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Revived Blue Crew Continues to Thrive

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

February 6, 2018

PETOSKEY – When Dominick Murray’s older sister was a high school senior in 2012, Petoskey’s Blue Crew was a top-five finalist in the inaugural Battle of the Fans.

Three years later, then-freshman Dominick was “really iffy” about the whole thing and didn’t go to a game.

The once-proud Blue Crew had all but faded away. But in 2016-17, the section was reborn and returned to the BOTF Finals. And that wasn’t a one-hit wonder – Petoskey welcomed the MHSAA for Friday’s boys basketball game against Traverse City West as one of three finalists vying for this year’s Battle of the Fans VII championship.

Petoskey’s student section isn’t just back. It’s all the way back and better than ever before.

“There’s a lot of things stressful in high school, extremely stressful,” Petoskey senior Isabella Rowe said. “So coming to a basketball game or a football game or whatever kind of sport, just getting to focus on encouraging your classmates, getting to see people smile when Danny (Kolp) or anyone just dunks that basketball and everyone just jumps up in the air – it’s the coolest experience and the whole gym is so happy.”

We met with Rowe, Murray, seniors Jake Lee, Carly Williams, Jack Paulsen and David Paquette, and junior Taylor Whitman to discuss all that is the Petoskey Blue Crew.

BOTF is a competition, of course, and this year’s tour stop reports will follow a format similar to a typical game night – starting with a gameplan other schools can incorporate if they wish to join the fun, followed by our video from the tour stop and then more on why the section is considered one of the state’s best.

Petoskey’s Gameplan

Take some of these tips from the Blue Crew:

• It’s not a one-person show. Start as early as you can and get as many passionate people as possible to join in the planning. 

• Find out what students want. Petoskey’s love theme nights – and you’ve got to give fans who aren’t necessarily into sports incentives to keep them coming back for more.

• Work with your school administrators, finding out what you’re allowed to do and how they can help.

• Get social. There’s no better way to get out the good word than through social media. It’s the best way to let your classmates know what events are coming up.

• Get younger students involved, be it underclassmen or even middle school and elementary fans. They’re the ones who will be carrying on the traditions moving forward, and instilling pride and a sense of belonging early is valuable. 

Pregame Prep

The last regular-season game of last season, at Boyne City, remains memorable because of how the section traveled and dressed up and made it festive. Not long after, Rowe and Lee – juniors who were part of the main organizing group – began reaching out for new help on social media and together coming up with people they thought might be good additions to the Blue Crew’s leadership.

What they found in part were a lot of classmates who were interested in coming to games and helping lead cheers on the floor – but not necessarily planning behind the scenes. Both are important, of course, and by the end of May the “core group” for this year’s Blue Crew had just about taken shape.

That core group put together a list of theme nights, ranked which should be on the biggest games, and in August started filling in a calendar (Rowe and Williams have put a new one together for every month). The leaders also put together a “rules and guidelines sheet” including things like how seating will work (you get the best seats by showing up earliest, not based on grade, etc.). They started thinking up ideas to get underclassmen more involved in the section and eventually began working with their National Honor Society and DECA chapters and SAFE in Northern Michigan to help with finances and provide giveaways like lanyards.

In fact, the Blue Crew already is working on next year – at least a little bit – putting together the materials Whitman will need to take over when most of these leaders graduate, plus suggesting classmates who could take their places.

Game Time

Petoskey turned its gym into a safari-themed “jungle” for our visit, and packed its home stands despite the girls basketball team playing at Alpena and the hockey team hosting Alpena for a cancer benefit game in honor of freshman Evelyn Schwarz, who is undergoing chemotherapy while battling the disease.

The Blue Crew made sure to take part in that special event, raising money with a “miracle minute” between the first and second quarters. The Crew also had plans to finish the night by joining other classmates cheering at the hockey game after the basketball team was done.

“When you’re not part of a major sport – there’s not many fans at a ski race; nobody’s going to come out to the hill – (like with) soccer, before last year there was literally nobody there, and this year for the first time people are actually singing in the stands like you’d see in a professional game or something,” said Paquette, who played soccer and ski races. “It’s so cool, and it really gives you energy and support. It’s cool that your peers are supporting you for what you do, and I want to do (the same) because I love the positive energy we can give the basketball program, and I think it helps them better on the court too.”

A major change to the Blue Crew this school year has been the variety of teams it’s cheering. Football always is big, and basketball is the main draw up north during the winter. But the Crew made its share of volleyball matches during the fall and soccer games for the first time. Hockey has joined the winter rotation.

The BOTF Semifinal “Challenge Round” over 12 days last month also provided an opportunity for the Crew to grow its reach and continue its focus this year on getting more younger students involved. One challenge option gave BOTF semifinalists the opportunity to show how they get the youth involved – and Petoskey took that challenge head on.

The Blue Crew’s big focus for in-game fun this season was on creating great theme nights, but leaders learned something new there too.

