This Week in High School Sports: 10/2/18

October 2, 2018

This week's show features the life of late Grand Rapids official Dolly Konwinski, who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Game balls go out to Schoolcraft football running back Kobe Clark and Rockford cross country runner Ericka VanderLende. A football overtime rule is the topic of "Be The Referee," and the MHSAA "Perspective" commentary is a "You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me" piece on a federal court case made by the parents of a kid who didn’t make the cut.

The 5-minute program, powered by MI Student Aid, leads off each week with feature stories from around the state from the MHSAA’s Second Half or network affiliates. "Be The Referee," a 60-second look at the fine art of officiating, comes in the middle of the show and is followed by a closing MHSAA "Perspective."

Listen to this week's show by Clicking Here.

Past editions

September 25: Bronson volleyball's Kiera Lasky, the real blue-chip participants in high school sports - Listen
September 18: 
Hanover-Horton runner Judy Rector, countering a growing shortage of high school game officials - Listen
September 11:
Alpena soccer coach Tim Storch, balancing interests of all high school athletes - Listen
September 4:
Radio stations celebrating 77 years of high school sports broadcasts, and radio's importance in educational athletics - Listen
August 28:
Forest Hills Central football's Tate Hallock, keeping perspective amid changing times - Listen
August 21: Lansing Everett football coach Mike Smith, MHSAA executive director transition - Listen

Youth Sports: 'Focus on the End User'

August 24, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

As we at the MHSAA work toward promoting the benefits of a multi-sport experience at the high school level, we – with our Multi-Sport Task Force – realize these messages will be most valuable when they reach parents of children at the youth levels.

Below is an 18-minute TEDx talk by Travis Dorsch, a former kicker and punter at Purdue University and with multiple NFL teams who went on to receive his doctorate from Purdue and currently serves as an assistant professor at Utah State. He has conducted significant study on children’s youth sport participation and its impacts particularly on family relationships. 

In this talk, he speaks on proper expectations for young athletes and how financial costs of youth sports have twisted those expectations.

Dorsch will speak at the 6th Annual Kristen Marie Gould Endowed Lecture on Sport for Children and Youth on Sept. 6 at Michigan State University. He will be lecturing on “From Sandlot to Stadium: What We Know, What We Don't, and Best Practices for Parent Involvement in Youth Sport.”