sport: Febraury 2010

Miller’s Boyhood Dreams Turn Into Hockey Reality

Holt High Bowlers Have Strikes To Spare “Bobby” Cooper Bath’s Knockout Teen Grady, Fleming Can’t Stop Coaching

February 2010 $3.00 U.S.

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SPORT CONTENTS

12 The punch bunch

Amanda “Bobby” Cooper Tops Women’s Olympic Boxing Hopefuls COVER Photograph USA Hockey, Inc.

BY steve grinczel

16 filling gaps with stars Non-Teaching Coaches Make The Difference

BY Ken glickman

22 Always miller time

First Family Of MSU Hockey Leaves Legacy

BY Jamie weir

24 Let the good times roll

18

Holt’s Jordan Foster And Alexis Mollitor Born To Bowl BY chuck klonke

Beautiful Dreamer Ryan Miller Stops Opponents’ Goals, Achieves His

BY Jamie weir

06

EB-SERVATION

08

SPORTS AUTHORITY

HOOP Springs Eternal!

March Magic Hoopfest To Return To Jenison In Spring 2010

10

SPECIAL OLYMPIC SALUTE

Taking The Plunge

28

NEWS + NOTES

Cold Water, Warm Hearts A Perfect Fit

By ANDREA NELSON

By BRENDAN DWYER

32

FINISH LINE

Tough Game To Win

State’s Economy Forcing Difficult Changes

By Jack Roberts

SPORT COMMUNITY

Contribute To SPORT Magazine

Send us your News + Notes, story ideas and Last Shot photographs. www.SportLansing.com

FEBRUARY 2010

3

Assists

SPORT CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ken Glickman Ken wears two hats in Lansing. He has been a music and theater critic, job-search columnist and feature writer for the Lansing State Journal for many years. He has also written for The Detroit News and National Business Employment Weekly. But Ken’s other hat is that of an executive search consultant for Gilbert Tweed International, identifying leadership talent for companies nationwide.

Jamie Weir Jamie is in her fifth year as the Director of Athletic Communications at Michigan State; she has spent most of her 20 years in college athletics working with hockey, including with MSU’s 2007 NCAA Championship team. A native East Coaster, she survived eight years working in Boston as a die-hard Yankee fan and believes Don Mattingly should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Steve Grinczel Steve was an award-winning sports reporter for Booth Newspapers of Michigan and mlive.com. He has covered Michigan State University football and basketball since 1986 and has written or co-authored two books on the Spartans. Grinczel began his soccer officiating career in 1975 and has more than 1,300 NCAA, high school and USSF games under his belt.

Andrea Nelson Andrea is a sophomore at Michigan State University, studying journalism with an emphasis in sports and public relations. She is a member of the Honors College and Tower Guard and has a true passion for sports. Andrea helped Frankfort High win back-toback state titles in girls basketball in 2005-06. Today, she helps produce “Ebling and You” on 1320 WILS.

SPORT, The Greater Lansing Sports Magazine is published monthly by NBB Publishing with offices at 1223 Turner St., Suite 300, Lansing, MI 48906. Postage is paid under USPS Permit #979.

Subscriptions: One copy of SPORT, The Greater Lansing Sports Magazine, is mailed complimentary to qualified business addresses in the Greater Lansing metropolitan area.

Residential, household, promotional, out-of-area and additional subscriptions are available for $18 per year, half of the shelf price of $3 per issue. Subscribe at: www.SportLansing.com Postmaster: Address changes should be sent to: SPORT Magazine, 1223 Turner St., Suite 300, Lansing, Michigan 48906.

4 FEBRUARY 2010

The Greater Lansing Sports Magazine

Volume #2 • Issue #5 February 2010

Publisher NBB Publishing Editor Jack Ebling Assistant EditorS Andy Flanagan Doug Warren Contributing Writers Brendan Dwyer Jack Ebling Ken Glickman Steve Grinczel Chuck Klonke Andrea Nelson Jennifer Orlando Jack Roberts Jamie Weir PhotographY Buffalo Sabres Kevin Fowler Greater Lansing Sports Authority Ceil Heller MHSAA MSU Athletic Communications Terri Shaver Special Olympics Michigan Area 8 J. Robin Sumbler USA Hockey, Inc. MAGAZINE Design & LAYOUT Traction Printing Millbrook Printing, Co. Mailer Aldinger’s, Inc. Editorial Office 1223 Turner St., Suite 300 Lansing, Michigan 48906 (517) 455-7810 www.SportLansing.com Copyright © 2010 NBB Publishing.

All rights reserved.

SPORT EB-SERVATION

Youth Shall Be Served There’s More Than One Way To Make These Pages

BY JACK EBLING

They’re the three most-common questions we hear – aside from “When can I get the next magazine?”

• “Where can I get a copy of the Chris Robinson (or Top 150 Athletes) issue?”

• “Have you thought of doing a story on (fill in the blank)? You really should.”

• “I’d love to write a story (or take photos) for SPORT. How can I do that?”

All three have easy answers – perhaps not exactly what people want to hear, but simple explanations in the realm of the possible.

When a second-year publication is reaching an estimated 95,000 people each month, it’s clearly filling a need.

That was our goal. And we’ve moved beyond diapers.

But we’re still going to have a few growing pains. How many depends on how many times we hear those three questions.

If you’re looking for a copy of a specific issue – and no, I don’t have a dozen copies of the Cha-Cha Tucker issue in the trunk of my car – there are several ways to get one.

That is, besides making an appointment with your doctor, dentist, lawyer, accountant, hair stylist or auto repair shop and sitting in the lobby, reading SPORT for an hour.

First, the hard way.

You can try to snag a copy at Schuler

Books, Barnes and Noble, Everybody Reads or Playmakers.

Quantities are limited, so don’t dawdle.

The cost is $3 per copy.

Next, the safe way.

You can call Diane at 517-455-7810 to reserve as many copies as you need, supply permitting, then stop by our office at 1223 Turner St. in Old Town to pick them up. Again, they’re $3 each.

Finally, the smart way.

If you like what you see – and most of you do, based on our feedback – chances are good you’ll like the next issues, too. In that case, why not save yourself some money and subscribe for the next 12 months?

Instead of wondering where to go when supplies run out, let the magazine come to you – at half-price.

All you have to do is go to www.sportlansing.com and register. Or if you’re technologically challenged, you can call Diane and sign up that way. The cost is a ridiculous $18 a year. That’s $1.50 an issue – and I guarantee it costs more than that to prepare and print it.

If you have an idea for a great SPORT story, we’d love to hear it – again, at www. sportlansing.com. And believe me, we’ve heard a lot of them.

At least a third of the stories we’ve run have come from tips – either from people we’ve known, from dedicated readers or from friends or family on the street.

The stories on teen boxer Amanda “Bobby Cooper” and the Holt High bowlers this month are perfect examples of that.

Jack Ebling SPORT EDITOR

Jack has covered sports and much more as a writer and broadcaster in Mid-Michigan since 1978. A three-time Michigan Sportswriter of the Year, he was a 2006 inductee into the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame. He has written five books–four on Michigan State and one on the Detroit Tigers– and has contributed more than 125 pieces for national publications. The former English teacher and coach spent nearly a quarter-century as a beat writer and columnist for the Lansing State Journal and won 21 major writing awards. He became a sports radio host in 2002 and branched into news talk in 2006. Currently, he hosts “Ebling and You” weekday afternoons and co-hosts “The Jack and Tom Show” Saturdays on 1320 WILS in Lansing. A two-time graduate of MSU, he has lived in the area for 36 years and has helped to raise two remarkable young adults.

6 FEBRUARY 2010

We’re not smart enough to know what’s happening in every nook and cranny of the Greater Lansing community. That’s where you come in.

Those suggestions usually fall into three categories and draw the following reactions: “Wow! That’s great! Why didn’t we think of that?” – in which case the piece magically appears in one of the next few issues.

