By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
East Kentwood High School was home to a first of its kind event in the state of Michigan on Saturday as over 40 students from elementary school through high school took part in the inaugural East Kentwood Cornhole Invitational.
Two rows of cornhole boards filled nearly the entire floor space of the Kentwood Ice Arena where the competition took place with students of all ages and skill levels tossing bags back and forth.
The event was sponsored by the Michigan Cornhole League and the Youth Cornhole Organization, two of the main organizations for cornhole in the state of Michigan. Joey Williamson, a member of the staff at the East Kentwood Ice Arena, coordinated the event that drew students from all across Michigan.
Competitors came from schools like Woodhaven and Anchor Bay on the east side of the state, Montabella, Chippewa Hills and Mason County Central from farther north of the Grand Rapids area along with local competitors from schools like Wayland, Caledonia, Grandville, Byron Center, St. John Vianney, Jenison and East Kentwood.
“This is the first tournament just for school kids in the state and we’re putting it on,” Williamson said. “This has been a dream of mine for about two years. I love the sport of cornhole. It is a great community sport and a great way to make friends. It’s an easy sport to play and almost anyone can play regardless of age or skill level.”
The sport of cornhole is still evolving, but is beginning to gain in popularity around the country with events even getting broadcast on national television including ESPN.
Adrian College cornhole
One of the teams that competed on ESPN’s national broadcasts was the college cornhole team from Adrian College. Adrian College is the lone college in the United States that has a school-supported cornhole team and Coach Max Benedict was in attendance at the East Kentwood Invitational getting the word out about college cornhole and helping to grow the sport.
“I’d really like to see cornhole get into the high schools and become a school sport,” Benedict said. “That would help us have a pool of kids to draw from. It’s not like football or basketball where every school has a team. I like getting out to the schools and putting on exhibitions to show the schools they could get a cornhole program going.”
Unlike sports like football and hockey that require large amounts of money for equipment and ice time and other expenses, cornhole is an inexpensive sport that requires just a few boards and some bags.
A push for high school cornhole
Gregg Devitto, who runs Michigan High School Cornholehub.com also was in attendance at the Kentwood tournament. DeVitto is developing an organization that is working to get geographic clusters of high schools in regions across the state playing competitive cornhole.
“Our goal is to eventually have cornhole become a Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsored sport in a few years,” DeVitto said. “We are developing a cluster of schools in Lenawee County that will be playing cornhole and we are hoping for two or three other clusters across the state.”
If Saturday’s event at East Kentwood was any indication, the sport of cornhole is primed to grow quickly among school-age participants who enjoyed the tournament at the East Kentwood Ice Arena.
“I like the idea of the tournament,” said Jayden, a student from Grand Rapids. “No one else has a tournament like this. I like being able to compete against other kids and I know this will grow the game.”
Hudson, who has been playing for a year, also enjoyed the tournament.
“It’s pretty fun,” Hudson said. “It’s just great being able to get out and throw and have fun with the other kids.”
Having fun and meeting other kids is a big attraction to cornhole for youth as it is for adults who play in cornhole leagues across West Michigan as much for the social aspect of the sport as it is the competitive side, similar to a sport like bowling.
Professional player Daniela Luna on hand
“I started playing backyard cornhole about four years ago,” said Daniela Luna, who is a professional cornhole player and was on hand from the Youth Cornhole Organization helping to run the tournament. “We want to get more and more kids involved in the sport. It’s a sport anyone can play and have a lot of fun doing it.”
Luna was joined at the tournament by Joyce Mandala also from the Youth Cornhole Organization.
“We want to get more kids involved,” Mandala said. “In Detroit, Jarron Jackson, who is also part of our organization, has five schools playing cornhole. It gives the kids who don’t play basketball or football a sport that they can play. Not everyone is tall and can play basketball. Cornhole is a sport that anyone can play and they can play after leaving school. It’s a great sport and the kids just love it.”
Williamson believes that once the word gets out the sport of cornhole will only grow not just across the state, but also in the area.
“We are looking for cornhole to start out as a club sport in the schools,” Williamson said. “Someday it will become a varsity sport in the schools. We had kids of all ages here. A lot of the younger kids are really good and even beat the older kids.
“We set up the tournament where we have pool play and the winners of the pools went on to play the other pool winners. After pool play it was set up based on the records in the pools. The kids really had a good time with it.”
