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A week from Monday, girls and boys throughout the state of Michigan will begin preparation for the 2023 fall sports season.

This is a special time for every community, big and small, as their favorite local high school teams start gearing up for the season with high hopes of division and conference championships. They also have their eyes on potential postseason honors such as district, regional and state championships.

Some will achieve their dreams and reach their goals, while others will not necessarily find that type of success, but they can walk away at the end of the fall sports season in November with their heads held high because they know they came together as a team and worked toward a common goal.

Anyone who reads my columns regularly knows my passion for high school sports. Seeing our young men and women work hard daily to achieve their dreams is truly something to watch. It is not about the wins and losses for me, but watching these young athletes grow and mature in sports and the classroom.

When all is said and done, no matter what their final records may be or how far they go in the state tournament, they are all winners in my book.

Over the past few weeks, I have begun planning for the upcoming season. I have taken a look back to see what we did well at Leader Publications and what we can do better. In my mind we can always do better because there is no such thing as perfection in my business. We continually strive to be better every day because journalism is the only profession where you must create a new product daily.

We do the best we can here under the restrictions of a limited staff. I have added some new faces for the upcoming season. Hopefully, they will be able to bring our readers some interesting and entertaining stories about the games we cover and the student-athletes who play them.

I am excited to announce that we will be adding a new feature for the coming school year involving all six schools in our coverage area.

While I do not have an official title for it yet, I plan to recognize our top high school at the end of May. Following along the lines of the Director’s Cup in the NCAA, this award will recognize the school that had the most success during the 2023-24 sports season.

Points will be awarded for both individual and team success. Winning your conference championship, a district, regional or state title will amass points for each school. Individually, being a conference, district, regional or state champion will also give each school points. Any individual state qualifiers will also be awarded points.

As division and conference championships are decided, as well as any individual accomplishments, such as finished at conference meets, the current standings will be posted online at leaderpub.com and appear in the following print edition on Saturday.

I will have more details, including the official name of the award, sometime in the next few weeks.

Currently, our online poll asked which school will have the most success this year. Make sure you go to leaderpub.com and vote for the one you think will win the inaugural award in May.

Also, keep an eye out for some more features that will be coming your way this year.

 

Scott Novak is the sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com