Michelle Welch |
Little girl, older brothers.
The brothers, who had six and nine years, respectively, on the little girl, welcomed her to the athletic fray at the family home on Michigan Street in Petoskey. They played sports, she played sports.
And they didn't give her an inch.
You playin'? Then you're playin'. Got it?
Get up and go. And keep up.
As a kid, Michelle Welch and her brothers, Dan and Chuck, spent plenty of time locked in competition. Basketball, whiffle ball, catch, whatever.
"I remember once I was playing one-on-one (basketball) with Dan," recalls Michelle Welch, now 28. "I must have been in the sixth-grade, fifth or sixth.
"I was guarding him and he was taking me down low. ... HIs shoulder hit my face and I had to peel my lip off my braces.
"I don't even think he felt bad about that. It's questionable."
Feel bad?
You playin'? Then you're PLAYIN'. Got it?
Get up and go. And keep up.
"They never took it easy on me," Welch says of her brothers, both of whom grew to be varsity athletes at Petoskey High School. "They would beat me to a pulp and laugh about it. My brothers would do anything to me and it was, 'You're fine. Stop crying.' No sympathy.
"Basketball was more of a Dan-and-I thing. He would be nice enough to play one-on-one with me. But as soon as his friends called, he was out the door."
Leaving little Michelle alone in the driveway, ball in hand, dreams in mind.
And the seeds of competitiveness firmly planted, taking root, beginning to grow, nurtured, perhaps, by the occasional tear brought on by a brother's elbow, a curveball that spun into and out of the dirt and found Michelle somewhere other than her glove.
From the driveway, the little Welch girl blossomed into a tenacious competitor, taking her game, her attitude -- Get up and go. And keep up. -- to the courts and fields of Petoskey High School.
And when it was all said and done by the spring of 2000, she was one of the very best athletes the school has ever seen, and joined the most-select of company in earning 12 varsity letters at the school, only the third female athlete in school history to do so.
On Thursday, March 3, Michelle Welch will join another very select group when she is enshrined in the Petoskey Athletic Hall of Fame.
The brothers, who had six and nine years, respectively, on the little girl, welcomed her to the athletic fray at the family home on Michigan Street in Petoskey. They played sports, she played sports.
And they didn't give her an inch.
You playin'? Then you're playin'. Got it?
Get up and go. And keep up.
As a kid, Michelle Welch and her brothers, Dan and Chuck, spent plenty of time locked in competition. Basketball, whiffle ball, catch, whatever.
"I remember once I was playing one-on-one (basketball) with Dan," recalls Michelle Welch, now 28. "I must have been in the sixth-grade, fifth or sixth.
"I was guarding him and he was taking me down low. ... HIs shoulder hit my face and I had to peel my lip off my braces.
"I don't even think he felt bad about that. It's questionable."
Feel bad?
You playin'? Then you're PLAYIN'. Got it?
Get up and go. And keep up.
"They never took it easy on me," Welch says of her brothers, both of whom grew to be varsity athletes at Petoskey High School. "They would beat me to a pulp and laugh about it. My brothers would do anything to me and it was, 'You're fine. Stop crying.' No sympathy.
"Basketball was more of a Dan-and-I thing. He would be nice enough to play one-on-one with me. But as soon as his friends called, he was out the door."
Leaving little Michelle alone in the driveway, ball in hand, dreams in mind.
And the seeds of competitiveness firmly planted, taking root, beginning to grow, nurtured, perhaps, by the occasional tear brought on by a brother's elbow, a curveball that spun into and out of the dirt and found Michelle somewhere other than her glove.
From the driveway, the little Welch girl blossomed into a tenacious competitor, taking her game, her attitude -- Get up and go. And keep up. -- to the courts and fields of Petoskey High School.
And when it was all said and done by the spring of 2000, she was one of the very best athletes the school has ever seen, and joined the most-select of company in earning 12 varsity letters at the school, only the third female athlete in school history to do so.
On Thursday, March 3, Michelle Welch will join another very select group when she is enshrined in the Petoskey Athletic Hall of Fame.
