Beyond the Score is supported in part by Capital Insurance Services offering comprehensive personal and commercial insurance, including medical professional liability to Lansing and throughout Michigan since 1980.

More resources and information about offerings at Capitol Insurance dot com.

Coming up on Beyond the Score high school athletes and activism.

Football for me may be the next five years, but I'm black for the rest of my life.

Taking a knee during the national anthem leads to a new chapter for one high school football player.

We're training students to question what we think is true and then we punish them.

Any young man or woman who is thinking about taking a stance.

What would you say to them?

Do it.

At this this boxing gym earning a shirt equals success for thousands of kids.

Having that shirt to them It's like wearing a trophy around every day.

And a job printing those shirts has an even bigger reward for some.

It's meaningful for them, which gives it so much more value.

Thank you so much!

And what is up with the popularity of Pickleball?

I don't know.

You have to ask the pickleball gods about that.

The courts are full every day.

I picked up a paddle to see why picklers are so passionate for this sport.

I'm focused.

That's good!

(music) Hello and welcome to Beyond the Score.

I'm your host Al Martin and it's such a pleasure to be with you all.

What we aim to do here is bring you stories that go well beyond your typical touchdowns and slam dunks chatter highlighting that collision between sports and human nature.

That is what we'll discover with these three Mid-Michigan stories.

From Jim Brown organizing the Cleveland Summit in support of Muhammad Ali.

To Jackie Robinson, breaking the color barrier in baseball.

To Serena Williams being vocal about gender bias.

Analyzing the history of sports and not acknowledging its impact on social movements is impossible.

Lansing athlete Michael Lynn the third used his platform to do just that.

Harsh realities were revealed, but a transformation was birthed that he didn't see coming.

I sat down with Michael at Michigan State University's Broad Museum and its exhibit entitled Resistance Training, which merges the arts, sports and civil rights.

A fitting setting.

And I'm willing to stand up for something I believe in because football, for me, may be the next five years.

But I'm black for the rest of my life.

News breaking that the starting quarterback, Michael Lynn the third, along with teammates, will be taking a knee during the national anthem.

And I agree with the message.

I don't think.

Athletics is the place to try to use that as a platform.

What kind of emotions hit you?

I was overwhelmed, man.

Overwhelmed.

Just remembering everything, remembering who I was before it and who I am now.

This is art imitating life.

In 2017, Michael Lynn the third was the starting quarterback for the Lansing Catholic High School football team, where he was all state throwing for over 1600 yards.

However, his stellar play on the field comes secondary to what most remember him for that ceremonial moment before the game begins.

Michael deciding to kneel during the national anthem as a form of protest against racial inequality Week seven against Ionia was the first time that Michael along with three of his teammates, decided to go through with the demonstration.

Ionia was the first week I did it the week before I planned to, and I don't remember who that was against, but they said, Mike, you know, we can't guarantee your safety.

We can't guarantee what will happen.

So will you just, you know, maybe stay in the locker room?

Who is they?

Our athletic director.

and I want to say the head coach.

Coach Ahern.

Jim Ahern.

Okay.

They just said like Mike, can we just wait till, you know, we're playing a home game and you'll do it?

And I said, you know, thinking that, yeah, you guys have my best at heart.

I trust you.

And youre saying you can't guarantee my safety, and that's the only reason you don't want me to do it this week.

Then, okay.

That conviction to kneel, Traces its roots to when Michael played against Portland High School on the road the previous season.

>> I get to go to the ground and as I'm standing up, I flip the ball to the ref and I hear (expletive) you, monkey and monkey noises.

I was like in disbelief.

I've never dealt with that.

That must have kicked it off or something.

They must have hurt because from that moment, I'm telling you, I caught five, six, seven.

N-words is straight, hard R's.

These are Michael's parents, Michael Lynn Junior and Erica Lynn.

He approached them about the idea first.

Michael's father is a former Lansing firefighter who won a discrimination lawsuit against the city in 2022.

The city has filed motions in the case and says it is not able to comment on this story.

Michael's parents have always taught him to stand up for what he believes in.

But this time there was some hesitancy.

You said no initially when he came to you, you said no because we did, we did too much to get him to this point.

I mean, we had transferred to Catholic Central specifically for football, and we were watching this play out with Colin Kaepernick.

And it was like, you know, do I believe in Colin's movement?

