Champions Built to Lead
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 10, 2014
A variety of leadership styles are effective. Many leaders talk. Others save their voices, instead showing the way by walking the walk.
Similarly, a variety of characteristics serve as building blocks for those who will their teams to success.
Leaders can be created equal – but from different combinations of pieces.
Covering MHSAA athletes from all over the state over the last three years for our Second Half site, we’ve had plenty of opportunities first-hand to watch the best of these traits shine through.
Following are some of what we’ve seen make champion leaders:
Vision
“I don’t really think anybody in Michigan besides these 19 guys, our four coaches, the trainers and obviously our parents believed we could do this. We knew all along that if we caught fire at the right time, some bounces would go our way … and we all just busted our butts the whole six games.” –Farmington goaltender John Lethemon, in March, after his team finished an unanticipated (by most) run by winning the Division 3 hockey title with a 2-1 victory over Sault Ste. Marie.
Vision, for a leader, includes seeing possibilities when others fail to see potential. Farmington had never won an MHSAA hockey title – and found itself facing 16-time champ and heavy favorite Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood in a Quarterfinal. But Lethemon put his skills behind his vision, carrying his team with a combined 110 saves over Quarterfinal, Semifinal and Final victories.
Encouragement
“When our team saw it, we thought, ‘That’s just Allie.’ With Allie, it doesn’t matter if you’re the slowest person or just started (running), she wants to cheer you on. Her thought is everybody should be cheered on, no matter what.” – Ann Arbor Huron girls cross country coach Tim Williams, describing his athletes’ reactions when they saw teammate Alexandria Cell running with Dearborn Divine Child’s Mariah Fuqua during a 2012 race as Fuqua worked to finish for the first time.
Cell closed her high school cross country career last season with a strong 35th place in a competitive Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final. But she’ll likely be remembered more by both Huron and Divine Child supporters for the leadership she showed in a regular-season race – when she guided home a runner from another team. Cell, then a junior, had finished at the Detroit Catholic Central Invitational and was jogging for a cool-down when she noticed Fuqua approaching the course’s midway point. Fuqua planned to end her race there – she’d been building stamina since trying the sport for the first time the year before, but had never completed a course – but Cell, first running circles around her and then next to her, encouraged Fuqua to keep going past the 2-mile marker and past the finish line for the first time.
Know-how
“(Jason) Alessi’s … a guy who comes around once every 15, 20 years. You’ve got to take advantage of him when you have him. He’s been awesome for us, and today he was a big-time leader for us.” – Birmingham Brother Rice boys lacrosse coach Ajay Chawla, on June 7, after the Warriors defeated Detroit Catholic Central 23-7 to win the Division 1 championship.
An athlete’s knowing how to win is nearly as difficult to describe as it is to learn. But there’s no question it pays off when titles are on the line. Alessi helped the Brother Rice boys lacrosse team to four MHSAA championships and the football team to three more, and not just playing bit parts – he’s listed twice in the MHSAA lacrosse record book and three times in the football records for accomplishments in championship game play. It’s tough to know how to win until an athlete does so – but that knowledge is invaluable in leading others to do the same.
Empowerment
“Everyone looks up to the seniors. The seniors are just like top dogs. They lead the younger ones, and they try to keep that motivation through them and keep the enthusiasm to keep the tradition going.” – Battle Creek St. Philip hitter Sierra Hubbard-Neil after leading the Tigers to a three-set win over Waterford Our Lady on Nov. 23 to secure an eighth straight MHSAA title.
It was tough to believe the St. Philip contingent at last fall’s Finals as it explained how some outsiders doubted the Tigers would remain atop Class D in 2014. But it’s a fact that St. Phil tied the MHSAA record for most consecutive volleyball championships despite only one returning starter from 2013 – four-time all-state hitter Sierra Hubbard-Neil. Obviously she provided a good starting point – she had 19 kills in the Final match – but it was up to her and new senior leaders to bring an inexperienced team back to championship level.
Sacrifice
“Jonathan (Gurnee) is the All-American kid who fought for the success of his team. Along the way, he broke a few records. Of course, we will miss his ability next year. But what I am going to miss most is his presence. He led by action and deed. He was the consummate captain. He epitomized Dow High tennis.” Midland Dow boys tennis coach Terry Schwartzkopf, in 2011, after Gurnee finished his final high school season with the most wins in MHSAA boys tennis history.
