Creators of the annual Football Addix All-Star Game along with area high school coaches announced today details regarding the third annual event. The 2018 game, featuring top seniors, will be played on June 8 at Hope College’s Ray and Sue Smith Stadium.
Coaches for Team Stripes include Benton Harbor head coach Elliot Uzelac, along with Portage Central’s Mick Enders and Battle Creek Central’s Lorin Granger, Battle Creek Central. Team Stripes’ players and fans will be cheered on by the Portage Northern cheerleaders who are coached by Heather Prentice.
The Team Stars coaching staff includes Matt Bird of Grand Ledge and Andrew Pratley of Holland. The Caledonia community cheerleaders, coached by Stacie Smith, will provide support for the Stars’ players and fans.
The game will continue to generate awareness and funds for Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids. Since the first game in 2016, the Addix All-Star Game has raised a total of $40,000, which supports the free cancer and grief programs offered through Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids.
The game will be played at Hope College in Holland and will include players from a broader geographic area. The expanded geography for players to be nominated includes the Indiana state line to the south, Traverse City to the north, Lansing to the east and Lake Michigan to the west.
Student-athletes, who will graduate in 2018, will have the opportunity to be nominated as participants in the game through an online process at www.addixgear.com/allstargame. The head coach of each student-athlete must confirm the nomination for the athlete to be eligible for selection. A team of sports reporters from West Michigan will select players, who will be assigned to one of two teams—the Stars, or the Stripes. Player nominations must be submitted before 11:59 p.m., Feb. 4, 2018.
“Because of the success and responses from the broader football community, it has become clear that we needed to include a larger geography for selecting players to the Addix All-Star Game,” said Ryan Henderson, president of Football Addix and co-creator of the all-star game. “We were beginning to receive nominations from beyond our original planned boundaries, and we realized the impact this game is having on the area’s top athletes.”