Their classmates would get up for the challenge of a creative idea – dressing up for Safari Night gave them options of being a tourist, an animal, or just showing up in green or camouflage. But Crew members also like when themes are simple – wearing the school colors or all white, for example.

In the end, a mix definitely is best.

“(My sister) asked me about it. Obviously we do a lot of things differently than they did,” Murray said. “She wanted to know if some of the traditions still stand. … I told her what we did, and she said she’s much rather be in our student section because she’s an outgoing person and would’ve loved to dress in an ‘80s aerobics outfit.”

Postgame Analysis

The roar is restored. “It hasn’t really crossed people’s minds that much that even just when we were sophomores, (Blue Crew) wasn’t a thing,” Paquette said. “The underclassmen have grown up with this as their only experience. It’s a testament to the culture change we’ve created here, at least for the juniors and seniors to accept that’s what the culture is now. And I think that’s good because it’s probably going to continue it in the future.

We’re all in this together. “I think the reason the Blue Crew died was no one was including the younger classes; now we’re including everyone,” Lee said. “It’s not like we’re split upperclassmen and (under)classmen. We’re all together now, in school and on the court.”

We keep with the theme: “Last year and even before that we filled half of our stands, and now every game is always filled all the way to the top,” Rowe said. “People are pretty good about doing (theme) because we definitely did a ton of different things – just from simple things like color blocks (like blue and white) all the way to an 80s aerobic theme. Carly and I focus on getting calendars set for each month, and of course we try to not do the same thing twice. The girls (basketball) team had its own and boys had its own. We always had relatively good turnouts, and kids were always excited; ‘Hey, you going to the game tonight? What are you wearing?’ That’s always the first question they ask: What are you wearing?”

Spirit is contagious. “I know T.C. West motivated us to be in (Battle of the Fans). And then Boyne City … we were (finalists last year) at the same point. And now Pellston, and I’ve heard kids from Charlevoix want to get involved in the Battle of the Fans competition,” Williams said. “They’ve seen our rules and guidelines sheet and they’re like, this is what we need to do. … It’s just motivation from other schools that’s getting kids started.”

Next stop on BOTF: We also visited Boyne City for its game Friday, and that report and video will publish Feb. 12. We'll finish the 2018 BOTF tour at Buchanan for its Feb. 16 boys basketball game against Berrien Springs.

The Battle of the Fans is sponsored in part by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.

PHOTOS: (Top) Petoskey's Blue Crew roots on its boys basketball team Friday against Traverse City West. (Middle) A member of the Blue Crew takes the night's safari theme prehistoric. (Photos by Larry Tracy/CMA Action Photography.)

Heritage's Hawk Nest Taking Charge

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

February 11, 2020

SAGINAW – Braeden Dinninger was so stoked before Friday’s Saginaw Heritage boys basketball game against Midland Dow, it felt like he might bounce right out of his neon green headband and hot pink arm sleeve.

A year ago, Heritage’s Hawk Nest became a bona fide all-star student section, even reaching the MHSAA’s Battle of the Fans VIII finals. A year later, Dinninger is a product of what he and his classmates have created on the way back to the championship round for BOTF IX.

“The environment – it's electrifying when you're in there,” said Dinninger, a senior football player and track sprinter who was elected a Nest leader this winter. “Everyone's talking, having a good time. So it's a time when you can come in, cheer, see your friends – talk to people you don't know, meet new friends – and it's an experience that we want people to come out and get more.”

We received our share of that electricity during the MHSAA’s BOTF visit Friday, the first on this year’s finalists tour that will include stops in Buchanan on Tuesday and Zeeland East on Friday.

At Heritage, we met with Dinninger, juniors Sophia Spradlin and Nikki Ambas and sophomore Charlie Davis to find out how the Hawk Nest had changed things up and taken another step this school year.

Two years ago, there was nothing like this. A year ago, thanks to the leadership of a dedicated teacher who made the student section part of her curriculum for the school’s Leadership class, the Hawk Nest was born.

The Hawks received a BOTF finalist banner last March on the floor at Breslin Center, and on the way home then-sophomore Sophia Spradlin brainstormed ways for the section to make a run at the championship this time.

She’s now one of the leaders of the “Battle of the Fans Club” – borne out of but separate from the school’s Leadership class – as the Hawk Next this winter has become fully student-organized and directed.

“We liked the student section how it was, but I feel like a lot of people could agree that it just wasn’t where it could be,” Spradlin said.

Dinninger added: “We wanted to take that step and also include more things that we thought could be fun, not just what we did last year.”

Hence, Hawk Nest version 2.0. Prepare for landing.

Game Time

They’re the Hawks of Saginaw. If you don’t get that by the time you leave a Saginaw Heritage game, you just haven’t been listening.

Over eight years of Battle of the Fans tour stops, some cheers simply have stuck in our heads. Heritage’s “We’re the Hawks of Saginaw” is one of them – “We do it ... any time in the game. It’s just a blast,” Davis said.

