East Kentwood High School girls track coach Stephanie Stephenson visits the set of WKTV Journal Sports Connection to catch us up on the past and present of the Falcons girls team and program. (WKTV)
On this episode of WKTV Journal Sports Connection, we talk East Kentwood girls track and field, and why last year’s “season the wasn’t” was so hard on the team and its coach, Falcons head coach Stephanie Stephenson.
Coach Stephenson talks about fielding teams in this time of pandemic protocols, what impact last year’s lost season has had on her program — while still praising her 2020 seniors for how they handled it — and we find out which Falcons are poised to have big seasons this year.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection is a WKTV produced program dedicated to bringing you interviews and stories focused on local Wyoming and Kentwood area high schools sports. You can catch up on all our local sports coverage by visiting WKTVJournal.org/sports. But we also have a volunteer sports crew, both in studio and with our coverage truck. For more information email ken@WKTV.org.
This WKTV Journal Sports Connection is available on-demand, along with WKTV coverage of high school athletic events and other sports, at WKTVlive.org. It also airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule). Individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal Sports Connection are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
East Kentwood High School boys track coach Dave Emeott visits the set of WKTV Journal Sports Connection to catch us up on the past and present of the Falcons boys team and program. (WKTV)
On this latest episode of WKTV Journal Sports Connection, we talk East Kentwood track and field, and some unusual hurdles all local track teams face, with boys track coach Dave Emeott.
WKTV sports intern Ellington Smith talks with the longtime — and very successful Falcons track coach — about fielding title-contending teams in this time of pandemic protocols, what impact last year’s lost season has had on his program and athletes, and we find out which Falcons are poised to have big seasons this year.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection is a WKTV produced program dedicated to bringing you interviews and stories focused on local Wyoming and Kentwood area high schools sports. You can catch up on all our local sports coverage by visiting WKTVJournal.org/sports. But we also have a volunteer sports crew, both in studio and with our coverage truck. For more information email ken@WKTV.org.
This WKTV Journal Sports Connection is available on-demand, along with WKTV coverage of high school athletic events and other sports, at WKTVlive.org. It also airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule). Individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal Sports Connection are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
Wyoming High School head softball coach Kaitlin Failing visits the set of WKTV Journal Sports Connection to catch us up on her team and the Wolves program. (WKTV)
On this latest episode of WKTV Journal Sports Connection, as part of our coverage of local high school athletics, we talk spring sports — specifically Wyoming Wolves softball.
When the MHSAA announced a week’s delay in the beginning of practice and the scheduling of games for the state’s softball teams, Wyoming high head softball coach Kaitlin Failing wasn’t too concerned about the delay. It was last year’s lost season that was of more concern … a year lost not only to her players but to the Wolves program.
In late March, just before the start of the season, Coach Failing sat down with WKTV’s Mike Moll to talk about her program, the new normal for high school sports still impacted by the pandemic, but also her optimistic outlook about her team and what it might look like this season.
Wyoming high head softball Coach Kaitlin Failing’s WKTV Journal Sports Connection interview with WKTV’s Mike Moll is just one part of our video, online/print and game coverage of local high school athletics. And we are always looking for community volunteers to join the team. (WKTV)
WKTV Journal Sports Connection brings its audience interviews and stories focused on local Wyoming and Kentwood area high schools sports, on-line, on cable television, and on our on-demand and YouTube channels. Readers can catch up on all our local sports coverage by visiting wktvjournal.com/sports.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection is available on-demand, along with WKTV coverage of high school athletic events and other sports, at WKTVlive.com. It also airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule). Individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal Sports Connection are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
On the latest episode of WKTV Journal Sports Connection, we go bowling.
One of the first winter sports given permission to resume competition following pauses by the state health department and the MHSAA is bowling, with many local teams beginning as early as this week. WKTV not only plans to bring you some prep bowling coverage but, before that, WKTV sports volunteer Bill Rinderknecht spent some time with the head coaches of East Kentwood High School’s boys and girls bowling teams, talking about their sport and their teams.
WKTV volunteer host Bill Rinderknecht on WKTV Sports Sports Connection. (WKTV)
Falcons head boys coach Ed Colburn and girls head coach Todd Sellon talk about how their athletes dealt with the pause in high school athletics due to the pandemic, then being allowed to resume practice but with restrictions, and now the quick turnaround to the beginning of competition. We also got a breakdown of some of the unique rules and format for the high school game, and also a look ahead to their upcoming season.
