Monday, January 28, 2013

February Frenzy

Friday is the 1st day of February.  It is also signals of the home stretch for our Winter Sports teams.  It is time for coaches and student athletes to really narrow their focus when it comes to their respective post season challenges.

February also begins with 2 significant events that will take place at FHS.

Friday, February 1 - The Second Annual "Get Your Pink On" Basketball Event
Boys Varsity Basketball vs. Ionia - 6pm
Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Ionia - 7:30pm

Both our teams will be competing in locally sponsored, custom made Pink uniforms with names of cancer victims and survivors on the back.  There will also be various fundraising activities scheduled including face painting, t-shirt sales and a bake sale.  Everyone is encouraged to wear pink, pack the gym, support our basketball programs and join them in their fight against cancer.  #cancerwarriors

Saturday, February 2 - CAAC Red Division Wrestling Championships
Individual Wrestling Tournament - 9:30am

Our Varsity Wrestling team finished their regular season schedule with a 25-3 record while scoring a 5-0 finish in the CAAC Red Division.  This Saturday we will be host to DeWitt, Haslett, Ionia, Owosso and St. Johns for our division's Championship meet.  We will run JV and Varsity Individual tournaments simultaneously starting at 9:30am.  Come out and support our Wrestlers who are looking to capture a conference championship as a TEAM as well as multiple individual championships at their respective weight classes.

#GoGlads #WinTheDay


Saturday, January 26, 2013

Multiple Sports - Multiple Advantages

While reading the MHSAA's "Second Half" website, I came across a blog written by Chris Kennedy.  The title of the entry was "The Multi-Sport High School Athlete".  You can read it in full here: The Multi-Sport High School Athlete

Mr. Kennedy brings up some very interesting points that really go along with my overall philosophy of educational athletics.

1.  Cross training and participation in multiple sports does not hurt you in one or the other.  It only helps you become a more "well-rounded" student athlete.

2.  Year round paid "club" coaches like working with your kids.  They like your money even more.  They don't have to worry about if a student athlete is going to be eligible from week to week.  They don't deal with the unique dynamic that exists between classmates.  Rarely do they care about the kid who talks trash on Twitter.  They take the "best" kids from each school and dangles the hottest gear and swag in front of them.  They are more focused on the product, rather than the process.

3.  He states that "development" is a current buzzword in sports.  I agree.  We also hear the phrase "next level" on a daily basis.  But if we slow down, take a step out of the grind and look at the "next level", we should be looking beyond college and the all mighty and mythical athletic scholarship.  Instead of focusing on developing our kids to excel at a specific sport, we need to be focused on developing them into productive citizens of society.  We need to focus on building people of tremendous character who understand commitment, trust, loyalty and integrity.  We need to focus on developing outstanding husbands and wives, fathers and mothers.

We have a teacher/coach in our school who was a Division 1 scholarship athlete.  He was a multi-sport athlete in high school.  We have a current senior who will be attending one of the best academic institutions in the country next fall.  He will be accepting a full athletic scholarship.  He is a current high school multi-sport athlete.

I say play as many sports as you can.  I say play them to the best of your ability.  I say have as much fun as you possibly can.