competitive person. So if you're going to put me in a competition where all I have to do is get crazier than the other people, I will win that competition,” Visser said.
“We just know this school is super close, together. So basically it was just like, hey, let's go get all of our friends and do this thing.”
Communication had to be a focus – first to tell classmates there would be a student section, then to explain how the section would work.
And it needed a name.
Using Twitter, Snapchat, Survey Monkey and old-fashioned e-mail, students cast votes – Warrior Nation and Gang Green also were candidates – and Green Machine came out as the big winner.
Mechanics decided the key would be big turnouts immediately for the opening games for both the girls (Dec. 1) and boys basketball (Dec. 8) teams. They started planning themes for those games and preparing a list of cheers. They came up with contests for best costume for theme nights and games for students to play during halftime.
The mechanics took all of it to the student body during a pep assembly where each mechanic dressed up for a different theme, explained Battle of the Fans, what they learned at the Summit and showed the Dowagiac video to the entire school.
“I don’t know if we knew how to do anything,” Van Hekken said. “We’re like, maybe a pep assembly would work. We had an idea. Let’s just try a pep assembly, see how it goes. The response was overwhelmingly good.”
They circled that girls opener as a “Beach Night” and hoped for the best.
The best continues to get better.
For Saturday’s girls and boys games against Spring Lake, nearly 180 students filled one set of stands, with a sizable pep band filling the adjacent corner and a group of middle schoolers then packing half the baseline stands on the other side. WMC has four feeder middle schools, and mechanics have made sure to include those students to get them to not only participate this year, but take up the mission for years to come.
The cheers aren’t much different than what students have done in the past, but the intensity and participation are different, Landheer said. Students load into spirit buses for away games when available, rushing to the school office to reserve seats.
And the bond already present has grown tighter, with the Green Machine another way for a close-knit student community to feel even more inclusive.
“The coaches came up to me afterward (the first night) and said this is the best the girls have ever played; ‘Thank you for starting to lead the student the right way.’ That was my encouragement to keep going with these,” Landheer said.
“Even if you’re not involved in the sport of basketball, you can still come out on Friday nights and feel part of the team. We create a team on the court and a team in the stands, (and) we work together.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Western Michigan Christian students cheer on their boys basketball team Saturday night. (Middle) The Green Machine student section cheers for classmates during pregame introductions. (Below) Senior Christopher Visser waves the WMC flag to rev up the crowd. (Photos by Randy Riksen Photography.)
Scholar-Athlete Finalists Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 23, 2014
The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Awards for the 2013-14 school year have been announced.
The program, celebrating its 25th anniversary, has recognized student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year and again this winter will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament.
Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Awards and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 608 scholarships have been awarded.
Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, the final two scholarships will be awarded at-large to minority recipients, regardless of school size.
Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification, and could have more than one finalist. Dearborn Heights Crestwood, Hastings and Marlette each have three finalists this year. Fourteen schools each had two finalists: Bay City Central, Bloomfield Hills Marian, Dearborn, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids West Catholic, Manistee Catholic Central, Marquette, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg, Midland Dow, Saginaw Swan Valley, Sturgis, Traverse City Central, Walled Lake Western and Yale.
Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.70, while the average of the application pool was 2.16. There are 75 three-plus sport participants in the finalist field, and all but two of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.
Of 407 schools which submitted applicants, 55 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,701 applications were received. All applicants will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement. Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the MHSAA Website.
The applications were judged by a 63-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 4; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 11, and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 18. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.
To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 22, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale), and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan's major insurers, has a statewide force of more than 400 agents serving more than 380,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home, auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors life-saving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 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.
