Some believe that educational athletics provides one of the best classroom opportunities for students. In educational athletics participants learn dedication, team work, strategy, sportsmanship, time management and so much more. Through these learning experiences students are preparing to be successful in life.

While there are many life lessons students learn on the playing field perhaps there is no greater lesson that can be taught than the importance of giving back to the community. With an emphasis on voluntarism and advocacy for charitable causes, there is no better group then a high school athletic team in establishing a commitment to community service.

The Northville Athletic Department, teams, coaches and student-athletes made a commitment four years ago to build community service activities into each teams yearly calendar. Many coaches have incorporated this important service learning component into their weekly or yearly activity plan. Throughout the years coaches and student-athletes have developed and conducted a wide range of activities. While there is no limit to what teams create for a community service project the following categories have emerged:

1. Special causes that are either short or long term.

2. Projects created to help the less-fortunate.

3. Projects that address current or emergency situations.

4. Projects that provide or teach the youth within the community to be involved.

Coaches and student-athletes within the Northville Athletic community have taken on a lead role in supporting and coordinating community service projects that have had an impact on many people not only in the Northville community but throughout the world.

A Call for a Cause: There have been many worthy causes the Northville athletic teams have adopted over the past few years. Most times the relationship that has been created between a given team and the cause for which it commits to is due to a personal connection. Sometimes it can come from the most unlikely request.

In 2007, Walled Lake Central assistant football coach Jeff Penrod presented “Coaches Du Cure” to a group of Kensington Lakes Athletic Association (KLAA) head football coaches. Coach Penrod's son was recently diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He asked that the KLAA be part of the Coaches De Cure fundraiser during a certain week of the season so that we could raise money and bring awareness to this disease. Northville along with all 23 football teams in the KLAA continue to highlight this cause during one game of the season. Proudly the KLAA has raised over $20,000 for Duchene Muscular Dystrophy over the past few years.

The lessons of this project go far beyond community service. The football players have also learned the lesson of sportsmanship. They learn they can compete hard against each other but also come together to work towards a common cause.

For the past four years Northville baseball coaches John Kostrewsa and Bill Flohr created an “Armed Forces Day”. The day was established to honor our US military veterans during a Saturday double header at Northville High School . This community service project has grown into a big annual event. The activities at Armed Forces Day include:

•  Honoring, announcing and having veterans throw out the first pitch.

•  Collecting food and goods to be sent to current active soldiers over seas.

•  Events for the youth including face painting and carnival games.

•  A display of military equipment.

Northville girls soccer coach Eric Brucker wanted to establish an alumni group of former Northville High School players and create a community service project for his current team. He combined both ideas in creating an annual alumni soccer game in conjunction with raising money for a cause. In its inaugural year of 2011 more then 30 former Mustang players returned to take part in the game. In addition, current players sold tickets, t-shirts and held raffles to raise money for the American Breast Cancer Association. In future years portions of the proceeds from this event will go toward a new scholarship fund established on behalf of former Mustang girls soccer coach Doug Lyons. The Doug Lyons memorial scholarship will be given to one worthy Northville soccer player annually.

The Todd Schoenheide Scholarship fund was established shortly after the sudden death of Northville student and athlete Todd Schoenheide. This scholarship is awarded to one Northville High School student who is a member of the Northville football, wrestling or community Boy Scout troop. As part of the scholarship the student awarded must have a full background of community service help. Qualities that Todd himself believed and participated in.

A majority of the money for this scholarship is raised through the efforts of the Northville High School wrestling team. The wrestling team hosts the annual Todd Schoenheide memorial tournament on the first Saturday in December. The student-athletes donate the gate receipts, sell concessions and raffle tickets to provide money for this worthy cause.

Assisting the Needy: The Northville Civic Concern is an all-volunteer organization founded in 1983 by a group of concerned citizens to benefit the needy of our community. The primary purpose is to provide food to those in need. Being located right in the heart of Northville it was no wonder many of the Northville High School athletic teams reach out to help this cause.

The student-athletes and coaches have come up with many creative ways to collect food for the Northville Civic Concern. One common project many of our teams will participate in is a food drive for admission to the games. Teams will set up one or two nights that will ask spectators to bring a canned food item as part of their admission fee. The teams that have participated in this are: cheerleading, girls and boys swimming and basketball.