“Hmmm...interesting – but beaten to death (or not enough for a full-blown feature).” That means it’s more of a News + Notes candidate – more on that in a minute.

Or “K, this is SPORT, The Greater Lansing Sports Magazine, not Time, Playboy or Popular Mechanics.” Thus, the swimsuit issue won’t be arriving.

Besides, we came as close to that level of pro-and-con feedback as we’d like with the Top 150 issue. We’ll print some of those e-mails soon.

Beginning next month, we’ll also be printing more News + Notes submissions, with Dan Kilbridge joining Jennifer Orlando in coordinating that compilation.

If you know of a notable achievement and would like to submit that, you know the way – www.sportlansing.com. We’ll pick the best items we see each month and give them another salute.

We’ve assembled an outstanding team of freelance writers and photographers over the past 18 months. Of course, if Frank Deford and Rick Reilly have time on their hands, we’d talk to them, too.

Occasionally, bordering on rarely, we’ll consider an unsolicited manuscript. But we’re much more likely to use a random photograph. In fact, our Last Shot feature is designed for just that – a way to include reader contributions with high-quality, high-resolution images.

What we DO need to do, and we’ll pursue this aggressively, is to establish a network or bureau of high school correspondents.

Ideally, and there has been some confusion here, each school would have at least one student who relays the noteworthy news from a school league or club.

That’s news items, not feature stories.

We want basic reporting – no more than 50 words – on the nuts and bolts of an area achievement.

Those student contributors’ names will be printed. They’ll be professionally published. And we’ll work with them to see where that leads.

Chances are, it’ll lead to more questions. The only bad ones are the ones that aren’t asked.

That’s why we always appreciate, “I have an idea! Is there any way...?”

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GREATER LANSING SPORTS AUTHORITY

HOOP Springs Eternal!

March Magic Hoopfest To Return To Jenison In Spring 2010

By BrEndAn Dwyer

March Magic Hoopfest is proudly supported by the following sponsors: • CATA • Crunchy’s • DeWitt Fence Company • East Lansing Marriott at University Place • Red Hacker Basketball • Traction • Underground Printing

8 FEBRUARY 2010

Interactive Opportunity March Magic Hoopfest visitors can try their hand at broadcasting or participate in all kinds of basketball-related games and experiences.

Rainbow Shot

Slam Dunk

MHSAA HALL OF HISTORY

But there are others. Things like the return of favorite local events can get us peeking ahead in the calendar and looking forward to better days to come. Events just like the March Magic Hoopfest. Now in its second great year, the March Magic Hoopfest is an interactive fan fest held at East Lansing’s Jenison Field House, in conjunction with the MHSAA State Basketball Tournament. As an added bonus this year, the Greater Lansing community will be treated to two full weekends of March Magic Hoopfest, as the event is now going to take place on the weekend of the Girls tournament (March 18-20) as well as the Boys (March 25-27.)

This interactive fan fest will fill the Jenison Field House with all kinds of fun activities all about the great game of basketball. Participants are encouraged to shoot, pass, dunk and dribble to their heart’s content. The best part is your 2010 MHSAA game ticket gets you in for free.

Others pay just $2. For more information visit www.marchmagichoopfest.com.

Photography GREATER LANSING SPORTS AUTHORITY

Melting snow, the song of birds and the hopeful buds of trees and flowers are welcome signs of spring.

3 Point Challenge

Driveway Knockout

MARCH MAGIC HOOPFEST 3-Point Challenge

Around the World

Just like the NBA! This 3-point challenge tests contestants’ shooting skills from behind the arc. See if you can sink 12 shots in 30 seconds! The top point totals will be posted each day.

This is a playground classic! Who can get around the world in the fewest shots? First one back home is the winner. Hurry before your passport expires!

Rainbow Shot

Are you Army Strong? Take your best shot and climb 30 feet to get to the top! Up to five climbers at a time can take on the wall, race your friends and rise to the challenge!

Can you sink a long-distance, game-winning buzzer-beater? Here’s your chance!

Free-Throw Challenge

U.S. Army Climbing Wall

MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo shoots 100 foul shots a day and rarely misses. Step up to the line and see how many you can sink in a row. The top streaks are recorded on the leader board.

Slam Dunk

Driveway Knockout

Can you dish the rock like Earvin “Magic” Johnson? Make your passes through various size holes in the target. The points get higher as the holes get smaller. Highest total points is the winner!

Are you as fast as lightning? If so, you’re good as gold. But if the player behind you makes it first, “Leave the game,” you will be told!

Everyone loves to see a great dunk. Here’s your chance to fly! Three dunks per turn.

Pass for Points

Kidz Zone Games

WILX Be the Dean

Kids Zone

Lansing Parks & Rec Obstacle Course

Fest-ive Setting Jenison Field House will be home to the second March Magic Hoopfest during the boys and girls state championships.

Pop-A-Shot

ENTRANCE TO HOOPFEST

Around the World

U.S. Army Climbing Wall

Here’s a place for our future stars to play.

Stay as long as you want! The only requirement is to have fun!

Concessions

Free Throw Challenge

Pass For Points

Thursday-Friday MARCH 18-19. . . . . . 11AM-7PM Saturday MARCH 20 . . . . . . . . 10AM-6PM Thursday-Friday MARCH 25-26. . . . . . 11AM-8PM Saturday MARCH 27 . . . . . . . . 10AM-8PM

FEBRUARY 2010

9

SPORT SPECIAL OLYMPIC SALUTE

Taking The Plunge Cold Water, Warm Hearts A Perfect Fit

By ANDREA NELSON

Chilly Reception Detroit Lions quarterback and former MSU standout Drew Stanton understands the importance of staying cool.

From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to a group of margarita glasses, the participants’ costumes vary as much as their ages. From children as young as age 6 to others who are well into their 50s, this year’s Polar Plunge raised just over $60,000 for Ingham and Eaton County Special Olympians.

The sixth-annual plunge took place January 24 at Eagle Eye Golf Course in East Lansing. Starting with 25 people, the fund-raiser has grown to 329 participants. Area 8 Special Olympics Coordinator Anne Goudie said entrants raise a minimum of $50 to participate. There is also a post-plunge party available for jumpers and spectators who want to support the cause without plunging.

The fund-raiser features several contests.

Prizes are awarded for best individual and

group costumes as well as for individuals and groups who raise the most money.

Watching friends and strangers jump into frigid cold wearing ridiculous costumes that attracts plenty of spectators.

“It’s just a lot of fun,” Goudie said. “It’s just crazy enough, and it’s a really fun day. We get as many spectators as we do plungers. This year, we had well over 300 spectators as well.”

Being a spectator was never an option for six-year plunger Jeff Cole. His daughter participates in Special Olympics. And he said his favorite part is seeing everyone dressed in goofy costumes.

“Oh, I dress up every year,” Cole said.

“This year I was a pirate in drag. Last year I was a French maid. I took second place

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Photography chris holmes

Who says costumes are only for Halloween? Participants in Lansing’s Polar Plunge don’t seem to think so.

Kind Of A Drag Six-year Polar Plunge veteran Jeff Cole puts a new spin on pirate apparel in this year’s event.

last year. And I was cupid one year, Santa Claus, a cheerleader.”

Cole said he and his brother-in-law dressed as hula dancers for the first Polar Plunge and won first place in the costume contest, grass skirts and all.

According to Goudie, this year’s plunge

featured more men dressed in drag than she has ever seen before. But Paul Stewart, manager of Crunchy’s in East Lansing, said his group decided to go formal for the 2010 event. They bought inexpensive suits for their prom theme and dressed to impress.

It was a little different from Crunchy’s “Breakfast of Champions” idea last year.

Each member dressed as a cereal character, featuring Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops and Cinnamon Toast Crunch’s Chef Wendell.

Whether they were prom dates or cereals, Crunchy’s was successful in raising the most money as a group for both years.

