LSJ Blogs: Get Prepped

Powerpoll: Mid-Michigan against the World 21-28

This is the final installment of three comparing how our area sports stack up against each other when it comes to competing at the statewide level. Links to the first two installments are at the bottom of this post.

Wrestling Road Show

Former Everett standout Isaiah Thomas has a great idea for an affordable wrestling clinic he can bring to aspiring grapplers all over the state. He'll host his first of the sort Saturday at Lansing's Camp Tisdale Community Center.

Thomas graduated from Everett in 2002 after finishing fifth in Division 1 at 189 pounds that season. He then wrestled for two years at Muskegon Community College, and is currently at Saginaw Valley State studying communications and theater with a minor in political science. He hopes  to teach high school and coach when he's finished.

Mid-Michigan's summer camp schedule gives plenty of outstanding opportunities for wrestlers to learn and train with stars past and present. Thomas hopes to provide something similar, but be able to take his clinic to different locales. Helping him this weekend are former Grand Valley State All-American Ryan Lancaster and Corey Melinn, who won the National Collegiate Wrestling Association heavyweight championship this winter.

"I've always had a dream of doing a traveling clinic," Thomas said. "I know, for me, there are a lot of camps out there. And they can cost a lot of money. But I'd like to do one day where you get a shirt and you get fed."

Cost of Saturday's clinic is $25 and includes training from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., lunch and possibly a T-shirt (those who pre-registered are guaranteed one). Camp Tisdale is located at 1200 Marquette Street in Lansing.

Thomas coached freshman football at Bay City Western last fall, and has coached wrestling at a number of levels and locations -- Mason's youth program, Gardner and Otto middle schools, and as and assistant with the Everett and Sexton varsity programs. For information, email him at Isaiahrthomas@gmail.com.

Powerpoll: Mid-Michigan against the World 11-20

Check out the second installment of my look at how area sports compare with each other when it comes to competing at the statewide level, heading into 2011-12. Sports 21-28 will be posted Thursday.

Powerpoll: Mid-Michigan against the World 1-10

For some sports, mid-Michigan boasts the best competition in the state. For others, not so much. Here's my look at how area sports compare with each other when it comes to competing at the statewide level, heading into 2011-12. Sports 11-20 will be posted Wednesday, with 21-28 on Thursday.

Friday Flashback: LSJ Female Athlete of the Year

DeWitt's Dena Droste joined this elite group with her selection earlier this month. You'll surely remember at least a few of these athletes, who all were all-area in at least two sports.

Dust off those rule books

The Michigan High School Athletic Association's Representative Council considered 42 proposals during its annual spring meeting. Some won't apply to many, but here's a breakdown of what I think could have the most day-to-day effect for mid-Michigan athletics.

Another idea I liked

I'm cleaning out the file I keep of possible column and blog ideas, and I never got to this one -- but I think it's pretty creative -- and effective. It centered on Eaton Rapids football players sleeping in cardboard boxes to learn about and bring awareness to the plight of the homeless.

Stop, Drop and Raise Money

A baseball diamond, a cow and $50 toward Crystal Falls Forest Park athletics -- the main ingredients of my July 4, 2011 as I witnessed a way I'd never heard of high schools raising money to support their sports teams.