In 2012 the Northville Boys and Girls bowling teams took the Civic Concern food drive one step further. Northville Bowling Coach, Jerry Harris created “Lock-in for Civic Concern”. One weekend in February the bowling team held a bowl-a-thon at Novi Bowling Lanes. The bowl-a-thon went through the night as bowlers collected funds based on their scores. When the long weekend ended the Northville Bowling donated over $1,500 for Civic Concern.

Helping the Youth: In addition to projects designed to enrich the life of the community or to raise money for a cause it is important to reach out to our youth. The lessons of community service go beyond the walls of the high school athletic teams. Through the lessons of service our student-athletes help to instill the lessons of giving to our youth in the community.

Many of our athletic teams host youth camps or organize youth community clubs to provide opportunities for the children in Northville. Some of the teams involved include: football, baseball, softball, tennis, hockey, lacrosse, bowling, cheerleading, wrestling and volleyball. These camps and clubs not only teach our young students about the sport but they provide a service in the community to keep kids active. Our student-athletes learn the values of teaching and being a role model as they lead many of the lessons and activities during these camps.

While student-athletes in Northville serve our youth through these camps and clubs a couple of teams began to offer these opportunities to a different clientele. Over the past few years our basketball players have held clinics with physically disabled students at Cooke School in Northville. A couple times a year players from the boys and girls basketball teams travel to the school and work with students on skills associated with basketball. It has become a day that not only the students of Cooke look forward to but leaves a lasting impression on our student-athletes.

In this same spirit of giving the Northville wrestling team began helping the “Miracle League” softball program. The “Miracle League” was formed to provide physically disabled and wheelchair bound children the opportunity to play softball. Through the softball season a handful of Northville wrestlers volunteered there time to help players run the bases, hit the ball or just to be there to cheer them on. It was truly a great experience for all involved.

The Importance of Community Service: For the student-athletes involved in community service projects they learn the importance of giving back to their community and their sense of civic duty is heightened. In many cases we find student-athletes continue these community works long after their athletic days are over. “We believe it sends a great message when our student-athletes get involved in the community. It is important our student-athletes understand they are leaders and must set an example for others to follow” Bryan Masi, Northville Athletic Director. Student-athletes not only gain a sense of helping but, by being involved in these projects, gain the experience and leadership skills needed to be successful in life.

Parenting Tips . . . From the fields and courts coaches often lament the most difficult aspect of coaching is interacting with parents. There is nothing new about a parent's impression that their child is the next (fill in the appropriate superstar). What is becoming more prevalent is the growing knee-jerk decision to yank their kid off a team, switch schools or simply reject the whole interscholastic sports experience.

To alleviate some of these anxieties, it is important that school sports administrators educate parents at every opportunity as to our true mission in athletics. All coaches should have a preseason parents meeting with a set agenda; discuss the approach, philosophy and expectations to build a common understanding. As I talk to parents when they ask me what they should do about their child's playing time, I tell them, “love and support them.” I usually get a blank stare in return. I ask if the amount of playing time a child gets changes how much they love their child. Of course the answer is, “No”. If we get too caught up in all of the other aspects of athletics we will miss out on a tremendous opportunity to build a relationship with our children. One of the hardest things for us to do as parents is to let go of our children. In athletics it's important to ‘give up' parenting for those few hours and let them be coached. Dr. Dave Barry, assistant superintendent for Walled Lake Consolidated Schools remarked that, “The most important lesson that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them.” As parents we want desperately to make the world a better place for our children, but facing a little hardship helps build character. More importantly, they need to learn how to overcome setbacks they will face. Athletics is a great environment to learn how to deal with adversity. We need to impress upon community programs that sports is simply one small facet of a student's life which can help foster success. Only for a miniscule percentage of the most gifted will sports ever supply a means for living. “What coaches and parents need to realize is that this is not their season; it is the child's season,” said Barry.