“It’s a great cause,” Stewart said. “I think the Special Olympics touches pretty much every family. It’s a very noble foundation.

They do a great thing for the athletes involved in these competitions through camaraderie and just the spirit of competition in general.

It’s such an invigorating organization that almost anybody can stand behind.”

Stewart said they initially joined the plunge as part of the Responsible Hospitality Council. The RHC is an organization consisting of many East Lansing restaurants and bars. They decided to form a competition between members of RHC to see who could raise the most money. This year Crunchy’s raised just over $10,000.

The key to Crunchy’s success? Stewart

says he asks each customer for a dollar donation and sees first-hand how much of a difference one dollar can make.

“I really push it quite hard,” Stewart said.

“I make it a point to speak to the customers.

All I ask for is a dollar donation. If they feel like giving more than that, it’s completely up to them. We usually get about 90-99 percent of the people in here to donate a dollar.”

“We’re doing something crazy for a good cause,” - Paul Stewart, Crunchy’s Manager East Lansing

But Stewart’s favorite part of the Polar Plunge is being able to raise money for the Special Olympics by doing something as entertaining as throwing his body into a body of numbing water.

“It’s just knowing we’re doing something crazy, but we’re doing something crazy for a good cause,” Stewart said. “We kind of enjoy the fact that people call us crazy for doing it.

But more than that, it’s just because it’s for such a great cause. And for the amount of money we continually raise for this, that just fuels us a little bit more and we just know we’re doing a good thing by being nuts.”

FEBRUARY 2010

11

The Pu Bunch

Amanda “Bobby” Cooper Tops Women’s Olympic Boxing Hopefuls BY steve grinczel

12 FEBRUARY 2010

Paying The Price Amanda “Bobby” Cooper trains under the watchful eye of veteran coach Bob DeSander.

Of all the best athletes in all the different sports at all the high schools in America, a precious few can say they have a realistic shot at competing in the Olympics.

nch

One of them just might be the 18-year-old decked out in the Sarah Palin-style fashion eyeglasses, the one sparring in the compact boxing ring occupying the two-stall garage which shares a pole barn with a deer-processing company just south of St. Johns.

Inside the four blood-red walls enclosing the 24-by-24 gym, Amanda “Bobby” Cooper is snapping off jabs and crosses that poppop-pop off the hand pads worn by her coach, Bob DeSander. Outside of the ring, you might figure the 5-foot-3, 120-pound Cooper to be the captain of the Bath High School cheerleading squad, although you’d be wrong. You might, however, buy the fact that she plays catcher, among other positions, on the Fighting Bees softball team.

But boxing?

“It is unique, and everybody’s always interested in it,” Cooper said. “When I come to school on Monday, my teachers and friends ask how I did. And the guys are all like, `It’s the tough girl, don’t mess with her.’ I really don’t ever want to be the big, bulked-up girl — I want to be a girly-girl.

“But it’s cool being the girl in school who’s a boxer.”

Femininity and pugilistic ferocity would appear to be mutually exclusive traits until you see the DVD of Cooper pummeling the best female fighter the University of Michigan’s boxing club had to throw at her recently. Cooper caused the referee to stop the fight just one minute and 10 seconds into the first round.

Keeping with the incongruity theme, it’s also hard to fathom an NBC camera crew shooting exteriors of the Clinton County Boxing Club, with its “Budweiser Welcome Hunters” sign and disheveled blue tarp

guarding the garage doors against the wind, for an up-close-and-personal feature from the 2012 Olympics in London.

But then you take “the factors” into account and you start to think, “Hmmm, why not Cooper or, for that matter, 19-yearold Lansing Community College sophomore Lindsey Soderberg?”

Then you consider the odds of one Olympian, let alone two, coming from such a place.

“Overwhelming” would be putting it mildly.

And then, you come back to the factors.

First off, Cooper and Soderberg have the advantage of demand over supply – women’s boxing will be an Olympic sport for the first time in two years. While female participation in the sport is growing, competition for a spot on the U.S. National Team is at a considerably more reasonable ratio than for the seemingly billions of little-girl gymnasts practicing their waves from the medals stand.

Boxing had been the only Olympic event which didn’t include female competitors.

Although there will only be three test weight classes – flyweight, lightweight and middleweight – for the women, a talented, highly motivated boxer would seem to have a better chance of making the team than a comparably accomplished swimmer, diver, track and field athlete, soccer player, basketball player or even archer.

Secondly, while Cooper only began training in earnest four months ago, she’s been around boxing all of her life. Her dad, Bob, fought in the Golden Gloves and was 3-0 as a Marine.

Cooper’s older sisters, Amy and Amber, also boxed. Both earned citizenship scholarships in part because of boxing, and Amy once went to the senior prom with two black eyes from her bout the previous night.

FEBRUARY 2010

13

The Punch Bunch

“When I was 13, they both did it and at first I didn’t want to because it was like their sport,” said Cooper, who gave up basketball this season. “But then I started getting into it. I like team sports, but I also like that this is me. If I do bad it’s my fault, and if I do good it’s a confidence-booster.”

And lest you think the 30-year-old Clinton County Boxing Club is too far off the beaten path or DeSander too small-time to produce a world-class female fighter, think again. He trained Tyler Lord-Wilder of Perry in this gym. And she’s a three-time light heavyweight Ringside World Champion, a multiple national champ and two-time Pan American Games gold medalist. DeSander’s protégé also won a bronze at the 2005 Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) World Championships.

Finally, DeSander knows what it takes to produce an Olympian. He was a 178pound Olympic hopeful training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center at Northern Michigan University in Marquette in the early 1990s, but after graduating got on with the rest of his life instead of trying to qualify for Barcelona.

14 FEBRUARY 2010

with her male and female club-mates every night after school.

“It’s my senior year and I do feel like I’m missing out on some things,” Cooper said.

“I can’t go to big basketball games with my friends and all that stuff, but there really isn’t anything I don’t like about it. Everything I learn will be useful in the future, and not just fighting techniques. It’s something I’ll carry forever and I hope to do it for a long time.

“It’s a hard goal to make it to the Olympics I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, but it’s always in the back of my mind, and they say I’ve got the skill and all the qualities for it. It would be awesome if I made it, but I’ve got a lot of training, a lot of work, a lot of fights and a lot of heart ahead of me. Patience is what I need.”

Soderberg charged head-first into the sport seven months ago and makes the lengthy commute north all the way from her home in Holt on a daily basis.

“I love it,” Soderberg said. “I think we get a lot more attention than the guys do and the crowd cheers for you a lot and that pumps you up. Not a lot of girls do it, so when you say you’re a girl boxer, people ask you a lot of questions. That’s pretty cool.

“I just got into it to see what it’s like. I didn’t even know if I would like it. I’m not sure where it’s going to take me. Maybe I could go for the Olympics, but I’m not sure.

We’ll see how far I get. There aren’t that many girls that box, but there are some good ones out there training hard and that makes me train harder. I feel like I can do it, but it’s going to take a lot of work.”

Another factor to consider is that Michigan and California are regarded as the two strongest states for producing female fighters, and Cooper has already soundly defeated the No.1-ranked boxer in the state in Traverse City.

Photography J. ROBIN SUMBLER

Learning The Ropes Cooper and teammate Lindsey Soderberg are studying the art of selfdefense while they pursue Olympic dreams.

“They work a lot harder than guys; you get a lot more out of them,” DeSander said of female fighters in general and Cooper and Soderberg in particular. “Lindsey and Bobby have already trained with a world champion.

I believe in these two. “(Lord-Wilder) had a big heart that took her a long ways, but she doesn’t like to run like these girls do. The extra effort is what makes an Olympian. You’ve got to want to train and focus. I can see them representing the United States extremely well. Bobby has a lot more experience than Lindsey does, so she probably has more potential at this point.”

