Small West Michigan school takes a boat to play on Beaver Island

The boys basketball team from Wyoming West Michigan Lutheran poses on the ferry boat in Charlevoix, Mich., before making the two-hour ride to Beaver Island. (Courtesy photo of WM Lutheran). 

BEAVER ISLAND, Mich. - Taking a school bus to away games is pretty common in high school.

But taking a boat to a game is almost unheard of.

The Wyoming West Michigan Lutheran High School basketball team scheduled its season opener on Monday, Nov. 25, against Beaver Island Community School, which is on an island in Northern Michigan. 

To get there, they had to drive three hours to Charlevoix and take a two-hour ferry boat ride to the island.

“There were maybe a few guys with upset stomachs,” said Bennett Sinner, the WM Lutheran athletic director. “Kind of a unique experience. The boat was rocking the whole time. It’s the first time all of the guys were on a boat. So there was a shock factor for them.”

So how did a school from the Grand Rapids area end up playing on Beaver Island?

“Last year, our program struggled and we didn’t have a win,” Sinner said. “I was looking through the MHSAA website for other small schools that we could play and I found Beaver Island.”

The two schools likely have the smallest enrollment in the state. Beaver Island has just 21 kids and WM Lutheran is pretty close to that.

“There are 16 kids in the school,” Sinner said. “We’ve got eight boys on the team. So half the school plays. We have one boy who doesn’t play, but that’s it.”

The boys basketball team from Wyoming West Michigan Lutheran poses after playing Beaver Island Community School on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (Courtesy photo of WM Lutheran). 

The eight-player roster: Seniors Isak Swem and Christian Orr, junior Malachi Strother, sophomores An Pham and Logan Nielsen and freshmen Wyatt Rewa, Connor Reynolds and Levi Swem. They are coached by Julian Goodson.

“Awesome experience,” Goodson said. “Lots of firsts for our guys. The whole island felt like a museum. One of our first stops was to the museum where the boys got a chance to learn about the history of the island.”

The boys ended up beating Beaver Island 69-33. Strother had a game-high 24 points, Neilsen 14 and Levi Swem 10.

“After the game, they hung out with the kids from Beaver Island,” Sinner said. “They played video games and they had a blast.”

On such a long trip, the team had to stay the night after the game. But there aren’t any hotels on the island.

“It’s a tiny school on an island,” Sinner said. “There were no Air BnB’s. Just some expensive cottages. They said ‘we just have visiting teams sleep on the gym floor.’ But we ended up sleeping in the classrooms.”

Sinner said most visiting teams fly to Beaver Island for basketball games. But WM Lutheran couldn’t afford to do that. There also was a time crunch.

“The boat stops going to the island this week,” Sinner said. “So we had to do (the road trip) this week.”

Sinner graduated from Wyoming Tri-Unity Christian, where he played basketball. In fact, he just completed his basketball career at Aquinas College, where he played for four years. During his senior year, he also doubled as athletic director at WM Lutheran.   

So he understands how tricky it is to field a sports program at a small school.

“We just got off the ferry,” Sinnder said on Tuesday afternoon. “Kind of a unique experience. But it was a lot of fun.”

Goodson said the trip was a bonding experience.

“This trip will do well for us in the coming weeks from a chemistry standpoint,” he said. “A trip like this can create a bonding component that can propel you into a fun season. I already have ideas on how to make a trip like this an annual event.”

Bennett Sinner plays for Aquinas College on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. Sinner was a senior on the basketball team last season while doubling as athletic director at West Michigan Lutheran. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).