Entries Sought for Excellence Awards
January 28, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
MHSAA members participating in its School Broadcast Program have two opportunities to receive recognition for their efforts and learn more about the world sports broadcasting.
Last week, the formal “Call for Entries” took place for the MHSAA’s Second Annual SBP Excellence Awards. This program, in partnership with Herff Jones, allows SBP schools to submit their work in five categories – Single Camera and Multi Camera Production of athletic events, Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software, Best Produced Commercials/Features and Best Student Play-by-Play Announcing. A Program of the Year Award also will be presented.
Entries will be accepted until 4 p.m. Feb. 20, with winners announced in April. Complete rules and entry information can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.
SBP participants also have the opportunity to attend the NFHS Network’s inaugural Broadcast Academy, July 17-19 in Atlanta, Ga. The Academy is designed for student broadcasters to hear from successful sports broadcasters from major networks, develop skills through hands-on broadcast training sessions and be recognized for their accomplishments during the first annual NFHS Network Broadcast Academy Awards ceremony. Academy attendees also will attend an Atlanta Braves game and be able to share best practices and experiences with other student broadcasters from schools across the country.
The NFHS Network also will present awards to SBP schools from across the county in multiple categories, including Best Overall Program, Best Live Sports Broadcast, Best Student Broadcaster and Best Teacher of the Year. The application deadline for the awards program is Feb. 15. Click for more information about the NFHS Network Broadcast Academy.
The MHSAA also will be providing SBP participants with two more “Field Trips” during the Girls and Boys Basketball Semifinals in March, where students will get a behind-the-scenes look at broadcast operations at those events, be able to create their own content at the games and visit with broadcast professionals about careers in sports broadcasting. The field trips are run in cooperation with the Student Broadcast Foundation and Herff Jones. More information will be available soon on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.
This week’s live SBP-produced events on MHSAA.tv again will feature a hockey showdown, as the top-ranked teams in Division 1 and Division 3 respectively – Detroit Catholic Central and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood – face off Friday (Jan. 30) at 7:15 p.m. A great nonconference boys basketball matchup in the week ahead will have Stevensville Lakeshore, the top team in the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference West, at Dowagiac, the second place squad in the Wolverine Conference West, on Tuesday (Feb. 3).
The School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.
Here’s the schedule of School Broadcast Program members planning to cover varsity competition this week for broadcast at MHSAA.tv (as of Jan. 26). The following events will have live streaming video unless otherwise indicated:
Wednesday, January 28
Wrestling – Triangular with Belding & Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern at Comstock Park, 6 p.m.
Thursday, January 29
Boys Swimming – DeWitt at Haslett, 6 p.m.
Friday, January 30
Boys Basketball – Saginaw Arthur Hill at Mt. Pleasant, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Johannesburg-Lewiston at Mancelona, 7 p.m.
Boys basketball – Coloma at Dowagiac, 7 p.m.
Ice Hockey – Detroit Catholic Central at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood, 7:15 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Standish-Sterling at Pinconning, 7:30 p.m.
Monday, February 2
Girls Basketball – Hancock at Calumet, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, February 3
Boys Basketball – Elk Rapids at Mancelona, 6:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Saginaw Heritage at Mt. Pleasant, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Okemos at Haslett, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Lake Fenton at Montrose, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Stevensville Lakeshore at Dowagiac, 7:15 p.m.
Also available this week is an SBP highlights package from the past week (see bottom of this screen) which includes a 2-2 ice hockey tie between Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood and Detroit U-D Jesuit; plus Goodrich scoring a 55-43 victory in girls basketball at Haslett in a clash of top-10 teams in Class B.
Live stats of select basketball games also are available on MHSAA.tv. Check out the MHSAA.tv website on game nights to see which schools are streaming live stats, or stop by to view stats following games on an On Demand basis. A Day Pass to view live stats is $1.95. All sporting events – live or delayed - are available on MHSAA.tv on a subscription basis for their first 72 hours online. A portion of each subscription is returned to school originating the broadcast. Video subscriptions run $9.95 for a Day Pass and $14.95 for a Month Pass. Some schools also are offering Annual Passes at a discounted rate. All sporting events become available for free On Demand viewing three days after they have been posted.