USA Boxing will hold its National Championship in Colorado Springs to select a team on July 12-17. The champion in each weight class will get a $1,000 monthly stipend to train, and the runners-up get $500 each.

After a series of box-offs and international competitions, the Olympic trials will be held, most likely in the summer of 2011, to select the final three. Cooper is training as a lightweight (125 pounds), and Soderberg as a welterweight (141).

While time already seems short, Bob Cooper said a ton of work is obstructing the view down the road that leads to London.

“She hasn’t wrapped her head around it yet,” he said of his daughter. “It may be a crazy lofty goal, but anything’s possible. She has to keep winning, and we’ll see how it plays out, but she hasn’t put in the work or made the commitment to get there yet.

You can say her goal is the Olympics, but we know where she is with only four months training — she’s two years away from being ready in my mind.”

The Olympics aside, Bob Cooper’s daughter will at the very least learn about respect, discipline, toughness and commitment from boxing. An honors student, she works out

Power In Pink Cooper spars in preparation for the Clinton County Boxing Club Show on Feb. 27.

Knockout Potential Cooper pounds the heavy bag in preparation for a benefit show at Bath High.

“She made it look easy,” DeSander said.

“The other coach was very intimidating and tried to get in Bobby’s mind, but she wasn’t going to settle for second.”

“She’s powerful for 120,” her father added. “She’s got uncanny hand speed and her strength is two weight classes up from what she is. She hits like a 145- or 150-pounder.”

DeSander’s son Hunter, who just finished absorbing body blows – he was wearing a chest protector – compares Cooper’s defensive style to a cross between that of the legendary Jack Johnson and Floyd Mayweather.

“She goes for a kind of shoulder roll and hand up, and she hits pretty hard,” Hunter said. “I can feel it through the padding. She

hits probably as hard as a guy. She has a lot of heart for someone that size.”

Cooper and Soderberg will be put through the paces locally on Feb. 27 at the Clinton County Boxing Club Show, which is sanctioned by USA Boxing, at the Bath High gymnasium. More than 500 tickets have already been sold for the 6 p.m. event and organizers are hoping for 1,400 spectators.

Proceeds will benefit the Bath High softball team and the Clinton County Boxing Club, which doesn’t charge its boxers a membership fee. There will be approximately 18 fights without intermission, and the female fighters “bring an energy the guys don’t seem to have and are always a crowd favorite,” says Bob. “When we go to the shows, the guys will say, `The chicks are fighting, the chicks are fighting!’ “ Cooper said. “They get really excited for the girls, and the girls attract a lot of people.”

Cooper will arrive as if she’s meeting her date at the big dance.

“When I meet people and say I’m a boxer, they’re really shocked,” she said. “When I go to shows I always dress up and wear high heels and look like a girl. Everyone probably thinks I’m going to do really bad, so then I have to back it up.”

SPORT QUICK HIT

Filling Gaps With Stars Non-Teaching Coaches Make The Difference

If you look behind 100 head of cattle on a farm north of Grand Ledge, you’ll see Doug Fleming. He’s the one with the big, black rubber boots and overalls, shoveling manure, setting up the feed or tending the herd.

Unless, of course, it’s basketball season.

Then, you’ll find him at East Lansing High, turning teenage boys into a team.

From November to March, Fleming spends about 30 hours per week coaching the East Lansing varsity.

Did that put his job hopes at a disadvantage? It didn’t matter, Grady said. It was that important for him to coach lacrosse.

And he did land a great job eventually.

Grady became a franchise consultant for Two Men And A Truck.

Holy Cow East Lansing boys basketball coach Doug Fleming shifts from his cattle farm to the basketball court each afternoon.

Hmmm…which one is his full-time job?

Recently, Shawn Grady was looking for a new position. He had sold his successful communications company and was interviewing with employers throughout Lansing, awaiting his next opportunity.

Grady wanted to land a great job. But he always told the interviewer he had to leave the office at 3:30 p.m. He had to get to Okemos High, where he serves as the varsity lacrosse coach.

16 FEBRUARY 2010

Fleming and Grady are two examples of a growing trend – high school coaches who have full-time jobs in other professions.

They take off their business suits or rubber boots in the middle of the afternoon to pursue their passion: coaching kids.

Being a physical education teacher is a whole lot different than coaching, said Keith Froelich, athletic director at Okemos.

But as the number of teams has grown, so has the need for coaches.

Okemos has 26 sports, 70 teams and 100 coaches, only 60 of whom are teachers.

Froelich would like to have a certification process for non-staff coaches. Currently, Michigan doesn’t have one.

But the need for coaches has produced golden opportunities for people who love sports and love coaching, yet want to keep their day jobs.

When Grady was growing up in Birmingham, a few miles north of Detroit, he played all sports but concentrated on football, baseball and hockey.

When he went to Michigan State, Grady met some guys from New Jersey who wanted to form a lacrosse team. In his sophomore year, he made that team as an attack forward.

“It’s the greatest thing I ever did,” said the ever-optimistic Grady. “Once you play the game, it gets in your blood.”

When he graduated from MSU and entered the business world, Grady worked for AT&T in Chicago.

“I joined an adult lacrosse team there and had 25 instant friends,” Grady said.

His job brought him back to Lansing in 1991. Ten years later, he was approached by someone, again from New Jersey, who wanted to start a lacrosse team for seventhand eighth-graders in Okemos.

“I told him that I would help out when I could,” Grady said. “But I was hooked.”

In 2001 he was approached to begin a high school team. Again, the lacrosse addict said he would do it.

Froelich said non-staff coaches make between $2,000-7,000 per year – a pittance compared to a part-time job.

While all student-athletes must pay an athletic fee in Okemos, each lacrosse player shares in the complete funding of the program. Grady doesn’t draw a salary. And even with a $725,000 sports budget, Froelich said the lacrosse team wouldn’t exist without student fees and volunteer coaching.

Grady also coached youth soccer in Okemos for 10 years. But he thinks of himself as an evangelist for lacrosse.

“I just love to do it,” Grady said. “And once my kids learn the game of lacrosse, they love it like I do.”

Photography KEVIN FOWLER

BY KEN GLICKMAN

Like most great coaches, Grady feels there is more to coaching than the game.

“I try to build character,” he said. “That’s as important as teaching the game. For instance, our practices begin at 4:30. If a kid isn’t there exactly on time, he doesn’t play in the game.

Half the game is showing up on time.”

During that practice time, despite the invention and intervention of the cell phone, Grady tells business associates he isn’t available between 4:30 and 6 p.m.

“I have to be there for the kids,” he said.

Grady believes he can teach critical life lessons to his team and begins each practice by talking about perseverance, teamwork and cooperation.

“I love coaching,” said Grady, the 2009 Michigan Lacrosse Coach of the Year. “I meet fine young men and try to keep them on the straight-and-narrow. No drugs or alcohol.

We have great kids who are great leaders.”

At age 51, Grady wants his legacy to be as a coach, not as a businessman.

“My life would have a huge void without coaching,” he said. “I look forward to preseason games more than any kid. And I sit up at night planning practices.”

Though Fleming’s story is a bit different than Grady’s, the passion for the sport, the game and the kids is the same.

Fleming was born on a dairy farm near Gaylord. His father was an excellent football player. But despite that talent, he stayed on the farm where his children were raised.

At Northern Michigan, where a young Tom Izzo was the assistant basketball coach, Fleming was a walk-on player for two years.

Eventually, he earned a scholarship.

“It made me a better coach to be a walk-on,” he said. “It made me fight just to compete for the team.”

Fleming received a degree in education and went to work for the Michigan Farm Bureau in field operations. After a series of promotions, he moved to Lansing in 1985 and began another career in coaching.

“Coaching was always in the game plan for me, but I loved farming, too,” Fleming said. “When the position with the Farm Bureau opened, I jumped at it.”

