This Week in High School Sports: 3/2/18

March 2, 2018

This week’s show features "The Herd" at Buchanan – the winner of this year’s Battle of the Fans – passes out Game Balls to the winning teams at the MHSAA Skiing Finals, discusses diving on the floor for a loose basketball in the "Be The Referee" segment and closes with an MHSAA Perspective – Good Optics/Bad Optics.

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
February 23: Eaton Rapids wrestler Austin O’Hearon, upcoming winter championship schedule of live streaming on MHSAA.tv - Listen 
February 16: Muskegon Oakridge girls basketball standout Sophia Wiard, late MHSAA Executive Director Vern Norris - Listen
February 9: Women In Sports Leadership Award winner Meg Seng, MHSAA rules' member-driven nature - Listen
February 2: Dundee wrestler Brandon Whitman, college basketball's intrusion on winter Friday nights - Listen
January 26: Holland West Ottawa swimmer Derek Maas, notes from around the state - Listen
January 19: Ewen-Trout Creek basketball star Jake Witt, Battle of the Fans VII semifinalists - Listen
January 12: 2018 Women In Sports Leadership conference, referees being driven from the game - Listen
January 5: Battle of the Fans VII, "JordanVille" featuring Fennville's Richie Jordan - Listen
December 22: Public Address Announcers Clinic, 2017's most memorable moments - Listen
December 15: Centreville girls basketball, shout-outs to a pair of long-time high school sports figures battling health issues - Listen
December 8: Muskegon quarterback La'Darius Jefferson, unnecessary high school football combines - Listen
December 1: Ottawa Lake Whiteford's MHSAA football title, technology bringing more coverage to MHSAA.tv - Listen
November 24: Central Lake's MHSAA football title, selling 8-player football to 11-player communities - Listen
November 17: Muskegon Reeths-Puffer's 1992 Class A champion football team, a full weekend of NFHS broadcasts - Listen
November 10: Lansing Catholic cross country runner Olivia Theis, 30 years of MHSAA Football Playoff memories - Listen
November 3:  Traverse City West golfer Anika Dy, perps and vics in high school sports - Listen
October 27: Pinckney football's Marcus Ford, MHSAA's evolving record book - Listen
October 20: Retired Menominee football coach Ken Hofer and Farmington Hills Harrison football coach John Harrington - Listen
October 13: Sturgis girls golf, Homecomings and another sign of the apocalypse in youth sports - Listen
October 6: Portage Central soccer's Minh Le, college basketball’s shoe scandal - Listen
September 29: Lincoln Alcona soccer keeper Conner McCoy, sportsmanship on the soccer field and cross country course - Listen
September 22: Pontiac Notre Dame Prep's Maddy Chinn, the business that is youth sports - Listen 
September 15: Helpful directions in cross country, why sportsmanship resonates - Listen
September 8: Watervliet quarterback Zach Pickens, "High School Football Night" in America - Listen
September 1: Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart girls cross country, correcting a report on the health of Michigan high school football - Listen
August 25: 2016-17 head injury report, return of official Steve Johnson - Listen

Century of School Sports: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

October 8, 2024

The display above greets visitors at the top of our staircase to the second floor at the MHSAA office in East Lansing – a group of guests that annually numbers well over a 1,000 administrators, student leaders, game officials and several others who are invested in school sports.

We hope these four core values – the MHSAA’s oft-referred to “four S’s” of educational athletics – also lead our guests’ interactions in school sports as they return home to their communities across the state.

They are as follows:

SAFETY

  • It's not enough to provide students the opportunity to participate. The health and welfare of participants must be placed above all other considerations. Parents can be confident that their children not only will be as safe as possible in school sports, but they will also develop habits that tend to encourage a lifetime of better health.

SCHOLARSHIP

  • School-based and rooted in education, school sports are a supportive part of the school's academic mission. Minimum academic standards are set as a requirement for athletic participation, thus making activities a privilege.

SPORTSMANSHIP

  • The environment at interscholastic events is shaped by the attitudes and actions of players, coaches and spectators. Lessons learned in gracefully dealing with adversity in athletics translate to the classroom, the home and the workplace. Good sportsmanship is a precursor to good citizenship.

SCOPE

  • School sports embrace local roots. School events attract administrators, teachers, students and parents in one venue and can be the backbone of the community. Adopting reasonable, rational limits for school sports assures a sane and sensible, student-centered educational experience.

These values were coined by John E. “Jack” Roberts, the fourth of now five full-time executive directors who have served the MHSAA during its 100-year history. He introduced them during his first days on the job in 1986 – and as he noted in an installment of his “From the Director” blog in 2015, they’ve stood the test of time.

They drove the Association’s work during his tenure, surely before it, and continue to do so today – and we will delve into all four as we continue our storytelling of a “Century of School Sports” during this 2024-25 school year.

Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights

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 display on the second floor of the MHSAA office outlines the four core values of educational athletics: safety, scholarship, sportsmanship and scope.