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.)
Century of School Sports: Good Sports Are Winners Then, Now & Always
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 12, 2024
The above photo came to us two years ago this fall, from a now-retired athletic director, who was especially taken by these 10 runners from eight schools huddling together before their races during the 2022 Lower Peninsula Boys Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway.
Representing Bloomingdale, Bridgman, Centreville, Coloma, Constantine, Parchment, Schoolcraft and Watervliet, these racers had competed against each other all season, and for some several seasons. But during these moments before what would be the most high-profile event of their athletic careers, they joined together for support, motivation and camaraderie.
Sportsmanship is one of the MHSAA’s core values – the “4 S’s” – of educational athletics. It has served as part of the bedrock of this organization from its beginning 100 years ago, and should remain so as long as school sports are considered a valued part of the educational experience.
Two weeks ago, we covered in this #MHSAA100 space the history of the MHSAA Sportsmanship Summit – first conducted in 1997 – and our latest statewide tour concludes Thursday in Grand Rapids. But those sessions welcoming student leaders every year are just one of many efforts the MHSAA has made to continue teaching sportsmanship through athletics over the last century.
An essay, “Athletics – Why and How” by Grand Rapids Union athletic director John Truesdale, was included with the November 1925 edition of the Bulletin of the Michigan High School Athletic Association and addresses how the creation of the MHSAA from its predecessor organization played a part in immediately improving sportsmanship in school sports during that first year:
“Because of (the creation and fulltime nature of the MHSAA), the standards of sportsmanship are more nearly approached. Bickerings have been reduced to a minimum. Better understanding exists between schools. The conducting of games has become the exhibition not only of skill, strength and wisdom, but of sportsmanship, obedience to accepted rules, and consideration of those who for the moment are in the position of enemies, although friendly.
“In fact, athletics in Michigan are in position now to accomplish the purpose for which they were designed – the building of character. … It is entirely reasonable that each, the player and spectator, emerges from a contest a better citizen because of his experiences.”
High Schools change over entire student bodies every four years. Freshman eventually become seniors, and when they leave take their parents and others who have spent a portion of time in the school sports space, to be replaced by the next classes of athletes and families playing, cheering and altogether carrying forward our time-cherished activities.
And as such, the lessons of sportsmanship are constantly in need of renewal.
After both arrived during the mid 1980s, retired MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts and retired Communications Director John Johnson embarked on a mission to transform sportsmanship in Michigan school sports – and in doing so, made the MHSAA a national leader in that work, which continues today.
These MHSAA sportsmanship campaigns from the last 30 years should ring at least a few bells for those who have spent time around our games:
“Good Sports are Winners” – Beginning in 1989 and over the following two decades, the MHSAA (and with help from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and multiple sponsors) annually distributed 100+ page sportsmanship kits to member schools which included materials to assist in promoting good sportsmanship, including letters to be sent out to various stakeholders, public address announcements for events and other content for programs and publications.
An awards program celebrated teams best displaying these ideals from every season – Fall, Winter and Spring – with those winners receiving recognition across statewide media and MHSAA publications through the conclusion of this campaign during the 2010-11 school year.
“What Kids Wish Their Parents Knew About Sportsmanship” – This six-minute video produced for the start of the 1999-2000 school year featured students addressing adult behavior at their events. The video was designed to be shown as preseason meetings, booster clubs, school board meetings and similar athletic department or school gatherings.
“Battle of the Fans” Fast forward to 2012. The MHSAA’s Student Advisory Council, in an effort to affect sportsmanship especially among peers, created a statewide competition to promote positive cheering from the growing number of student sections across the state.
The “Battle of the Fans” continued for 10 years (skipping 2021 due to COVID-19 precautions) and annually recognized not only a champion but additional finalists with banners during the Basketball Finals at Breslin Center. The contest was almost entirely video and social media-driven, and during later years of the competition included multiple rounds that required sections to complete challenges to advance.
The BOTF program also was recognized nationally and copied by other states after seeing what Michigan’s student leaders were capable of influencing.
And that work continues.
The following was created this summer by the Student Advisory Council based on 10 pages of notes from their experiences at 2023 Sportsmanship Summits.
One of the most revealing truths in studying the 100-year history of the MHSAA is that many issues of the day then and now are remarkably similar. It’s not that there haven’t been improvements along the way. But rather, the process of educational athletics is ongoing as generations of students take their turns and continue on – and the work to keep sportsmanship at the heart of competition remains of great importance.
To that end, let’s allow Truesdale to close this latest history lesson.
“Let us then, in this year of 1925, demonstrate to the people as a whole that victory is not all we seek.
“Let each of us, whether superintendent, principal, coach, player or spectator, emphasize the point that to win is welcome, that to demonstrate superiority is one goal we are after. But let us not lose sight of the fact that the means employed are of great consequence, and that the results we seek are not championships alone but victory of the player and the team and the school over the temptations of unfair tactics.
“Championships will be forgotten but character is lasting.”
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
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
PHOTO A group of Southwestern Athletic Conference runners huddle up before their races at the 2022 Lower Peninsula Boys Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway, including Bloomingdale’s Jaden Barnes and Joe Stocchiero, Bridgman’s Andrew Mabry and John Sanderson, Centreville’s Logan Weis, Coloma’s Boden Genovese, Constantine’s Ethan Glick, Parchment’s William Winter, Schoolcraft’s Dante Pilot and Watervliet’s Daniel Mandujano. (Photo by Alan Bobalik/Bloomingdale cross country.)