From 1988-90, Fleming was the girls varsity coach at Lansing Sexton. When his skills and his reputation grew, Lansing Catholic hired him to 1992 to coach the junior varsity boys, then the varsity.

Fleming was promoted to be the Director of Field Operations for Michigan in 1998 and had to quit coaching because of the demands of his job.

“Without coaching, I began to understand how important it was to me,” Fleming said.

“I was a lost soul without it.”

Lacrosse Addiction Two Men and a Truck’s Shawn Grady can’t stay away from coaching and the sport he loves.

After almost twenty years with Michigan Farm Bureau, he finally resigned from a high-powered day job.

“I realized that I really wanted to coach more,” Fleming said. “That’s where my passion was.”

A couple of important things happened quickly. He was sitting at a basketball game when Lansing Community College men’s coach Mike Ingram spied him in the bleachers and asked, half jokingly, “When are you going back to coaching?”

That was all he needed to hear. In 2003, Fleming was the Stars’ assistant coach under Ingram. One year later, he was chosen to run the program at East Lansing.

Fleming also bought a farm with other partners, began raising beef cattle and worked in property management. After 20 years of talking with customers and legislators, the farm boy was back on the farm.

Jamie Gent, the athletic director at Haslett, knows that it takes outside coaches like Fleming to make a large department operate.

He also knows the potential problems.

“Training the non-degreed coaches that this is educational athletics is hard to get across,” Gent said. “It’s not just about

winning. And that’s a learning process for everyone. It’s a delicate balance.”

Hiring non-staff coaches at Haslett and other schools is a complex process. Once on the job, they are sent to clinics and constantly trained. But Gent said keeping coaches for more than five years is a challenge.

“Coaching is difficult and very time-consuming,” Gent said. “When their families are young, coaches feel pressure to be at home.”

Since outside coaches only see their team on the practice field, not during the school day, it is more difficult for them to build close, trusting relationships with the players, Gent admitted.

Froelich said, in a perfect world, he would like to see all coaches be teachers. But he knows that’s impossible with so many sports being offered at some high schools.

And that’s perfect for Fleming, who loves the competition and seeing kids achieve their goals.

“For me, sports is about life,” Fleming said. “For instance, losing a game is like losing a job. I love the mentoring part of coaching and can’t forget the look on my players’ faces when they finish a game. It’s a greatest feeling in the world.”

FEBRUARY 2010

17

Photography buffalo sabres, usa hockey, inc.

Beautiful Dreamer Ryan Miller Stops Opponents’ Goals, Achieves His

BY JAMIE WEIR

18 FEBRUARY 2010

In 1987, 7-year-old Ryan Miller informed his father that his plans included playing hockey at Michigan State, starring in the NHL, then building models for NASA. Fast forward 23 years, and the prophetic youngster can place a checkmark next to the first two. He has established himself among the best goaltenders ever to play the game.

So, Houston, you may have a problem.

Miller has made some other plans as the years have passed, a few things to strive for until his post-hockey career. His evolving NHL dreams include a Stanley Cup and Olympic Gold. And it’s not just his dream any more. It’s the dream and hope of hockeycrazed Buffalo and a patriotic nation.

Miller may feel that pressure, but he focuses inward on what he needs to do to accomplish the goals put out before him.

“I pretty much ignore everybody,” he said with a laugh. “The media wants to build a story around something that I just have to build into the job. I’m going about my business and trying to be as focused as I can be.”

His plan is to play in 85 to 100 games – the regular-season, the Olympics and a long playoff run. His summer regimen focused on core muscles and range of motion, tailored to allow him to handle the rigors of a schedule with no mercy. Through Jan. 31, Miller boasted an NHL-best .935 saves percentage. His 2.03 goalsagainst-average ranked second in the league.

And his Sabres were first in their division.

Miller’s successes are by design, not by accident, his father, Dean, agreed.

“He has built a support structure around him of people he calls his ‘pit crew’ – all the pieces of the puzzle that need to be put together to make sure he performs at a high level,” Dean said. “Psychologically, physically, nutrition, his equipment – all those components.”

That attention to detail has allowed Miller to put together a career year. Not only is he a Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) candidate, he’s the lynchpin to the USA’s hope for a medal. When many of his teammates and the rest of the league will view a two-week break as a chance to recharge for the rigors of a condensed schedule when league play resumes, Milller’s “break” will consist of up to seven games in 12 days and more than 5,500 travel miles for a body which will have already logged 50 games. But those who know him best insist that Miller will openly embrace the challenges before him.

“I think he’s well aware of the situation,” said his younger brother, Drew, a Red Wings forward. “I think he’s just excited for the whole experience. I don’t think he feels he needs to take the whole team on his shoulders. I think he knows he has good players on his team and they have a chance to win a gold medal if they all work together.”

Patriotic Pride Ryan Miller will represent his community and his country in goal for Team USA in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

FEBRUARY 2010

19

The Puck Stops Here Miller will try to join Olympic gold-medal netminders Jack McCartan and Jim Craig as heroes of Winter Olympic upsets for Team USA. When reminded of his childhood declaration of his college, NHL and NASA plans, Miller laughed.

“Pretty ambitious, eh?” he said.

Perhaps, but certain things in his lineage are inherent. His drive, ambition and analytical nature have helped develop the rest. But this is more than a local-boymakes-good story. Miller is more than an

Tough Act To Follow Miller set new standards for MSU and college goaltenders.

20 FEBRUARY 2010

elite athlete excelling at his sport’s highest levels. He has become one of the most thoughtful, well-respected and well-spoken advocates of his game. He is a differencemaker on the ice, in the locker room and in the community.

When Miller embraced his family’s legacy, the love of the game flowed through his body as a lifeblood. His father started the second generation of Millers to skate at MSU. And Ryan and Drew fetched water bottles and tape for their cousins: Kevin, Kelly, and Kip - Spartan stars in late 1980s, one of the program’s most successful eras.

Miller left East Lansing to play junior hockey in Sault Ste. Marie before returning home to MSU, opting to defer his enrollment until a year after his high school graduation. The Spartans had a sophomore goaltender, Joe Blackburn, who helped the Spartans reach the Frozen Four and earned All-America honors.

Miller joined the program in the fall of 1999. Though he and Blackburn platooned throughout the regular season, it was the freshman who got the nod for the playoff run – and he never looked back. In three varsity seasons, Miller helped MSU to two CCHA regular-season and tournament titles and three NCAA Tournaments, posting some of the gaudiest stats ever recorded.

He was a two-time All-American, a threetime All-CCHA selection and a two-time CCHA tournament MVP. Miller carried the

Spartans to three NCAA regional finals, including the 2001 Frozen Four. He won the Hobey Baker Award that year, posting a 1.32 GAA, a .950 saves percentage and a 31-5-4 overall record, numbers that remain among the NCAA’s best.

Miller opted to forgo his senior season to join the Buffalo organization, the franchise which made him fifth-round pick in 1999.

“I waited a year to come to college and played three years, so I was essentially a senior in the eyes of those in professional ranks,” Miller said. “At a certain point, you have to make that transition or you will miss out on that window – the time when you need to start learning how to play the pro game.”

Miller reported to the Sabres’ AHL team in Rochester, where he impressed during his call-ups to the Sabres and posted a 2.33 GAA with the Amerks from 2002-05. During the NHL lockout year, when he likely would have been a full-time NHL’er, Miller won the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Award as the AHL’s top goaltender and was its first 40-game winner since Gerry Cheevers in 1964-65.

“I looked at it as an opportunity,” Miller said. “No one was playing in the NHL. I had a chance to build my game and bypass two goalies who were kind of standing in my way in Buffalo. I took advantage of it and showed that I could command an entire season.”

The 2005-06 season was his first as a fulltime NHL’er, and he appeared in 48 games.

When Miller broke his thumb in November, it likely cost him a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the Torino Games. But he treated the NHL’s Olympic break as a respite from hockey and got just enough rest to recharge for a long playoff run.

