During the past half-dozen years, the MHSAA’s Andy Frushour has gained a national reputation for the student services he has been coordinating for MHSAA member schools.  Here are just a few highlights of more recent programs and projects:

• In the fall, 1,000 students participated in one of four Sportsmanship Summits held in Marquette, Warren, Lansing and Grand Rapids.  The students brainstormed new sportsmanship slogans, discussed different sportsmanship situations and created school-specific sportsmanship plans.
• The 16 members of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council were also involved in the summits.  In addition to meeting five times throughout the year to talk about issues pertinent to the student athlete, SAC members also presented a 30-minute session at each of the summits.  The SAC members approached the sportsmanship topic from a unique angle and kept their peers engaged.
• In March, 32 seniors were honored as MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award winners.  This group of high-achieving students is always a great representation of Michigan’s student-athletes.
• The 2011 Scholar-Athlete winners joined a small and special club of Scholar-Athlete alumni.  Over the last 22 years, 544 students have won this prestigious award.  This winter we started a program to track down all of our alumni in our “Where Are They Now?” program.  Plans are underway to celebrate our alumni on their 25-year anniversary in 2014.
• We conducted a half-dozen Captains Clinics in 2010-11, highlighted by an all-football-player clinic in Lansing on Valentine’s Day.  The clinic schedule is open for 2011-12, so contact Andy Frushour ([email protected]) to get your league or conference on the Captains Clinic calendar soon.

Student-athletes have always been the destination of MHSAA services; increasingly through these programs, they are also becoming the origination of many services.