As the school year ends, we're reminded that tremendous high school sports stories aren't just limited to the fields of play. Eventually your playing days will end, what comes then?
Tri-County senior Maisy Nielson has already found her answer.
"It was really tough, but I think it's fun now," she said. "Come back into it and do something different, different feel."
Maisy gave up the games, put on the headphones and became a broadcaster. "If I'm not going to play it, I might as well do something else with it," she said.
She never wanted to quit playing, but she faced a tough situation. She was being bullied in school, so she walked away.
"It was middle school. As you know, middle schoolers," she explained. "Middle school basketball. So I stopped playing basketball after middle school and I played one year of volleyball in high school and that was it."
So, Maisy decided to jumpstart her career in sports journalism and become a color analyst for high school basketball and football games.
In 2017, Maisy's mother connected her with Dave Princer of Michigan Sports Radio and her parents also helped her to overcome being bullied with a simple but impactful message.
"Just gotta ignore it and keep going."
She called boys basketball games during the state playoffs -- she was even on the mic for the state finals games at the Breslin Center in March. Maisy was also nominated for prom queen and she graduated in May as a Salutatorian with a 3.99 GPA.
"You've gotta live your life, you can't live someone else's life," she said. "You've gotta do your own life."
Maisy says she doesn't feel like she's a mentor. But she offers a powerful message to any person dealing with adversity, especially bullying. "Never give up. Maybe this path doesn't take you where you want to go, so take another one."
Maisy's life will take her to Michigan State in the fall, where she plans to study sports journalism. She says she didn't think she'd be behind the broadcast table so soon, but life is about finding your own happiness.
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