Miller helped the Sabres reach Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Finals that spring.

The Sabres nearly equaled that feat a year later, falling in the Eastern Semifinals. After changes in the organization led to an adjustment period and two years without playoff appearances, there’s renewed enthusiasm in the city, as the team’s on-ice success has mirrored the will of their goaltender.

Part of Miller’s growth was obvious in the locker room. The Sabres went from a team with seasoned veterans to a team in transition, then finally to a team with promising young talent and a great shot at the playoffs. Miller’s presence now is one of a veteran, his voice one of experience and his character one that is the conscience of the team’s dressing room.

“If there is a situation with the Buffalo Sabres, whether it is on the ice or off, we go to Ryan for his opinion,” said longtime Buffalo News beat writer Mike Harrington. “His ability to not only focus on his job, but the

Photography usa hockey, Inc., msu athletic communications

Beautiful Dreamer

entire team, is really remarkable. He understands the bigger picture – things like development of equipment, rules and the player’s union. He’s always thinking in terms of what is best for the greater good of hockey, not just his own career or position.”

He also thinks about things away from the rink. Miller takes time to maintain his friendships and the closeness with family.

He indulges his passions for art, photography and music. And he has established the Steadfast Foundation, assisting those afflicted and affected by cancer, especially childhood forms of the disease.

When his cousin, Matt Schoals, fought a valiant battle with leukemia. Miller had the back of his mask painted with a picture of a bulldog and the words “Matt Man” to show support of his cousin’s fight. The image is still there, despite Matt losing a courageous fight.

The bulldog, however, now wears a halo.

Miller recently unveiled his new mask for the Olympics, where he wore jersey 39 – the same number he had while patrolling the Michigan State crease. The helmet is an artistic interpretation of Miller’s approach, combined with patriotic and Olympic symbols. The right side depicts a muscular, tattooed Uncle Sam holding an Olympic torch

in one hand and rolling up his sleeve to go to work with the other. The left side depicts a bald eagle. The front is a combination of Olympic rings and the Vancouver Olympics logo. And there are small clovers on each side – a nod to “Miracle on Ice” netminder Jim Craig, whose only mask markings were two small clovers under his eyes.

The Olympics have a habit of making household names of successful athletes and bestowing legend status on those who excel – the 1980 “Miracle” team, Mary Lou Retton, Michael Phelps, etc. If Miller helps the U.S. to a medal in Vancouver, his profile as an NHL star will rise. And should that medal be gold, he would catapult to hero status. Either way, he won’t bask in the recognition. After all, there will still be 25 regular-season games and a post-season to attend to in Buffalo.

Miller has made no bold proclamations for Olympic or Stanley Cup success, as he did as a 7-year old. They are no less his dreams, but he approaches them as processes – looking for small ways to improve and give his team a chance to win. If he takes care of business, success will come. And if he works harder and pays attention to the smallest details, he’ll establish an edge.

Best In The Land Miller holds the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, presented to college hockey’s top performer.

In other words, he’s rolling up his sleeves like a Miller and going to work. Just not for NASA anytime soon – sorry, Houston.

SPORT QUICK HIT

Always Miller Time First Family Of MSU Hockey Leaves Legacy

BY Jamie weir

The Miller family is well known in hockey circles, as well it should be. It has skated circles around virtually every clan at every level.

Legacies in the game aren’t that uncommon.

The NHL alone has had the six Sutter brothers, the Hulls (Bobby, brother Dennis and son Brett) and currently the Staal brothers and Sedin twins. But in terms of sheer numbers, no family can match the Millers in terms of impact on a great college program and a grateful community.

Ten members of the family have played hockey for Michigan State over six decades, starting with brothers Elwood (“Butch”) and Lyle. They came to East Lansing from Regina, Saskatchewan, shortly after the sport was re-established nationally postWorld War II.

“Butch, came down to Michigan State in 1956, and it just seemed like I was going to follow him,” Lyle remembered. “That’s what happened in 1960. I rode the bus for two days.”

Once he arrived, he was just another prospect in Amo Bessone’s unproven program.

It wasn’t until decades later that the Miller name meant “future pro.”

“Coming here so young, I wasn’t heavily recruited,” Lyle said. “I came here, and that was it. I don’t think Amo even saw my brother play. He just took him. There wasn’t the same recruiting budget then. Out of Regina, we had Joe Salinger, an All-American goalie who came down with my brother. And Glen

McDonald played here. The first time I met Amo was when he picked me up from the bus stop and set me up in the dorm.”

Both brothers sent their sons to play hockey for MSU. The first was Dean, Butch’s son, who played on some of Bessone’s last teams. Then

“It’s kind of just in our blood. . . to play at Michigan State.”

- Kelly Miller, former Spartan and Retired NHL Forward

it was Lyle’s sons: Kelly, Kevin, and Kip. They starred in the late 1980s, one of the most successful eras in program history.

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Lasting Legacy Nine of the family’s 10 Spartan lettermen enjoy a summer gathering.

Kelly went on to a 16-year professional career and hadn’t spent a day in the minors when he retired from the NHL in 1999. Kevin played 12 NHL seasons and was a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Team. And Kip won the 1990 Hobey Baker Memorial Award as college hockey’s finest player before his 16 seasons as a pro.

The Gemmel boys followed – the sons of Butch and Lyle’s sister, Pat. Taylor played goal behind All-America Chad Alban in the

mid-’90s. And Curtis, a walk-on, wound up lettering all four years and playing in 90 career games.

As Curtis graduated in 1999, the new decade brought Dean’s sons, Ryan and Drew, into the mix. Ryan’s MSU and NHL career should place him among the best goaltenders ever to play the game. And Drew has settled in with the Detroit Red Wings in his fourth pro season. He got his name on the Stanley Cup as a rookie with the Anaheim Ducks.

The sharing of hockey – the game, not necessarily the successes – is a common thread within the fabric of the Miller family. It’s staggered throughout the generations, held together by the green-and-white sweater all 10 wore as Spartans.

“It’s kind of just in our blood,” Kelly said with a laugh. “There was no question that I wanted to play at Michigan State. That was my dream. To accomplish that was a great feeling. And I’m sure my brothers and Ryan and Drew had that same experience.”

The thrill was there long before that. It exists to this day with a lineage unmatched in NCAA annals.

“I got to see my uncle (Lyle) play when I was young,” Dean said. “Then, Kelly, Kevin

and Kip saw me play. And my kids saw them play. It’s what we do. We watch hockey. Now, Kip is coaching his son (Skylar) and nephew (his sister Kirsten’s son, Cameron) on the bench. And Kevin, Kelly and I are watching in the stands. Lyle is helping Kip coach.”

Hockey isn’t the only tie to MSU for the Millers of Mid-Michigan. All four of Dean’s children have been Spartans. Kelly’s eldest, Taylor, is on the women’s soccer team and will be joined by her sister, Chelsey, next fall.

Kelly’s youngest, Ashton, and Kevin’s daughter, Hannah, are promising figure skaters who have entertained intermission crowds at Munn Arena. Then, there’s Skylar and Cameron. They’re too young to have made decisions, But they’re odds-on favorites to embrace their legacy and follow cousins, uncles and a grandfather to MSU’s campus.

It turns out, it’s more than a family affair.

It’s a Miller family love affair.

“I’d say that everything has been positive with this university from day one,” Lyle said. “Sure, there have been ups and downs.

Trying to get through school and hockey, you can struggle sometimes. But this is an amazing place. It always has been and always will be.”

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FEBRUARY 2010

23

Let The Good Times Roll

Holt’s Jordan Foster And Alexis Mollitor Born To Bowl

BY CHUCK KLONKE

Everyone knows about gym rats, the kids who tag along with Mom or Dad when they coach or play a sport.

The youngsters grow up with those sports. More often than not, they become outstanding players themselves.

