SAC Sound-off: It’s not about Perfection
April 25, 2012
“Practice makes perfect” is just one of the many phrases that inspire one to work harder toward the goal of obtaining perfection.
Though these words may be used to inspire perfection, that is not their true purpose. Perfection doesn’t exist, but the inspiration to reach for higher goals does.
My senior year opened my eyes up to the actualization that trying to be perfect was not what sports had been teaching me all along. What I was meant to take from them were the valuable lessons of dedication, drive, teamwork, and communicating skills.
High school sports are more than a tool for athletic development. They are a medium for creating mentally-strong people who can execute in difficult situations faced later in life. Not that one may perform perfectly in these hypothetical situations, but that one may be able to handle situations that require thinking outside of the box.
How great it would be for all student-athletes to know and realize these secrets – because for the ones that feel the pressure to be perfect, it may be a much-needed relief.
I have strived to be the best I can be, and I have achieved success by doing so. However, with that success came pressure to be perfect in an athletic sense.
My junior year I was named all-state in basketball and I won the MHSAA Division 4 discus championship. Negative comments from others during my senior year about my basketball games or field events in track used to make me feel insignificant and insecure. That was before I realized I have achieved great heights and I will continue to raise my pinnacle as long as I stay positive.
I will never be absolutely perfect; I’m only human, and the best anyone can do is try his or her hardest to never back down from a task at hand.
High school athletics have molded me from a perfection-seeking mess to a confident, realistic, and optimistic person that finally realizes nothing I do in life is about perfection – it is about the climb of simply becoming a stronger person.
What I can strive for in the realm of perfection is a perfect attitude. The contagiousness of a good attitude will not only keep me optimistic, but it can influence others around me to pursue that positive mental toughness that is so often tested in sports.
Lena Madison, New Buffalo, senior
- Sports: Volleyball, basketball, track and field
- Non-sports activities: Student Government, Spanish Honors Society, National Honors Society, Special Olympics and Senior Olympics volunteer
- Must-see TV: "Lost"
- One shining moment: Winning the MHSAA Division 4 championship in discus last spring.
- What's next: My plan for next year is to attend Notre Dame. I will major in pre-medicine and be on the track team.
- My favorite part of game day is: ... right before every game, my team has a dance party. We get our nerves out of our systems by dancing them away!
PHOTO: Madison accepts her first-place medal at last season's Division 4 Track and Field Final. (Photo courtesy of Lena Madison.)
Advisory Council Names Class Of 2020
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 26, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Eight student-athletes who will be juniors at their schools during the 2018-19 academic year have been selected to serve two-year terms on the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Student Advisory Council.
The Student Advisory Council is a 16-member group which provides feedback on issues impacting educational athletics from a student’s perspective, and also is involved in the operation of Association championship events and other programming. Members of the Student Advisory Council serve for two years, beginning as juniors. Eight new members are selected annually to serve on the SAC, with nominations made by MHSAA member schools. The incoming juniors will join the group of eight seniors-to-be appointed a year ago.
Selected to begin serving on the Student Advisory Council in 2018-19 are: Grace Beardsley, Gladwin; Kaitlyn Bricker, Pellston; Nathan Eccles, Port Huron Northern; Jack Fairman, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood; Alexis Mohney, Mattawan; Trevin Phillips, Caro; Isabella Santiago-Lindsay, North Muskegon; and Lance Wiltse, Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary.
The first Student Advisory Council was formed for the 2006-07 school year. With the addition of this class beginning this summer, members will have represented 102 schools from 43 leagues plus independent schools that do not play in a league. Combined, the new appointees have participated in 13 MHSAA sports, and six of the eight will be the first SAC members from their respective schools.
The Student Advisory Council meets seven times each school year, and once more for a 24-hour leadership camp. In addition to assisting in the promotion of the educational value of interscholastic athletics, the Council discusses issues dealing with the 4 S’s of educational athletics: scholarship, sportsmanship, safety (including health and nutrition) and the sensible scope of athletic programs. There also is a fifth S discussed by the group – student leadership.
This school year, the Council revamped its annual “Battle of the Fans” contest to allow more schools to contend for the title, and selected the 2017-18 champion. Council members also presented Sportsmanship Summits in front of more than 1,000 students from across the state, handed out championship trophies at Finals events and provided feedback to the MHSAA Representative Council on proposed rule changes.
The new additions to the SAC will join the Class of 2019 members who were selected a year ago: Taylor Adams, Allendale; Neil Bazaj, Ann Arbor Greenhills; Megan Corbe, St. Joseph; Shane Dolan, Clarkston Everest Collegiate; Chloe Idoni, Fenton; William Jontz, Brighton; Pierce Morrissey, Big Rapids; and Abigail Nelson, Negaunee.