Coach Colburn and Sellon also discuss how it is not just football and basketball players getting college scholarships.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection brings its audience interviews and stories focused on local Wyoming and Kentwood area high schools sports, both on cable television and on our on-demand and YouTube channels. Readers can catch up on all our local sports coverage by visiting wktvjournal.org/sport.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection is available on-demand, along with WKTV coverage of highs school athletic events and other sports, at WKTVlive.com. It also airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule). Individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal Sports Connection are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
East Kentwood High School wresting co-head coach Eric Foster visits the set of WKTV Journal Sports Connection. (Falcons’ hockey head coach Phil Sweeney’s interview is later in this story.)
On the latest episode of WKTV Journal Sports Connection, as part of our continuing series of shows focused on different local high schools’ sports departments, we check in with the East Kentwood wrestling and hockey teams — both of which are dealing with pandemic-related restrictions and continued uncertainty.
Visiting the WKTV studios earlier this month were Falcon’s wresting co-head coach Eric Foster, and then hockey head coach Phil Sweeney. We talk with coach Foster and coach Sweeney about how their Falcon coaching staffs and teams are coping with the current pause in high school athletics, and about coaching in these unprecedented times.
But we also look ahead with hope, for lower COVID-19 numbers and the continuation of the current resumption of high school athletics — see a story on fall sports returning here — and we also get a peek from the coaches at their teams’ outlook for the 2020-21 season.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection, with this latest episode hosted by WKTV volunteer Cory Dalton, brings its audience interviews and stories focused on local Wyoming and Kentwood area high schools sports, both on cable television and on our on-demand and YouTube channels. Readers can catch up on all our local sports coverage by visiting wktvjournal.com/sports.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection is available on-demand, along with WKTV coverage of highs school athletic events and other sports, at WKTVlive.com. It also airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule). Individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal Sports Connection are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
After a state-mandated five-week “pause” in the state high school football playoffs, the South Christian High School Sailors are back on the practice field today and preparing for a regional final game at Edwardsburg on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021.
With action by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) on Dec. 18, announced by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and resulting action by the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) on that same day, football and two other high school fall sports are allowed to resume practice in preparation of finishing their seasons.
David Kool, South Christian athletic director, on the set of WKTV Journal Sports Connection. (WKTV)
“I have had a virtual meeting with the team since the news was announced and they are very excited,” Danny Brown, South Christian head football coach, said to WKTV. “I think excitement might be an understatement. We are also thankful for the opportunity to get closure on our season. These kids have sacrificed a lot to get us to this point and it is awesome they will have the chance to see their season all the way to the end.”
The Sailors (8-1, and 3-0 in the playoffs), have not played since Nov. 13, when they defeated Hamilton in a regional semifinal, and are scheduled to travel to Edwardsburg (8-0) for the regional final.
The MDHSS and Gov. Whitmer in mid-November, responding to COVID-19 pandemic statistical surges, banned in-school education for high schools and, as a result, put football, volleyball and girls swimming and diving teams into hiatus as their fall tournaments were in process.
The November order also put a pause on winter sports practices and competitions, including girls and boys basketball. Last week’s changes of state health department and MHSAA directions does not allow for resumption of basketball and other winter sports at this time.
A key element in resuming winter sports will likely be how the fall sports competitions operate with new pandemic related “rapid testing” protocols.
According to a MHSAA statement on Dec. 18. “teams and individuals still participating in tournament play will be allowed to do so as part of an MDHHS pilot rapid testing program designed to gain insight and collect data on the spread of COVID-19 as the MDHHS plans to provide expanded rapid testing availability to schools in January.”
At this point, the details of that rapid testing protocol are yet to come from the MDHSS and the MHSAA.
David Kool, South Christian athletic director, on the set of WKTV Journal Sports Connection. (WKTV)
“We don’t know the specifics yet of the pilot testing program that is going to be mandatory for our athletes but we look forward to complying with the MHSAA and MDHHS on this,” David Kool, South Christian athletic director said to WKTV. “We realize this is the only thing that gives the kids a chance to finish their season and we are really happy about that.”
The uncertainty is not diminishing the anticipation for the resumption of the Sailor’s state title drive, however.
“We are thrilled that the MHSAA announced the restart of the football playoffs,” Kool said. “Coach Brown, along with the rest of the staff and players, cannot wait to take the field on January 2nd at Edwardsburg. Amidst all of this chaos, this is a special opportunity that these kids will never forget and we are blessed to have another chance at finishing this season.”
And, after waiting more than a month not knowing if they would even get a change to get back on the field, coach Brown says his staff and team are ready for whatever comes.
“The testing part adds a whole new element to the situation but we are willing to do whatever it takes to get to the finish line,” Brown said.