Jordan Foster and Alexis Mollitor fit that description, though the Holt High seniors didn’t follow their folks to a gym or a ball diamond. They followed them to a bowling establishment.

24 FEBRUARY 2010

Now Foster and Mollitor are the mainstays of fine bowling teams at Holt.

A few years ago, that wouldn’t have happened.

But the rapid growth of high school bowling in Michigan has changed that.

This is the seventh year the Michigan High School Athletic Association has had bowling as a sanctioned sport. The first year, there were 165 boys and girls teams in the state. This year, the number has grown to more than 320 of each, split into four divisions. That’s more than any other state.

“There has been a steady growth in high school

Photography CEIL HELLER

bowling each year,” said Randy Allen, an associate director of the MHSAA. “A bowler would say that the growth of high school bowling is no surprise. It has just taken some time to crystallize into a high school sports program.”

High school students have been involved in bowling programs for more than 75 years. Saturday morning high school leagues are a fixture at bowling centers around the state.

“It’s still a challenge to make high school bowling fit into the bowling season,” Allen said. “The schools had to look for quality coaches. And that has been a successful and gratifying process. We’ve had great support from parents and bowling proprietors.”

One of those proprietors is Dave Jackson, who operates Char Lanes in Charlotte and coaches the Charlotte High boys team.

Jackson was in on the ground floor when high school bowling first started some 15 years ago and is a huge booster of the sport.

“It has been my honor to help get it started, and I’m so elated to see what it has become,” Jackson said.

When there were enough schools for the MHSAA to make bowling a sanctioned sport, adjustments that had to be made.

“There’s no smoking or drinking allowed

when the high school kids are bowling, so we had to explain that to some of our bowlers,” Jackson said. “We never had a problem.

The bowlers accepted it quite well.”

The bowling season typically begins after Labor Day and ends in late April or early May. The high school season is limited to late November through early March.

This year’s state finals will be held the weekend of March 5-6. The Division 1 finals for boys and girls will be at M-66 Bowl in Battle Creek, Division 2 at Super Bowl in Canton, Division 3 at Airport Lanes in Jackson and Division 4 at Sunnybrook Lanes in Sterling Heights.

“Randy Allen has done a great job since the state took over the sponsorship of high school bowling,” Jackson said. “At first I didn’t agree with all of the changes he wanted to make. But I understand how it had to be done to make bowling fit within the other sports the state oversees.”

Brian Vessell coaches the boys and girls teams at Holt. He thinks there are several reasons for the growth of high school bowling.

“It has gotten a lot of coverage lately,” Vessell said. “It’s one of those sports where there are a lot of friendships. They’ve bowled together on Saturday mornings and in leagues in general during the fall and summer.

“The kids get to know each other across

Life On The Fast Lane Jordan Foster (left) and Alexis Mollitor get instruction from Holt coach Brian Vessell.

FEBRUARY 2010

25

Let The Good Times Roll

Sweet Delivery Mollitor shows the form that has helped her average 190, with a high game of 279.

schools and it has created a fun atmosphere.

The kids enjoy the competitiveness. But it’s a different sort of competitiveness from a sport that has defense or an ‘I’m going to stop you’ mentality. I’ve been coaching for four years and have noticed a big part of it is the camaraderie. Golf is the sport that’s probably the most similar in that respect.”

Jackson agreed.

“I see it all the time when a bowler makes a good shot, somebody from the other team will acknowledge it,” Jackson said. “I don’t think there are many times that a football player will get tackled and tell the guy, ‘Nice tackle.’”

There aren’t many high school football players who play beyond their senior years.

26 FEBRUARY 2010

But golfers and bowlers can participate through their retirement years.

“The nice thing about bowling is that you don’t have to be the strongest or tallest to be successful,” Jackson said. “It’s how you put your mind to it. Bowling isn’t a physical sport. It’s a mind sport.”

Mollitor and Foster are both what their coach refers to as “genetically engineered” bowlers.

“My family has always been big into bowling,” said Mollitor, a second-team allstate selection in 2009. “They got me really involved. My grandpa has a lot of 300s and has done tournaments in a lot of states. So has my uncle. The rest of my family just bowls in leagues. But they’re all pretty good.”

Followers of the Lansing bowling scene will remember her grandfather, Dave Mollitor, who recently moved to Florida.

Foster started bowling when he was 2. He literally grew up in a bowling establishment.

“My mom and dad bowled on a league together,” Foster said. “I got addicted to it.”

Alexis Mollitor carries a 190 average this season. Last year, she advanced to the Division 1 semifinals. In the quarterfinals, Mollitor beat Chelsea Naylor of Grandville, 181-139 and 228-220. In the round of 16, Mollitor had games of 258 and 234.

Foster is averaging 233 this season after finishing the 2009 campaign with a 213 average.

Neither Mollitor nor Foster have rolled that elusive 300 game. But they’ve both been close. Mollitor’s best score for Holt has been a 276. Her personal best is a 279.

Foster has rolled several 279s, including three for the Rams. His best overall is 288.

“I’ll get there someday,” he said of a perfect game.

Foster and Mollitor have interests outside of bowling. Foster plays on Holt’s golf team. Mollitor was on the school’s dance team and is a member of the choir. She also plays piano.

“One of the great pluses in high school bowling is that new kids get into the orbit of high school activities,” Allen said. “The majority of the kids involved in bowling are representing their school for the first time. It gives them a chance for recognition among their peers.”

Vessell doesn’t follow the pattern of most high school bowling coaches. He was a relative newcomer to the sport when he began coaching as an assistant at Holt in 2006.

“Another math teacher that I worked with was the bowling coach and a bowler since he was 2,” Vessell said. “He needed an assistant and asked me to work with him.

It sounded like fun, so I said, ‘Sure.’ I had been in one league my whole life, didn’t

have my own ball and borrowed someone else’s shoes.”

After he became involved in the Holt program, Vessell did everything he could to become more knowledgeable in the sport.

“I’d go to coaching clinics, take lessons, join leagues and try to develop my own game,” he said. “Over the last four years, I’ve learned more about (bowling) than anything else.”

Now, he enjoys every minute of coaching.

“I think it’s a great way to see the students out of the classroom,” Vessell says.

“It’s a different way to know the kids than just in math class. That appeals to me.

Getting into the bowling thing was just dumb luck, being in the right place at the right time. I’ve had a lot of help with assistants who know more about bowling than I do.”

Charlotte’s Jackson is an accomplished bowler with several 300 games and 800 series on his resume. He’s also a certified instructor.

“I used to think I was a good teacher when, in reality, I was a bad teacher,” Jackson said. “One of the things I’ve learned

Talented Teammates Foster works on his approach and left-handed delivery, as Mollitor looks on.

Southpaw Speed Foster fires another strike in practice at Mason Lanes for the Rams’ next CAAC meet.

was to help the students relate to something they’re familiar with. With a 40- or 50-year old man, you can relate to shooting a rifle, but if you’re working with a 14-year-old girl, that analogy isn’t going to work. You have to find the proper niche to teach a person.”

Each meet starts with two five-on-five matches with team and individual points awarded. They’re followed by two Baker games, where five individuals bowl as one.

One bowler rolls the first and sixth frames, and so on.

Mollitor said she enjoys the Baker games the most.

“It brings your team a lot more together,” she said. “When we’re bowling our regular games, we’re not into it as much. In the Baker games, especially us girls, we yell and jump around a lot. You really feel like you’re bowling as a team.”

It’s not quite as raucous for the boys.

“It’s a little quieter,” Foster said with a smile. “But I like it because the team relies on you more. You have only two shots, so there’s a lot of reliance.”

When it comes to rivalries, Holt has a few.

“Jackson or Holt has won the league for the guys the last few years,” Vessell said.

“Mason is our non-division rival. We bowl at the same house and practice together. We see them all the time. It’s a natural rival.

And they’re good, too.