No Knowledge Can Be Good Knowledge: My son wanted to try out for soccer, so we found an introductory program and he loved it. I thought this was great. Then it hit me. What he loved the most was that I knew nothing about soccer. It wasn't like baseball and basketball where I would tell him what I thought. On the ride home, we didn't talk a word about soccer. There was no conflicting demands confusing him; the coach telling him one thing, and me suggesting another. It was just the two of us: father and son. While working on the article, I read this to my son and asked if my assessment was accurate. He smiled, laughed and said, “Yeah, it's true.” It's true at the high school level too. In an effort to save money, some schools only provide oneway transportation. This means the athlete has to ride home with the parent rather than their teammates. “I've had players tell me they wished there were buses for the ride home because they did not want to listen to their parents complain on the ride home,” said North Farmington 's Tom Negoshian.

Get Social: The social media explosion has provided new avenues for reaching our parents, a great many of whom are tech-savvy. Employ Facebook, Twitter and other social media to share the values of high school sports. I have started a page on our district athletic website that provides tools and tips for parents of athlete. I was amazed and surprised when a parent quoted one of the articles from our site. This also enables school board members to stay informed while also keeping the mission of school sports in the forefront.

“All the breaks went against us today.” “We just didn't play our game.” “The referee stole it from us.” “Three starters were out – injuries did us in.” We hit the post twice or we would have won.”

Those post loss emotional spiels always lack credibility because many coaches view contests with keenly biased eyes. And it is not just the post loss rant. How about the post season rant? It goes something like this: “We were 10-9, but we should have bee 13-6. We lost two games in overtime and one on a terrible penalty call.” Does anyone ever say the opposite? Well, I'm saying it now we were 14-5 last year and should have been 11-8. We beat three teams that I thought were better than us – two in overtime due to some luck and grit and one because of a questionable call in our favor.

Displaying the courage to be vulnerable is a wonderful lesson for our student athletes. I believe that winning is overrated anyway. Two decades ago, winning obsessed me, almost ruled me. Now, the urgency has faded. The singular quest for it can only lead to compromised values and in the end, unhappiness. It's more important to teach our student-athletes to prepare with diligence, struggle well on game day and accept the result knowing that they gave their all. You cannot completely control winning or even playing well. The one thing you can control is effort. Effort comes in cycles, and our job is to move athletes through the low patches quickly. We tell our athletes that they are successful if they can walk off the field at the end of the match and honestly say they gave everything they had.

There are life lessons that can be taught in defeat: the value of resilience, the opportunity to display class and dignity under disappointing circumstances, and the fact that vigorous preparation, hard work and passion – while important – do not guarantee victory. Sometimes losing can be a gift that will make your athletes stronger, more unified and lead them closer to their potential.

This past weekend was my son's first floor hockey game of the season. He met the day with a lot of anticipation. He was excited for the opportunity to get out and compete with his fellow 5 and 6 year old athletes in a "good ole hockey game". Many times we hear that kids don't know the score, that they don't care. I even read an article that quoted a USA Today/NBC survey that nearly 75% of kids between the ages of 10-17 would not even care if the score was kept. That seems strange to me because even though there was no score board at my son's floor hockey game, every single 5 and 6 year old knew the score.

Competition is a positive thing when kept in perspective but I can't help but wonder if the reason we have become such an anticompetitive society is because that perspective has been lost. I think it is important that as the Athletic Director and a dad, I spread the message that we are to be competitive, but not at all cost. In other words, whenever we take the floor or field in a practice or game, we should be focused on competing and working towards the ultimate athletic goal which is to win. Conversely, we should not be pushing so hard that we damage the relationship that we attempt to establish with our players or children.

Keeping this perspective is difficult when you are talking about our own children or athletes, because we all want them to experience the joy of victory and avoid the agony of defeat. The beauty of competition that should always be remembered is that there are lessons learned when you win and when you lose.  Don't avoid the "Agony of Defeat", teach to it so that our students learn to handle the ups and the downs that life offers. Competition should, and can, be positive. There are many life lessons that we learn when we compete hard, but the perspective should not be loss in an effort to win at all cost.

