Mind of Michael: Thanks to the Stars!

By Michael Leek
Sports Editor

Having the opportunity to cover Lansing Community College sports over the 2023-24 school year has been a blessing and an honor.

Not only have I been able to gain experience and improve my writing skills, but I was able to learn and enjoy new sports I never got the chance to cover.

I want to say thank you to all of the coaches and athletes for being available to me throughout the season, making my job easier and more fun.

LCC had an impressive school year for sports. Getting the chance to cover so much success made it enjoyable to not only write about the matches and meets, but to attend them as well.

My first time covering volleyball was this year and at first, I had no idea how to describe the sport. The rules, matches and atmosphere of volleyball were all new to me.

Watching home games throughout the season piqued my interest, as I saw the passion the women on the team played with and the coaching staff showed for the sport.

Talking to multiple players and Head Coach Emily Quintero helped me continue to write better stories as I learned more about statistics and the language used in volleyball.

Cross country was also a relatively new sport for me. I briefly covered it in high school, but not to the extent I did here at LCC.

Head Coach Jim Robinson helped me understand the sport, making it easier to write stories.

All of the athletes from the cross country teams were awesome and gave me amazing quotes to use.

Covering the men’s cross country team’s national championship was my first time writing about an event of that magnitude. The story ended up earning me an MCCPA journalism award.

Since basketball has been my favorite sport and the one I played in high school, watching both the LCC men’s and women’s teams play during the winter was fun.

Both the players and coaches again, were amazing to talk to, and were so passionate about every single game.

The women’s basketball team had an amazing year. Watching how strong they were defensively only goes to show the togetherness and how well coached they were as a team.

Lastly, softball and baseball were a challenge for me to cover at first. I did not know how to cover two games in one story, and that required a learning curve for me.

Once I found a structure that worked for me, I was able to cover them pretty well.

Softball will still be playing and I am excited to cover them through districts and the post-season.

Again, I want to say thank you to everyone I was able to speak with this school year. Everyone was amazing and you all made my final two semesters at LCC a blast.

Thank you to Larry Hook, my adviser, for having me on as the sports editor of The Lookout. And thanks to LCC Athletic Director Greg Lattig for running an amazing sports program here at LCC.