Absolutely.

Do I want to martyr my son to it?

I don't know.

This form of protest was made significant due to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who first kneel during the national anthem in 2016.

He hasn't played since that season.

It was like the way he was talking to us about it with such conviction, such passion, in fact, that he brought this to us like we had never had a conversation about that.

And then he walked us through like, no, this has been on my mind for a while now.

Michael and his parents say that the initial response to Michael's protest was positive, but a change occurred after a meeting in which Michael notified the team of his intentions.

Michael and teammates Kabbash Richards, Roje Williams, and Matthew Abdullah were benched at the beginning of every game.

The rest of that season for kneeling.

Beyond the Score reached out to Lansing Catholic for comments.

They note that those who were directly involved have moved on to other opportunities outside of LCHS.

The school wishes Michael the best in all his future endeavors.

Geoff Kimmerly is the media and content coordinator for the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

He says that punishments for protests like this in high school sports are solely the school's decision.

I'm wondering, Geoff, when does it become a Michigan High School Athletic Association discussion?

Honestly, 90% of what happens and that's just throwing a number out there, it might be higher than that of what happens in school sports is a local conversation.

We help enforce plaiying rules.

We make eligibility rules.

When you have individual school related conversations like this, a lot of times those stay with a school.

Schools, of course, call us all the time for advice.

And again, that's when we encourage them.

Hey, let's talk.

Let's sit down.

Let's get everybody in a room.

Let's let's figure some things out like this.

Dr. Ketra Armstrong is a director of Diversity, Equity and inclusion at the University of Michigan.

She stresses that the perception of athletes is shifting.

However, there's a gap in that communication to the masses.

Black men don't stop being black men when they get off the fields of competition and in the arenas of competition, because we don't care about their the color of their skin.

We care about the color of their uniform.

That's what we root for.

Because, listen, we're training students to use their minds.

We're training them to think, you know, we say, you know, the mind when stretched by a new idea never regained its original dimension.

So we're training them in the classroom to stretch their minds.

And the question what we think is truth.

And then when they do it, what do we do?

We punish them.

So that's why I am all for athlete voices.

I love any student that takes a stand on principles for what they believe.

Unfortunately, the system is not ready and the system punishes them.

And that's what has to change.

After that season, Michael would see many of his top scholarship offers vanish.

He would go on to play one year at Concordia University in Ann Arbor before hanging up the helmet.

He has since traded in that helmet for headgear.

Instead of throwing touchdowns, he's throwing fists.

In 2022, he became a Michigan Golden Glove State champion at the 165 pound division.

Boxing found him a few years ago in the form of a pretty popular show.

Laying in bed every day, all day.

And then going to work and working like overnight shifts.

Just life was just really it was not hitting how I was supposed to.

It' wasn't hitting.

No.

and then I was watching Cobra Kai and, like, it's weird.

And now it's not weird because I do it for a living, but like, I've always enjoyed fighting and I'm watching Cobra Kai and this feeling that I'm getting, watching them, I'm like, I want to do that.

His girlfriend, Connor, is a static to see Michael finding success in another sport.

She says the Golden Glove State Championship is hopefully a window into what's to come.

Calling his name with the end wasn't a surprise.

We knew that he dominated that fight.

His first four fights, he went 4-0 And nobody does that.

And especially not in the statewide tournament.

I was so excited to see him as soon as as soon as that moment happened, it was worth it.

(bell rings) Any young man or woman watching this who is thinking about taking a stand, standing up for something they believe in?

What would you say to him?

Do it.

Do it.

Matthew, Roje, Kabbash, All three of them found power because I was like, Hey, I'm doing this.

And they were like, We're doing it with you.

That young man or woman could do that for some other people, and you never know who you could affect.

So just go do it.

You know, there's a Ethiopian African proverb that says, When enough spiders unite, they can tame a lion.

But you got to get enough of them.

If enough of them unite, they can tame a lion.

One note Michael says that his top goal is to be a boxer in the professional ranks.

He's currently on the amateur circuit and says, I want boxing to continue to change my life.

The sweet science has done just that in the life of Ali Easley, who is the head coach at Lansing's Crown Boxing gym.

Easley has taken countless young men and women off the streets and put them in the ring.

He's also helped place them in the job force, a prime example of how he's always willing to give others the shirt off his back.