Gurnee played No. 4 singles his first two seasons, moving to No. 3 as a junior before earning the opportunity to challenge for the top flight as a senior. He faced junior teammate John Templeman in a No. 1 singles challenge match and lost by such a small margin that Gurnee could’ve asked for a rematch. Instead, Gurnee recognized that Templeman at No. 1 was best for Dow, which would win the third of what has become five straight MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 team titles. Gurnee tied the MHSAA single-season record with 41 victories that fall and also set the career wins record of 141.
Drive
“I’ve never had somebody who works harder than this girl. We’d get to the range at 2:45 and leave at 6 o’clock, and she’d be there until 7 o’clock every single night. It would be dark, and she’d be using street lights to putt and chip. She was grinding it out, not leaving any stone unturned. And the thing about it is all the other girls felt they needed to stay too.” – Plymouth girls golf coach Dan Young, about top player Kelsey Murphy after Plymouth won the 2012 Lower Peninsula Division 1 title and Murphy finished first in the individual standings.
Murphy had led the individual race with four holes to play at the 2011 LP Division 1 Final, but finished in third place. Plymouth as a team also finished third that year while in pursuit of the first girls championship in school history. Murphy returned to the Finals the following fall after playing all season with one goal in mind – to deliver that team title, which Plymouth won by 11 strokes. And she held on to a one-stroke lead after the first round to claim the individual title by the same margin.
Fortitude
“I don't think anybody's been in more big games than he has in football and basketball. He's a tough leader. He makes sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to do and holding themselves accountable. To have a leader on your team like that, everybody else follows.” –Muskegon boys basketball coach Keith Guy, describing senior guard and football team quarterback Deshaun Thrower after Thrower helped Muskegon to a 91-67 Class A Final win over Bloomfield Hills to earn the school’s first boys basketball title since 1937.
It’s not so much that Thrower scored 21 points, second-most on his team, or ran and passed the football team back to Ford Field and within a win of the Division 2 championship the previous fall for the second straight season. Those on-field contributions surely made differences – but so did his ability to guide his team after disappointment – be it the football team after the 2012 Final loss, or this season’s basketball team as it worked to rebound from a close Quarterfinal loss the year before and another football setback in the fall.
‘Rally’
“She knew she wanted to play today. She is one of the most focused kids I know, and she was coming in here big and focused. It’s just amazing what that girl can do and what she can endure. She is a rally girl out there and got the troops ready in the seventh inning.” – Gladstone softball coach Ashley Hughes, speaking of pitcher Tinner Sharon, after the latter struck out the side in the seventh inning of the Division 3 Final in June to secure for the Braves a 2-1 title-clinching win over previously-undefeated Unionville-Sebewaing.
It’s difficult to find one word to describe the act of being clutch – raising one’s game to another level with everything on the line. But Sharon personified it. In her team’s Semifinal win, she gave up back-to-back homers in the seventh inning to force Gladstone to win the game in the eighth. That brief letdown no doubt keyed Sharon’s rise again with the team’s third MHSAA title on the line. A leader certainly doesn’t have to be the best athlete on a team – but teammates will follow a player who takes his or her game to a championship level when it matters most.
PHOTOS: (Top, from left) Battle Creek St. Philip’s Sierra Hubbard-Neil, Muskegon’s Deshaun Thrower and Gladstone’s Tinner Sharon all led their teams to MHSAA championships during the 2013-14 school year.
St. Johns Cheers Section Success
February 10, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
ST. JOHNS – The low point might’ve come two years ago, when St. Johns student leaders planned a holiday theme for a boys basketball game.
Alex Davis showed up in a Christmas sweater. Only four of her classmates dressed to match.
That same year, the school’s newly-formed Student Athletic Leadership Committee created a calendar for the winter highlighting theme nights and other games they hoped would draw a big student crowd. The calendar was gone by the next day, torn down by older students who wanted to continue doing their own thing – which generally included yelling at referees or the other team, and not always in the most flattering ways.
Before St. Johns could compete to be called the state’s best student section, the SALC had to convince their classmates there was a better way.
And finally, this winter, they’ve broken through thanks to a blueprint other student leaders would be wise to follow.
“It’s something where you have to be able to have a voice and you have to be able to want to make the change and want to make the difference,” Davis said. “Because you can go to all of these meetings and do everything. But at the end of the day, if you don’t want to do it, there’s no way you’re going to carry it out and help other people to do it.”