Also recognizable from our 2019 visit was a baseline bleachers filled with students in some mix of neon, mostly green again this time with a side of tie dye. But there were many more new features on the Hawk Nest playlist

Before every home game, a different pair of students enjoys the responsibility of providing the “light show” during pregame introductions – which is more or less a pair of flashlights racing around the domed arena, with parents and other fans along the sidelines using their cell phones to add to the mystique. Simple perhaps, but proof it doesn’t take much to add a touch of coolness to something otherwise ordinary at most places.

Introductions end with a Heritage player firing an imaginary arrow into the stands, sending the section falling backward. This is actually a common theme – the Hawks look for any number of opportunities to topple over, including leaders throwing a classmate into the stands like an airborne bowling ball.

What follows is a lot of chants, a lot of “We’re the Hawks of Saginaw” and generally just a lot of fun.

The Nest always has some interactive activity set up for halftime, and this time it was a relay race that included hula hoops and 3-point shots. It took a little while to set up, and to be honest was pretty tough to follow – but who cares? It got a bunch of students moving around, yelling and laughing instead of sitting with their heads in their hands until the game got rolling again.

Like at most places, basketball is the big show during winters at Heritage – and here it’s following the girls team, winners of two straight Class A/Division 1 championships. But the section also follows the boys hoops team, the highly-ranked hockey team and has come together for swim meets, volleyball matches and the Heritage-hosted pompon regional. (See the Challenge Round video below showing the section cheering on a variety of teams.)  

“The big thing,” Spradlin said, “is we’re so excited for every single game.”  

 

Be like Heritage

Take some of these tips from the Hawk Nest:

Take ownership: As noted above, Heritage students made a point of taking the baton by becoming the directors of their section this season, and almost everything they do is rooted in that sense they're working on something that belongs to them. That adds a level of meaningfulness. The Battle of the Fans Club meets at least once a week and often more, with about 30 students at many meetings – and Spradlin said every meeting sees someone new show up. Each grade is represented by elected representatives who are counted on to be part of setup and takedown on game nights. All of that leads to that feeling of ownership – and the pride that goes along with it.

Spread the wealth: Heritage has roughly 1,500 students, and while not all of them participate in the Nest, it’s still common – as Dinninger mentioned above – to see classmates in the stands he’s never met. How do Nest leaders make them all feel welcome? By making sure to include them in as many ways as possible. The Challenge Round allowed the Hawks to include a wide variety of students in the BOTF competition, and activities like the pregame light show and halftime games provide more opportunities to get students from various grades involved.

Set expectations: This goes back to ownership a bit. A handful of Heritage leaders have attended MHSAA Sportsmanship Summits, where they learned chants like “Air ball” and the like just aren’t a cool way to go. That and just having a little bit of empathy – of course it’s awful to be the player people are chanting about – have helped the section set some standards. And working hard to develop a positive reputation makes section leaders work even harder to make sure everyone is taking part in keeping it. 

Word of mouth works: It’s always smart for student sections to connect with classmates on social media, with posters and daily announcements and even more one-on-one with class visits and all-school assemblies. But at the end of the day, one of the most effective ways to grow a student section is by word of mouth – one friend tells another, who tells another, and so on. Heritage hasn’t put it into practice yet, but is considering something of a buddy program where an upperclassmen recruits an underclassmen to a game. Similar invites bring a personal touch to recruiting efforts. 

They said it best

Take a chance: “I think the only thing you have to do is be open-minded,” Spradlin said. “I was always kinda nervous to get involved, and I think the biggest step for me was being the Hawk (mascot) last year. I did it a few different times, and even though I wasn’t in the student section, I could be part of it. You have to push past your comfort zone. I met some of my best friends from the student section; through this club I’ve met so many new people. If (students) just knew what comes out of (getting involved), they would be more open to it.”

Buzz is contagious: “The best part is when it’s a new school week and we’re just talking about the game,” Davis said. “At lunchtime, it’s ‘Are you going to the game?’ or ‘Can I get a ride to the game?’ or ‘Will I see you at the game?’ It’s so much fun. You talk about it at school, and it really hypes it up when you get here and it just brings all the positive energy to one place.”

Be brave: “Everyone’s cheering and no one’s afraid to start a cheer,” Ambas said. “I’m always timid to start a cheer, but everyone’s so inviting. They’re open to when you want to start anything, no matter who you are.”

Don’t miss out: “I think the next step is trying to get a lot of kids out of their comfort zones, to come out and get that experience,” Dinninger said. “Like me personally, I didn't come out until my junior year to the games, and I totally regret it. I wish I would've come out here my freshman and sophomore year. And there's been plenty of kids who said that: They wish they would've come out to the games and had that experience, because you only get this high school experience four times.”

Next stop on BOTF: We will visit Buchanan for its boys basketball game tonight against Watervliet, and finish the 2020 BOTF tour at Zeeland East for Friday’s boys basketball game against Hamilton.

The Battle of the Fans is sponsored in part by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.

PHOTOS: (Top) Fans filled Saginaw Heritage’s “Nest” for Friday’s boys basketball game against Midland Dow. (Middle) Students light the way for pregame introductions. (Photos by Josh Frank.)