Isaac got up here on the final day of the crown boxing program is a special one, a month long proving ground to find out who is worthy of donning the crown t shirt and joining the team.

Membership into this elite group isn't about who delivers the best combination or throws the hardest jab.

Sure, that's a part of it.

But for Ali Easley, who serves as the head coach at Crown, earning a spot on the team is about much more.

We would offer one free month of boxing.

All kind of people would sign up and be two days a week.

Each week we would identify somebody that was really putting in effort.

Now whether they were any good at boxing doesn't matter.

But if they were running fast, doing their push on a good leader, you know, we would award them a shirt.

Having that shirt to them, it's like wearing a trophy around every day.

I mean, they treat that like gold, which makes us feel good.

Those who have earned the crown T-shirt become a walking billboard for excellence.

But there's more to the shirts and the students who wear them than what meets the eye.

We had kids at the gym that sometimes when we would yell or scream or the bell would go off, or if the music was loud, they may have acted a little bit different and we had always had shirts made for the gym for years.

Some of the kids that we knew weren't going to compete or maybe we had an idea that they had a disability.

We wanted to keep them involved.

Sometimes we would have little odd jobs for them.

That was when we started just noticing little things.

To me it was new because I had never really worked with individuals with disabilities.

When people act out of, you know, abnormal from what we are expecting, it kind of gives us a chance to talk to them and try to figure it out.

Throughout his more than two decades at Crown, Easley has worked with and trained many young athletes who have been diagnosed with different disabilities, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, better known as ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Ali's understanding has been aided greatly due to the fact that he's pretty close with someone who's well versed in this area.

His wife, Tricia.

She's an MSU professor in the Office of Rehabilitation and Disability Studies.

With individuals with disabilities.

And what we saw in our program, there was a challenge with just getting employment, for example, autism spectrum disorder.

The sensory processing disorder component of it could make it very challenging if there's bright lights, loud noises, if things that they're handling are a certain texture.

It's just taking all those things into consideration when finding employment for a person with disability.

The Crown T-shirts, at the very least, have always been used as promotional material for the gym, but then a light bulb went off.

Ali noticed that some of the students who were challenged with disabilities were interested in art.

This led to him reaching out to the company that has printed the Crown shirts for years.

Monroe Screen Printing owned and operated by Steve Monroe.

Ali, I want to ask you about, you know, the relationship between you and Steve and how did this whole thing come about when it came when it comes to you guys linking up?

Steve has been a friend of the gym for 30 some years.

To me, he's like a brother.

I mean, because without him, we didn't have a business that would help us facilitate this program.

We wouldn't be able to offer it.

And I'm getting old, tired.

I need some help you know, I mean, you know, it's physical job that we do.

This isn't a young man's sport in here.

You know, you print thousand shirts, you feel it, you know, so.

Ali pitched to Steve the idea of having his students help out at the shop, learning the trade of printing T-shirts.

This acting as an opportunity for the students to acquire a skill that could possibly lead to job placement, which can be hard to come by for those with disabilities.

Research shows just employment period increases well-being, physical health, you have better relationships, there's more support.

Now the benefit of the T-shirt shop, you have individuals where it's meaningful for them.

They are interested in creating in the arts and to be able to be part of that process adds that meaning, which gives it so much more value.

Isaiah and Caesar, both of whom have been diagnosed with ADHD, are two of Ali's brightest students earning the Crown shirt in different ways.

I was just someone in the area that wanted to box.

I still got invited to come volunteer at Fight Night and I just put my absolute everything to break down the event.

That's what impressed Ali, and that's what actually got me into the real program.

I was diagnosed with ADHD, early elementary school.

A lot of people, when you have ADHD, you don't know that you're either talking too much or you seem to be annoying to other people.

It was just really hard throughout school and I tried to find a way to funnel all that extra energy that I have into something else.

And that's when I found combat sports.

I had the same experience in school, like not being diagnosed with ADHD until like eighth grade in middle school.

Finding the gym was like a huge, a huge out for me too, because it was that social environment.

I felt really lost and it was really affecting me physically, not not just mentally.

So I was like, okay, something has to give.

I saw that Crown was offering the free program and that was like my opportunity.

I got to just go and do it.

It turned out way better than I ever could have imagined.

You know what I mean?

And then we'll be like, We're going to take this.

I'm going to pull it off.