2013-14 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists
BOYS CLASS A
Stone Manczak, Bay City Central
Zachary Segall, Berkley
Andrew Barton, Birmingham Seaholm
Rami Kadouh, Dearborn
Samuel A Mousigian, Dearborn
Jared Hagan, Dearborn Heights Crestwood
Jalal Taleb, Dearborn Heights Crestwood
Brad King, Garden City
Ryan S Fischer, Grandville
Kenneth Elkin, Grosse Pointe North
Chris Kruger, Holt
David Doyle, Linden
Craig Ekstrum, Marquette
David Walter III, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg
Nate Fisher, Midland
Vikram Shanker, Midland Dow
Tanner Vincent, Novi
Trevor Denoyer, Petoskey
Kellen Scott Michael, South Lyon
Kyle Dotterrer, Traverse City Central
Cody James McKay, Utica Ford
Devin Kimberlin, Walled Lake Northern
Mitchell Dennis, Walled Lake Western
David J Walczyk, Walled Lake Western
GIRLS CLASS A
Anna Haritos, Auburn Hills Avondale
Saige Tomczak, Bay City Central
Jessica Hacker, Bay City Western
Tatyanna Dadabbo, Bloomfield Hills Marian
Clare Nienstedt, Bloomfield Hills Marian
Tala Taleb, Dearborn Heights Crestwood
Caroline Ann Hagan, East Lansing
Elizabeth Cowger, Fenton
Paige Blakeslee, Gibraltar Carlson
Mallory Beswick, Grand Haven
Claire Elise Borchers, Grand Haven
Joslyn Mae TenBrink, Jenison
Jessica Graves, Lowell
Gabrielle Gencheff, Marquette
Fiona B Shea, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg
Kallisse R Dent, Midland Dow
Rachel Barrett, Milford
Grace Kao, Okemos
Kirsten Avery Chambers, Riverview
Meghan Datema, Rockford
Elianna Shwayder, Saline
Molly Peregrine, Traverse City Central
Sarah O'Connor, Waterford Kettering
Jenna Ciennik, Waterford Mott
BOYS CLASS B
Tye Wittenbach, Belding
Carl Steinhauser, Berrien Springs
Ryan Spaulding, Freeland
Joseph Corey, Grand Rapids West Catholic
Nicholas Linck, Grand Rapids West Catholic
John Gatti, Grosse Ile
Matt Johnson, Hastings
Richard Cassell, Jackson Lumen Christi
Ben Woodruff, Jackson Northwest
Ismail Aijazuddin, Madison Heights Lamphere
Zachary A Ohs, Monroe St Mary Catholic Central
Michael T von Kronenberger, Ogemaw Heights
Anthony William Canonie, South Haven
Trenton Karle, Three Rivers
Daniel Kosiba, Vicksburg
Noah Nicholl, Yale
GIRLS CLASS B
Greer Elizabeth Clausen, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood
Abigail Brown, Caro
Lindsey Brewis, Dearborn Divine Child
Bailey Baker, Eaton Rapids
Callie Jensen, Gladstone
Grace Bosma, Hastings
Kylee Nemetz, Hastings
Amanda M Metz, Otsego
Alexandra J Grys, Portland
Kiersten Mead, Saginaw Swan Valley
Courtney T Reinhold, Saginaw Swan Valley
Roxane L Strobel, Spring Lake
Peyton Boughton, Sturgis
Alea Penner, Sturgis
Angela Maurer, Williamston
Alana Koepf, Yale
BOYS CLASS C
Ty Michael Rollin, Beal City
Matthew S Johnson, Fennville
Carter Ballinger, Jonesville
Luke Joseph Smigielski, Mancelona
Dakota Hall, Marlette
Bradley Schaub, Marlette
Kyle Baxter, Mayville
Stephen T Erwin, Royal Oak Shrine Catholic
Jason Beckman, Shelby
James Barber, St Charles
Devin Morrow, Three Oaks River Valley
Nicholas DeSimpelare, Unionville-Sebewaing
GIRLS CLASS C
Korinna Corbin, Addison
Kirsten Olling, Breckenridge
Elizabeth Baker, Bronson
Melissa Dowell, Clinton
Amanda Reagle, Homer
Mandy Haferkorn, Iron Mountain
Megan Chapman, Ishpeming Westwood
Keara Wilson, Marlette
Grace Leighton, Mendon
Allie Kendall, Saginaw Nouvel
Kari Feddema, Schoolcraft
Erin McDonnell, Traverse City St Francis
BOYS CLASS D
Grant Hohlbein, Adrian Lenawee Christian
Bret Hiveley, Au Gres-Sims
Tyler Anthony Johnson, Bear Lake
Jeremy Bigalke, Manistee Catholic Central
Ben Feliczak, Manistee Catholic Central
Steven McKenzie, Marcellus
Alec Firack, Pickford
Harding Fears III, Southfield Christian
GIRLS CLASS D
MacKenzie Ciganick, Bellaire
Julie Ahnen, Bessemer
Sara Inbody, Deckerville
Vanessa Freberg, Eben Junction Superior Central
Kari Borowiak, Gaylord St Mary
Lyvia Deaver, Jackson Christian
Erin Gast, Lake Linden-Hubbell
Jennifer Malcolm, Plymouth Christian