Details of initial MHSAA restart plans
According both MHSAA Dec. 18 statement, football playoffs will begin Saturday, Jan. 2, with regional finals for 11-player teams and semifinals for 8-player teams. The 8-player championship games in both divisions and all 11-player semifinals will be played Saturday, Jan. 9. The football season will conclude with the 11-player finals in all divisions the weekend of Jan. 15-16. All semifinals in both 11 and 8-player will be played at home sites. Sites for championship games will be finalized and announced later.
In addition, the girls volleyball tournament will begin again with quarterfinals on Jan. 5, with semifinals and finals to be played Jan. 7-9 at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek. Also, the girls swimming and diving finals with return with its three Lower Peninsula finals competed during the weekend of Jan. 15-16, with one division at each of three locations.
“All previous safety protocols remain in place, and no spectators will be allowed at the fall tournament events,” according to the MHSAA statement. And “all indoor Winter sports — which are not part of the pilot rapid testing program — remain on pause from the MDHHS until Jan. 16, although girls and boys alpine skiing season — competed outdoors and following safety protocols including all activity must be outdoors — will be allowed to begin practice Monday, Dec. 21.”
The MHSAA Representative Council is expected to meet Tuesday, Dec. 22, to discuss details for the rest of winter sports. And all Spring 2021 sports are expected to begin on time and play complete seasons concluding with their traditional MHSAA tournament dates in May and June.
Wyoming high boys basketball coach Tom Vander Klay visits the set of WKTV Journal Sports Connection. (Wolves girls coach Troy Mast’s interview is later in this story.)
On the latest episode of WKTV Journal Sports Connection, as part of our continuing series of shows focused on different local high school and their sports departments, we check in with the Wyoming High School Wolves basketball teams — both of which were already dealing with pandemic-related restrictions even before the latest state and MHSAA orders.
Visiting the WKTV studios last week (and before this week’s Michigan High School Athletic Association additional temporary restrictions on practices and competitions) are two coaches who have long histories of coaching and coaching success in Wyoming Public Schools, head boys basketball coach Thom Vander Klay and head girls basketball coach Troy Mast.
Both Vander Klay — who had his outstanding 2019-20 team’s season cut short by COVID-19 early this year — and Mast talk with WKTV volunteers Mike Moll and Paul Kabelman about how their teams are handling COVID-19 restrictions, their opinions of the Wolves’ shift of conferences from the OK Gold to OK Green, and a preseason outlook for their 2020-21 teams.
But we also reached out to the coaches this week, on Nov. 17, to see what the latest round of restrictions mean to their programs.
“Currently, we are completely paused for 3 weeks with no team practices or in-person meetings allowed,” Mast said to WKTV. “This is putting our team further behind where we are normally at this time of year.
“However, our job is to be ready when we are allowed to get back to work. Our kids will be excited to get back into the gym ASAP and looking forward to competing against each other in practice in preparation for whatever schedule is put in front of us.”
The Wolves girls were scheduled to start competition Dec. 1 at home against Comstock Park, but that game has even cancelled, along with a home game Dec. 4 against Forest Hills Central and a road game Dec. 8 at South Christian. Dec. 8 also would have been the night of the Wolves boys team’s first game, which would have had the Sailors visiting Wyoming.
“At this point the boys will be able to start tryouts Dec. 8 unless the state tells us differently and/or extends its order. That would have been the date of our season opener against SC (South Christian),” Vander Klay said to WKTV. “So we will have tryouts, get our rosters set on each level and then prepare as quickly as possible for competition.
“Of course, we cannot scrimmage other teams before we play so that will be interesting as those preseason scrimmages reveal so much about the players and the team — and what the coach needs to work on. … My guess is that early game results will be much different than games at the end of the year.”
WKTV Journal Sports Connection, with this latest episode hosted by WKTV volunteer Cory Dalton, brings its audience interviews and stories focused on local Wyoming and Kentwood area high schools sports, both on cable television and on our on-demand and YouTube channels. Readers can catch up on all our local sports coverage by visiting wktvjournal.com/sports.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection is available on-demand, along with WKTV coverage of highs school athletic events and other sports, at WKTVlive.com. It also airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule). Individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal Sports Connection are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) made clear this week that this week’s action to suspend the three remaining fall sports championship competitions was just that: a “suspension” and not a “cancellation.”
But by any definition, local high school athletic teams readying this week to continue their drives for state titles are at least on indefinite hold and at worst cancelled.
At East Kentwood High School, the girls swim team’s trip to the state swim finals this weekend is not going to happen. (See a WKTV video and story on the Falcons’s swim team here.)