Now, look, I'm no fashion expert, but it's hard not to notice the soft, delicate texture of the crown shirts.

That's intentional.

We would print shirts for Crown.

We would take some of the kids and they would help fold them.

But then they wouldn't be folded.

And it just took us a while to figure out that it was the material.

Ultimately, the best shirt to use for this program was a shirt that had a blend of 65% polyester and 35% cotton.

It was just a conversation of like trying to think of it from their perspective, and then how can we make this better?

The T-shirt printing program has become a hit.

Already seeing a couple of Ali's past students now working in the business.

Caesar may be next.

He's an artist and Ali is hoping to have him design the newest Crown T-shirts.

Caesar is in high school, still hes in 12th grade and you know, he's going to be done soon and he's going to be looking for a job and he's really into art.

And so he has spent a lot of time designing art.

Unfortunately for him, he kept most of his material on a drawing pad that broke.

In the spirit of giving.

Isaiah and Caesar had a special treat for Beyond the Score.

Wow.

That's that.

This is the first official Beyond the Score T-shirt.

How cool is that?

And a surprise for Caesar, courtesy of Ali, a brand new digital drawing pad to replace his broken one.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Growing up and having some of the challenges I had as a kid and some of the relationships and the guidance I received through athletics, I saw the value in that.

And when I was given the opportunity to give that back to kids, I took it.

And that's the most rewarding thing.

Crown (music) For more on Alis work in the community, go to wkar.org/beyondthescore and check out a fighting chance.

The story highlights HAWK, Ali's "Help A Willing Kid" Foundation.

Our final story features a sport that has captivated the nation.

A game that was once relegated to leisure centers and community hubs is now everywhere and everyone is playing it.

You know what I'm talking about?

Pickleball.

I hit the courts to explore its cross-generational appeal and to try and wrap my head around the hype.

(Athlete voices) It seems like no matter where you go these days, you can't go anywhere without hearing this.

That's right.

Pickleball is no longer a backyard pastime.

It's now a global sensation.

And that impact is being felt right here in the Greater Lansing area.

If you could choose one word to describe pickleball, what would that word be?

Eccentric.

Very exciting.

Community.

Addiction.

Silly.

It's a little silly.

It's a growing silly sport.

In the city of East Lansing is all in.

I stopped by Patriarche Park to talk with city official Cathy DeShambo and members of the Patriarche Park Pickleball Association to try and understand the sport's boom locally.

Can you take us to the beginning stages of this city's investment into this sport?

When we started this, I think the original Pickleball court out here was done with tape and we were approached, you know, Hey, we want pickleball.

Could we could we do this?

We decided to form a nonprofit.

We raised $170,000.

Eventually, we split the cost of just a couple of courts so that they could start playing.

According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, close to 9 million people play pickleball in the United States.

The courts are full every day, and we see that probably in the future we're going to be having more courts.

This is as close as anybody in the region has at the moment, and we're not done yet.

For sure, Pickleball is the hot sport in nearby Haslett, Michigan, to Fry, linked with Sally Hudgins, who is a Greater Lansing pickleball ambassador.

She's also an instructor.

A pretty good one, I might add.

I mean, I'm focused.

It's good.

Okay.

Where did your interest begin?

When I first started Pickleball about 12 years ago, there really wasn't any instruction and it was just an idea.

So I actually started to learn in Naples, and I just took every lesson I could from every single pro.

And when I returned to Michigan in the spring, I started teaching with my friend Sandy Swicord and we did it for free and we would say 12 people in 24 would show up.

So we provided the paddles, the balls.

It's easy to learn, but it's not easy to get better.

So having some instruction, playing with other players who are also as avid as you are helps a lot and the game only goes to 11.

It's win by two, it's very inexpensive game.

The cross-generational aspect of pickleball, can you kind of put that in perspective?

To get the kids in the area involved is a big deal.

Cross generationally, We're going to see more and more of that and I think it's a good thing.

Visit any pickleball court and you'll notice players from various age groups like Eddry and Bernie, who actually met here on the court just days ago.

Yeah, this is day two right here Yeah, I think we just, like, looked at each other.

We're like, we're gonna go out on the court.

Yeah squad up.

That is so cool.

I mean, fostering friendships right?

Yeah, I'm going to text them whenever I'm here.

Yeah, that's how we do.

Pour it up.