St. Johns hosted the fourth stop Friday of this year’s MHSAA Battle of the Fans IV finalists tour. The MHSAA also has visited Beaverton, Yale and Buchanan and will journey to Dowagiac on Friday, with the naming of this year’s champion Feb. 20.
The public may vote for its favorite on the MHSAA’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sites beginning Feb. 17, with the MHSAA Student Advisory Council taking results into consideration when selecting the champion after the vote has concluded.
St. Johns’ appearance in the contest wasn’t a thought in the fall. But a spot among the final five might not mean more to any of the contenders. More than 200 students rooted on the Redwings’ basketball teams Friday – a testament to the work that’s been done and the changes that have been made as the section has been transformed.
Athletic director Chris Ervin started the Student Athletic Leadership Committee during the fall of 2012 after a group of students attended an MHSAA Sportsmanship Summit in Lansing that focused in part on the previous winter’s inaugural Battle of the Fans competition.
At that point, St. Johns students generally showed up for games, at least for the football and boys basketball teams. But there wasn’t a lot of cheering, or cheering in the most positive way.
The committee came back from the Summit with great ideas. But a group of then-seniors already was in place as leaders of the section – and the SALC’s entrance into the conversation was mostly ignored.
The SALC was created in large part to lead the student section toward more positivity, sportsmanship, inclusion of all grades. After this football season, the committee was close to giving up.
“If everyone is against us, why are we trying to force something upon them that they don’t want?” St. Johns junior Jake Eaton recalled asking. “If we were going to just bring negativity, we didn’t want to do that.”
“Standing up for this group, standing up for what we’re doing, was the hardest thing,” junior Jessica Hafner said, “and the best thing.”
The SALC again attended an MHSAA Sportsmanship Summit, in November in Grand Rapids. They again came back with plenty of ideas – and a stronger, more experienced group to push them through.
The original SALC was 12 students, three from each grade. The committee invited three more from the rest of the student body.
“At first, it came (across) like we were trying to take over the student section. We weren’t trying to take it over. We were just trying to make it more positive,” Davis said. “We invited some of those people in our group. That won them over. We got them in, changed their ways, and they went to their friends. It’s worked.”
The SALC got its message out to a school-wide captive audience by holding a pep rally before the boys and girls games against DeWitt on Dec. 12. That allowed the SALC to show off their new philosophy – and some new cheers – to the entire school, which in turn got some younger students interested who might not have showed before.
The SALC then took advantage of a key opportunity. In St. Johns’ league, the Capital Area Activities Conference, the boys varsity basketball teams play first on Friday nights, followed by the girls. The students who weren’t embracing the changes usually left after the boys games – leaving the SALC to work with those who stayed to cheer on the girls.
It was at those games that the new section began gaining a foothold. Applying to Battle of the Fans, and the excitement after students saw the video, gave the SALC’s effort another boost.
“At first, we struggled to get participation,” said senior Austin Ervin, who stays after his basketball games to lead the section. “Once we got coordinated cheers that were fun and everybody realized what it was like to have fun and be positive and not just scream at the officials and teams, I think people started talking at school; ‘You should come to this. It’s a good time.’”
The student attendance at girls games continued to grow during the first half of this season, and the section’s new setup transferred to the boys games. St. Johns filled a section with high schoolers and nearly another with middle schoolers for Friday’s against Haslett; although a few rows at the top emptied, the majority of the crowd stayed to cheer on the girls. The section also has made an appearance at a wrestling match to cheer on a team that has won four MHSAA titles over the last five seasons.
Hafner, a basketball player, said the support is definitely making a difference on the court; the boys basketball team, at 7-7, is on pace to equal last season’s record, but the girls team, at 10-6, already has surpassed its 2013-14 win total.
St. Johns’ student section has come a long way in a short time, but the potential for growth seems limitless in a school of nearly 1,100 students. There’s a buzz in the halls and plans for the future now that changes have finally gotten started.
“I grew up in high school only knowing this (negative) stuff,” Eaton added. “Once we all matured in this situation, we have this year and next year and wanted to push it through and get it going before we left. Seeing how we came together for that video, it was definitely worth it, definitely something we could push for that next year and try to do better.”
PHOTOS: (Top) St. Johns students cheer during Friday's boys basketball game against Haslett. (Middle) The Redwings' student section reached to the top row while filling one full section and part of another of the school's gym. (Bottom) A trio of students energize their classmates with back flips Friday. (Photos courtesy of Jack Heckaman/jaxxphotos.com.)