“For the girls, Mason is right there. It might sound bad, but it has been a while since the girls had a real close match. Grand Ledge two years ago might have been the closest.”

“Waverly has always been pretty strong,” Mollitor added. “Charlotte, too, but we don’t bowl them in a regular match. We’ve scrimmaged them, though.”

Mollitor and Foster both plan to continue bowling in college. Foster is going to Saginaw Valley University and Mollitor to Robert Morris.

“This is a good time for girls to get involved in bowling,” Jackson said. “With Title IX forcing schools to match scholarships for men and women, bowling is a good sport to offset all those football scholarships.”

Jackson hopes that today’s high school bowlers will remember their experiences and will give something back to the sport when they’re in the business world.

“I’d like to see them come back when they’re CEOs of a company and help sponsor some teams and tournaments,” he said.

For now, Foster and Mollitor are the CEOs of the lanes.

FEBRUARY 2010

27

SPORT NEWS + NOTES

Greater Lansing Notables

By JENNIFER ORLANDO & SPORT CONTRIBUTORS

DEWITT

Eight Greater Lansing seniors were chosen to play in this year’s Michigan High School All-Star Game for DeWitt coach Rob Zimmerman. They are: Holt quarterback Jordan Beachnau, DeWitt offensive tackle Paul Jorgensen, Ithaca linebacker Christian Marble, Waverly defensive end Andy Phillips, OvidElsie running back Chris Robinson, Grand Ledge offensive guard Kory Schrauben, Portland offensive tackle Jake Silas and Sexton receiver Jourdyn Thompson.

EAST LANSING

East Lansing senior Klarissa Bell broke the Trojans’ all-time scoring record of 1,246 points in a 65-46 win over DeWitt on Jan. 19. Bell reached 1,262 points with a half-season left in her high school career after contributing 22 points against the Panthers. Bell has averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds so far this season and plans on attending Michigan State University to play basketball.

MICHIGAN STATE

Josh Barens of Holt, goalkeeper Courtney Clem of Williamston and defender Kelsey Mullen and midfielder Chelsea Miller of Okemos have committed to play soccer at Michigan State. Barens, a two-time allstate honoree, helped lead the Rams to an undefeated regular season and a berth in the state championsip game. He is ranked as the nation’s No. 54 prospect and the third-straight area player of the year to join the MSU men. Clem was a four-year starter and two-time all-stater. Mullen was the area player of the year last fall. And Miller joins her sister, Taylor, on the Spartan women’s team.

ST. JOHNS

Freshman Brennan LaBar of St. Johns set a pool record at Corunna on Jan. 21 with a diving score of 268.15. This score put LaBar in second place on the area honor role. He has the seventh-fastest time in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of

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1:09.92. LaBar trained with the Spartan Diving Club and has qualified for regional competition by meeting the required five dual meet wins.

Gina Mazzolini, a 1974 St. John’s High School graduate, was recently recognized as the MHSAA’s 2009-10 Women In Sports Leadership Award recipient. She was presented the award at the 19th Women In Sports Leadership Conference Feb. 7. During her time in high school she played basketball and volleyball and continued playing those sports at Central Michigan University.

In 1992, Mazzolini was inducted into the CMU Hall of Fame. Before she became the assistant director at the MHSAA, she held various coaching and administrative roles at places like MSU and the University of Texas at Austin. Mazzolini joins 23 other women who have been given such an honor.

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30 FEBRUARY 2010

Concentrated Effort JOSEPH BOTELLO OF THE HURRICANES (LEFT) AND JACOB BLIZNER OF THE RENEGADES BAT TLE FOR THE PUCK IN THE LANSING 6-AND-UNDER FLOOR HOCKEY LEAGUE. 12/19/2009

PHOTOGRAPHED BY MIKE MAJOR

FEBRUARY 2010

31

SPORT FINISH LINE

Tough Game To Win State’s Economy Forcing Difficult Changes

Long-time Michigan residents will remember when our economy sagged, schools suffered and school sports sacrificed. They will also remember that recovery followed and few of the changes made in school sports became institutionalized – that is, became a permanent part of the way our programs operate. sometimes across all of the needs of school districts.

• Sub-varsity schedules are being reduced in scope: sometimes the number of games or the distance of travel, sometimes both.

• Junior high/middle school programs are being re-evaluated, sometimes being transferred to community sponsorship or eliminated altogether.

• The jobs of athletic directors are being merged with other jobs or being eliminated altogether.

• Participation fees are being established in districts where they’ve never been before and increased in places where they have existed for some time.

Challenging Changes Jack Roberts hopes high school athletics aren’t irrepairably damaged by budget cuts.

Our initial reaction to these difficult financial times might be that this too shall pass.

Perhaps. But every day that seems less likely. Changes are being made with wider scope and deeper cuts. Every day I worry more that this economic downturn is leading to cuts that may be long-term and changes that may become permanent.

As a result, I worry that the essential fabric of educational athletics may not be the same again.

What we see locally is also occurring statewide and in other states across the country.

• Transportation services are being reduced or eliminated, sometimes for the activities program alone, but 32 FEBRUARY 2010

The Michigan High School Athletic Association is struggling for ways to be of assistance. Unlike other state high school associations across the country, the MHSAA cannot reduce membership dues or tournament entry fees or fines because they do not exist for its member schools.

Instead, the MHSAA is examining ITS regulations and tournament policies to see where changes might be made that could raise revenue or reduce expenses for schools’ participation in MHSAA tournaments and schools’ administration of local regular-season programs.

Each MHSAA committee is being asked to look at proposed changes through that prism: “What will be the financial impact?”

Committees are being told: “Do no financial harm. Do nothing that adds costs to schools. Look for ideas to reduce costs and ideas to raise revenue.”

So far, more than three-dozen cost-saving or revenue-generating ideas are before our governing board, the Representative Council. Most Council members dislike most of the ideas. Even those people who raised the ideas dislike them.

This is not surprising because most of the regulations and tournament policies and procedures result from a reason, a solution to a previous problem.

So the question now is: “Does the financial crisis trump the sound educational reasons for the change in the rule or policy being considered?”

Raising tournament ticket prices might be the easiest thing to do to raise revenue to be shared with local schools but is the least likely action to be taken. There is strong interest to keep the cost of school sports the cheapest form of entertainment available. There is talk of allowing schools to charge for scrimmages and permitting 50/50 raffles at MHSAA tournaments, something we see at regular-season events but not at MHSAA tournaments. Reaction to both ideas is mixed at best.

On the expense side, Council members are talking about delaying national rules changes that may create costs for local schools but are unrelated to participant health and welfare, such as the color of the ball or the home team’s jerseys.

Council members are considering proposals for multiple basketball games in a day at the sub-varsity level – allowing schools to have the maximum number of games with fewer days of travel.

Perhaps more restrictive limitations on travel for out-of-state contests or practice trips will be considered. Is there really a place for expensive spring trips when the basic elements of the interscholastic program are being reduced or eliminated?

Some MHSAA tournament formats will be reviewed. For example, would returning the Golf Finals to a one-day event help schools financially? Would returning the Wrestling Finals to separate sites for shorter duration reduce school expenses?

The challenge is to make changes for financial reasons that do not undermine the good reasons we had the rules and regulations in the first place. The worry is that changes will be made in these tough financial times that will do permanent damage to the educational fabric of school sports. It is the preoccupying topic of high school sports in Michigan and most other states.

Photography MHSAA

By Jack Roberts, Executive Director, Michigan High School Athletic Association

JUGGLING YOUR CAREER, FAMILY AND A PASSION FOR SPORTS? NO SWEAT. The Greater Lansing Sports Authority shares your passion for sports.

Do you or someone in your family participate in a tournament sport that could be a good fit for the Greater Lansing area? Need a hand developing your sports event? The GLSA is here to help.

For event information and what’s going on in the local sports scene visit www.lansingsports.org.

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