And at South Christian, Coach Danny Brown’s football team will likely be idle for three weeks instead of playing a playoff game this week and getting shot at the 2020 Division 4 title.
“I feel terrible for the kids. They put so much into having a successful season and they keep getting knocked down,” Brown said to WKTV. “They are resilient and will get through this. My hope and prayer is we get to finish the season so these boys can get some closure on their season.”
Originally, the Sailors (8-1, including 3-0 in expanded playoff format games) were scheduled to play this Friday against Edwardsburg (8-0) in the regional finals, with the semifinals on Nov. 27 and the state finals scheduled for Dec. 4. (On Nov. 13, South Christian defeated Hamilton, 56-14, in the regional semifinals. WKTV was there with our featured game crew and the game is available on-demand at WKTVlive.org.)
Now South Christian will have to wait until later this week to find out plans from the MHSAA on the possible restart of the fall season championships after the current 3-week suspension of activities to comply with a new state orders.
On Nov. 15, the MHSAA announced it was suspending fall tournaments for girls volleyball, girls swimming & diving, and football, and all winter practices and competitions scheduled to begin over the next three weeks “per the emergency order to pause activity announced Sunday by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to limit the spread of COVID-19.”
“Our plan for all our fall tournaments is that they are suspended, they are not cancelled,” Mark Uyl, executive director of the MHSAA, said Monday, Nov. 16, in a Zoom press conference. “Our goal as we started off this new athletic year was that we were going to find a way to have three (high school sports) seasons in 2020 and 21. … Our goals and plans have not changed.”
A more extensive excerpt from a Monday press conference with Uyl is at the top of this story.
The MHSAA action not only suspends local teams’ title hopes, it is another delay in winter sports practices and competition — including boys and girls basketball. Full practices for basketball was scheduled to begin this week, with some girls teams taking to the court for games the first week of December.
Before the latest Michigan High School Sports Association (MHSAA) action to suspend, but maybe not cancel, the state’s remaining high school sports championship schedule, East Kentwood High School’s girls swim coach thought her team had overcome all the COVID-19 turbulence this season.
And WKTV talked to Falcons head coach Monika Steffens via zoom last week about her team’s season as they prepared to send the relay team to the State Finals this week.
Coach Steffens — or as her team calls her, Coach Mo — told WKTV that the team’s season had been incredible through a difficult time, that her girls set personal best times in almost all of their races at the OK Conference tournament and, on top of that, sophomore standout Kalin Wiltrout broke a 22 year old team record for 100 freestyle.
“We were unsure when we would even practice and everyday these girls showed up, took everything we threw at them, and they still got around to swimming very fast,” Steffens said in the video interview.
Then came news over the weekend of the latest restrictions from the State of Michigan and the MHSAA, including suspension of the high school state swim meet as well as the volleyball and football tournaments.
“We had been warning the girls that this was a possibility for the past few weeks, but it still does not make facing the decision any easier,” Steffens said today, Nov. 16, to WKTV. “I am grateful that we were able to get through our conference meet and were given the chance to race hard throughout the past few months.
“Pushing back, or even cancelling, this season’s state meet does not take away from the hard work these ladies put in. Qualifying to compete is already a tremendous accomplishment. Putting the chance to beat a couple more team records on hold is hard to accept, but I know we will be back here again next season and I know we will do our best to race hard again when we are given the chance.”
WKTV’s local sports coverage is available at wktvjournal.com/sports. WKTV Journal Sports Connection is also available on-demand, along with WKTV coverage of highs school athletic events and other sports, at WKTVlive.com. Individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal Sports Connection are also usually available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
On Sept. 3, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a lessening of Covid-19 restrictions on sporting activities, including high school football and other fall contact sports. The MHSAA, the sports governing body for Michigan high school sports, followed quickly with the much hoped for announcement that football would be played this fall.
On the latest episode of WKTV Journal Sports Connection — WKTV Sports’ new sports show focused on local high school sports — we talk with the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s John Johnson, MHSAA director of broadcast properties.
We talk about what prep football, and other MHSAA sanctioned sports, might look like this fall — for players, coaches and fans. And we get a hint of what the expanded 2020 football playoff format might be.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection brings its audience interviews and stories focused on local Wyoming and Kentwood area high schools sports, both on cable television and on our YouTube channel. Readers can catch up on all our local sports coverage by visiting WKTV journal.com/sports.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection is available on-demand, along with WKTV coverage of highs school athletic events and other sports, at WKTV.viebit.com. It also airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule). Individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal Sports Connection are also usually available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