Overlooked, underestimated, and maybe the catalyst in keeping the community connected with public schools – athletic sporting events. Did you know that approximately 70,000 spectators attended Lakeland and Milford sporting events last year? On average the Huron Valley community can choose from as many as 780 home events to attend. The options of viewing pleasure are expansive in that the Athletic Departments offer 129 competitive teams at the varsity and sub-varsity level. 64% of Lakeland and Milford students participated in either a fall, winter or spring sport during the 2009-2010 school year. Remarkably, this data provides a clear portrayal of how and why our community stays connected to Lakeland and Milford High Schools . At any given sporting event throughout the year, the faces in the crowd include a wide spectrum of personalities. Parents, staff, administrators, alumni, and local community members attend these events knowing the inherent values of high school sports in a community and school.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association also shares a similar perspective regarding community involvement: “School sports embrace local roots. School events attract administrators, teachers, students, parents and community members in one venue. How many other activities can boast such a crowd for a common cause? Time and money are precious commodities these days. It doesn't take much of either to travel to your local high school for an athletic event, whether alone or with your family, when compared to counterparts at the collegiate and professional level. In many areas, school sports are the backbone of the community.”

Connecting with our alumni has never been as important as it is now. The economy has challenged the way we fund extracurricular activities. Similar to universities and higher level institutions, we have asked our alumni and community members to assist in our fund-raising efforts. It comes as no surprise that support from these groups continues to help maintain sports programming. In the near future, efforts are being made to connect with the Lakeland and Milford community via social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as a newly established Athletic Department Alumni Foundation. Social network communication tools will allow the community and alumni to stay connected to the athletic departments. Information sent to these social networks will include news related to the LHS and MHS Athletic Departments.

Staying connected to high school sports this year for local businesses began with the Lakeland Athletic Booster TasteFest. Sixteen local food vendors attended the event, which attracted thousands of people for both the TasteFest and Lakeland vs. Milford football game. Local businesses have an opportunity to support large scale athletic events as well by providing local sponsorships. The Huron Valley athletic departments team-up and share common sponsors from the local area. Over the years these sponsors have provided financial assistance to off-set athletic costs. These sponsors include M59 Dodge and Chrysler of Highland, Meijer of White Lake, Specialists in Orthopedic Surgery, and Brien's Lawn Service of Milford. Last year, Milford hosted fifteen major athletic events, in which 315 teams across the local area attended. Thousands of parents and student athletes made their way to Milford High School . Hosting these types of events is considered a great showcase for Huron Valley and the local community. Local businesses benefit by having these families from other schools travel to the area. More importantly, the generous donations from these businesses have maintained sport participation fees at a reasonable rate. Recent discussion over participation fees continues to be at the forefront of debates across the state. Participation fees for sports are here to stay, yet when compared to club or non-sanctioned MHSAA sports it's a “good bang for your buck.”

Often, educators are the subject of blame for the decline in U.S. education. Negative opinions generated through research or editorials influence local community opinions regarding the direction of education. When these reflections begin to drift into the athletic department it's important to remember that athletics is the backbone that keeps the community connected to the high school in many positive ways. Typically, when we hear of these criticisms it is standard procedure to relay the following:

* 64% of the students at the high school participate in sports. Did you know that at every grade level last year athletes had approximately a .5 higher GPA than non-athletes (Average Cumulative GPA for athletes above 3.0)?

* Furthermore, did you know that 11 th grade athletes scored approximately 2 points higher on the ACT than non-athletes last year?

* Students who participate in sports are…

___- 49% less likely to use drugs

___- 33% less likely to smoke cigarettes

___- 37% less likely to become teen parents

___- Less prone to childhood obesity

* Participation in school activities provides all students – including students from disadvantaged backgrounds, minorities and those with otherwise less than distinguished academic achievements in high school – a measurable gain in college admissions test scores according to researchers writing for the College Entrance Examination Board in 2005.

Connecting with our community and alumni through sports must not be overlooked or underestimated. It is a fundamental element that makes Huron Valley a great place to live, learn and work. Whether we are filling the stadium or gymnasium to cheer on our teams, raising money for those in need, working on projects related to class, or just shopping for the holidays, together everyone benefits. Memories are formed from the meaningful experiences that are created throughout our lives. We are fortunate to have such a special bond that reaches out to so many. Embrace that bond as we continue to persevere through these challenging times.