Let 'Battle of the Fans VI' Begin
December 14, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
It's become a winter tradition; as the Michigan weather gets frosty, high school gyms all over our state heat up in anticipation of competition both on the floor and in the stands as well.
And so the scene is set for the "Battle of the Fans VI," the MHSAA Student Advisory Council's annual contest to award the top high school student cheering section in Michigan.
Traverse City West was named last year’s champion and presented with a banner during the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center. Sections from Charlotte, Munising, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian and Yale also were finalists and recognized during the Breslin ceremony.
Schools are invited to submit a short video, via YouTube, of their cheering sections in action. Video submissions should be between 90 seconds and three minutes long and explain how that section meets the following contest criteria: positive sportsmanship, student body participation, school spirit, originality of cheers, organization of the group, student section leadership and fun.
The deadline for student-submitted video applications is noon Jan. 7. Five finalists including at least one Class C or D school then will be chosen and visited on a home game night by MHSAA staff and Advisory Council representatives. The MHSAA will produce a video of that finalist after each visit, with the champion being selected by the Student Advisory Council based in part on activity on the MHSAA’s social media sites.
This year’s winner will be announced Feb. 17 and recognized March 24 at the Breslin Center.
“Five years of Battle of the Fans have created standards and expectations not only for this contest, but for student section sportsmanship overall,” said Andy Frushour, MHSAA director of brand management and advisor to the Student Advisory Council. “We’ve written about the best and the lessons they’ve taught us. We’ve shown videos of their work to students all over the state. Battle of the Fans has proven that school student sections can create a positive atmosphere and still have fun. We see it over and over again, and this year gives us another chance to see more fun student sections in action.”
Rules, directions for submitting videos, plus links to coverage of finalists from the first five years of the contest can be found on the MHSAA Website. This year’s finalist videos, plus the announcement of the 2016-17 winner, will be published on the MHSAA Second Half.
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: Representatives from Traverse City West's "Bleacher Creatures" accept the Battle of the Fans championship banner in March at the Breslin Center.
Century of School Sports: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 29, 2024
Next week, MHSAA staff and members of its Student Advisory Council will begin a 10-day trek with stops in Marquette, Saginaw, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids to talk sportsmanship with 750 students and administrators as part of its biennial Sportsmanship Summit tour.
Sportsmanship always is a significant topic in athletics, and providing training on proper behavior for athletes and fans is especially important at the high school level where entire schools turn over every four years.
The MHSAA became a national leader in promoting sportsmanship during the 1990s, and we’ll discuss more of those initiatives later in our “Century of School Sports” series. The Sportsmanship Summit was born from much of that early work.
The first was conducted Sept. 24, 1997, in Lansing, and several of the topics discussed during those first sessions remain relevant today – most notably fan behavior, training of team captains and the roles of game officials.
That first Summit was open to the public and designed primarily for administrators, coaches, athletes and other community leaders. Speakers at the event included Robert Kanady, the executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), and Iowa High School Athletic Association executive director Bernie Saggau. The Lansing State Journal reported in December of that year that schools individually and as leagues were adopting codes of conduct for spectators, based on ideas shared at that first Summit gathering.
And that was only the start. The first Summit was capped at 800 attendees; the second drew 1,200 and included among speakers retired Nebraska national-champion football coach Tom Osborne. After a year off, the Sportsmanship Summit returned in 2000 with more than 1,300 attendees. That started the schedule of conducting Summits every other year; the 2002 Summit was for adults only and focused on character building, and in 2004 Summits were held at four sites across the state.
That model remains in use today, but with a boost from the 16-member Student Advisory Council, which includes eight juniors and eight seniors from across the state who have led sessions over the last many years. Most of the Summits during the last decade focused on fan behavior and the “Battle of the Fans” contest that awarded the state’s top student cheering section from 2012-22. Student delegations spend the final part of Summits creating a sportsmanship campaign to take back to their schools.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
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
(Photos above are from various Sportsmanship Summits through the years, including the first in 1997 [top left and bottom right].)