To view all of the recent School Broadcast Program productions, go to MHSAA.tv, click On Demand on the nav bar of the left side of the page, and on the Filters tab at the top of next page, click on All States and then select Michigan.
Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.
Battle of the Fans: Blue Crew Legacy
February 18, 2012
PETOSKEY -- Directly across the gym from the Petoskey student cheering section Friday, a toddler played on the first row of bleachers.
He wasn’t paying much attention to the Northmen’s boys basketball game against West Branch Ogemaw Heights. But he was wearing a blue T-shirt that read “Future Blue Crew” -- guaranteeing he will be soon enough.
At Petoskey High, a Class A school in a town where families have lived for generations, kids grow up aspiring not just to be the athletes playing for championships -- but also the Blue Crew members cheering them on.
While the other cheering section finalists in this season’s MHSAA “Battle of the Fans” contest were officially organized, for the most part, over the last year or two, Petoskey’s Blue Crew is nearing a decade as a constant at its school’s athletic events -- and a source of community pride.
“It’s such a legacy. Eighth grade, you’re looking forward to to being even involved in the Blue Crew, ... and now that we’re all seniors, everyone is listening to us, and we just want our teams to do well,” Petoskey senior Hayley Fettig said. “That’s a big part of it. We’re here to support our teams and cheer for our teams, and be a team ourselves.”
Petoskey was the fifth and final stop on the Battle of the Fans tour to find Michigan’s top student cheering section. Over the last five weeks, MHSAA staff and members of its Student Advisory Council also visited Frankenmuth, Reese, Grand Rapids Christian and Rockford. MHSAA-produced videos of all five finalists have been posted on the MHSAAsports YouTube page. Online voting will take place Monday-Thursday on the MHSAA Facebook page (you must “like” our page to vote). The winner will be announced Friday.
For most of its basketball history, Petoskey played in its old Central Gymnasium, an arena straight from the movie “Hoosiers” which seats about 1,500 fans and turned into a giant tunnel of cheers and shouts for every home game. But late in the fall of 2002, the newly-built high school opened a much larger gym that not only holds more fans, but also is more cavernous.
A bigger room meant a need for bigger spirit. And that sparked the Blue Crew, the brain child of members of the student council, some of whose names are still thrown around the halls to this day -- although the current seniors were in elementary school when it all began.
About 140 students piled into a “whited out” Blue Crew on Friday, plus 60 more in the jazz band that plays every home game and easily could be confused for one at the college level. To the left of the Crew sat about 50 more students not yet in high school. All sub-high school students are known as “Future Blue Crew,” while teachers are “Old-School Blue Crew.”
The Blue Crew often stands larger than it did Friday -- but on this night, the junior varsity and freshman basketball teams were playing simultaneously at other sites, and the hockey team was on the road. Petoskey’s Big North Conference foes are spread throughout the northern third of the Lower Peninsula, but the Blue Crew is known for making hours-long trips and constant support.
Members of the student council still play a big part. Those 12 students, plus 10 more take a one-hour leadership class taught by former girls varsity coach Matt Tamm. His classroom is a hall of memories itself, with photos of teams going back decades. Taking up center spot on a main wall is the original Blue Crew banner including its mission and three directives for generations to come.
“When I was younger, the older kids always told us, ‘You have to watch how we do this so when you’re older, you can do it how we did it,’ senior Brad Berkau said.
“You begin to learn when you’re younger what we do and how to go about cheering the right away. Not just boasting about our team, but not putting down the other ones too,” senior Nick Godfrey added.
That “right way” includes refusing to cheer negatively. Petoskey athletic director Gary Hice said it’s been four or five years since he’s had to tell the Crew that one of its cheers was crossing the line. Counselor Karen Starkey, who helps by coordinating parents to cheer with the students, said she hasn’t seen the Blue Crew respond to an opposing cheering section’s negative chant in at least two years.
Instead, the Crew pours its energy into more memorable ventures.
Starkey was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2011, and her first chemotherapy treatment was on a game night.
She showed up in white, anticipating a white out. Instead, she found the entire Blue Crew in pink -- before receiving a group hug from the 200 or so students there supporting her as well.
“Those are the things these guys just jump out and do,” Starkey said. “It’s so not necessary, but it was just so cool.”
PHOTOS courtesy of Larry Tracy and CMA Action Photography.