Lets go.

I love that.

I love it.

And then there's Lisa and Val, who actually met through Sally's class.

That's where for me, the learning and the excitement about about getting better came first and then realizing all these people are pretty nice.

And I think pickleball, by nature, is inclusive.

People want to meet other people and play with other people.

And Sally sets that tone.

(Pickleball sounds) It's harder than it looks, man.

I had to get Sally's thoughts on a local player who has become one of the best pickleball players in the world.

When you think about Andrea Koop and her game, what really stands out?

Well, Andrea is remarkable.

She is not only a power player, she has the soft game, she has touch.

She's truly a leader in the sport because of her technique.

Oh my!

Andrea Koop is a Grand Rapids native and plays professionally on the Association of Pickleball Players Tour.

She's world ranked in the top 20 of women's doubles.

I want you to break down the basics of the game for anyone out there like myself who know nothing about how this sport works.

All right, let's do it.

Well, you and I are standing at the kitchen line right now.

Ultimately, the goal in pickleball is for all four players to be up at the kitchen line.

Why is it called the kitchen line?

I have to ask that.

I don't know.

You'll have to ask the pickleball gods about that.

I don't know.

Yeah.

The interesting thing about the kitchen line is if the ball bounces, my feet can go inside.

If the ball does not bounce.

I have to reach in and I cannot put my feet inside this kitchen line.

What happens if you do do that?

It's a fault point over.

They win the point.

They win the point.

Gotcha.

Okay.

On this day, Andrea joined her good friend on tour, Lea Jansen, for a practice session here in Lansing.

Jansen is ranked number three in women's singles in the world rankings.

They discussed how they were bitten by the pickleball bug and what it's like being a pro.

So for you, Andrea, how did you become a pro?

I was grinding at my lawyer job, you know, working eight, nine, ten hour days.

And there, there were pro tournaments, but not that many.

And the money wasn't really great.

About 2019 is when real money started getting into Pickleball.

A couple of tours developed and we've just been the beneficiaries of it.

People think Pickleball is kind of stupid in the name and stuff, but you have to be really mentally tough to do it because the days are long.

We play 14 hour days weekend after weekend, so a lot of physical and mental toughness, I would say.

And that's what this next group of athletes are all about.

The Michigan State University Adaptive Sports and Recreation Club provides inclusive and accessible sports for students with physical disabilities.

And Pickleball has been on the menu for a few years now.

We have been working to add different sports every year.

A lot of students with disabilities don't have the opportunity to just play sport.

So I think it's so important that we give them that opportunity, even if it's at the college age.

I was born with a visual impairment called coloboma.

My pupil isn't completely filled in.

You can actually see my left eye is smaller than my right eye.

They told me about the adaptive sports program with Jody that she runs and it really kind of stuck with me as someone with a visual impairment.

It's in our pool.

I have a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia.

On campus, it's not easy to find your, like, niche or your group.

I got to contact Jody and she's like, Do you also want to do this thing called adaptive sports is for disabled people on campus or just anyone who wants to get involved.

And we're starting with pickleball, and it sounded super fun.

I mean, the reason we use it for adaptive rec is because it's so like flexible of a sport.

You can have people in wheelchairs play it.

You can have someone who is four foot one play against like my friend who is six foot one, and it's still considerably even.

It's just something that anyone can play.

To be honest with you, anyone can just pick up a paddle and have a ball in a net.

It's all around.

Just a good sport.

Fun sport.

(gym sounds) That was in!

Yeah!

One thing is pretty clear.

Pickleball is more than just a game.

It's a community.

It's a fitness regimen.

It's... well....

It's life.

It really is.

It's people and fun and movement and addiction.

And I may now be addicted as well.

With that knowledge.

Let's play.

All right.

I'm ready to do this now.

I'm prepared.

(Laughter) (Pickleball sounds and music) (music) Yes, the pickleball hype is real.

Our time is coming to a close.

But for even more Beyond the Score, digital extras and social media links, check us out online or on the PBS app.

I'm Al Martin and on behalf of our amazing team here at WKAR, I want to thank you for joining us.

Be easy, people.

Beyond the Score is supported in part by Capital Insurance Services, offering comprehensive personal and commercial insurance, including medical professional liability to Lansing and throughout Michigan since 1980.

More resources and information about offerings at capital insurance dot com.