34 | NOVEMBER 21 • 2019 quick hits BY STEVE STEIN sports HIGHlights brought to you in partnership with NMLS#2289 S outhfield native Justin Prinstein has been enamored with baseball since a young age. He was a scholarship player at George Washington University, made his professional debut overseas, graduated from University of Detroit-Mercy’ s law school and was a major league scout for the Baltimore Orioles organi- zation. Now, Prinstein, 35, is using his baseball knowl- edge to enhance Detroit’ s youth. Prinstein is the exec- utive director and founder of International Stars Baseball, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organiza- tion. The idea of the International Stars Baseball Academy came to Prinstein when he was in law school trying to find a place to train in Detroit. The only option he could find that had the netting and space he needed was at the Boll Family YMCA in Detroit. In 2012, Prinstein decided he wanted kids in Detroit to be able to play the sport he was passionate about. He began to host weekly baseball clinics at the YMCA that were free and open to kids ranging from ages 5-14. During this time, Prinstein met Larry White, a mainte- nance man at the YMCA, who helped him run the clinics. Prinstein’ s father, Jay, also became active in the weekly clinics. From there, the organi- zation continued to grow. International Stars decided to enter a team comprised of kids from their winter baseball clinics into the 2013 Detroit Police Athletic League (PAL)/ RBI summer league. White was named the head coach of this team and serves as the academy director. Today, International Stars has four teams playing leagues during the spring, summer and fall. This year, their 14u team won the Detroit PAL summer league. Prinstein also has had a couple of the teams finish in the top places in the Detroit Legends League, which takes place in the spring and fall. “We have turned our pro- gram from kids who have never picked up a bat before to one of the most competitive city teams by far,” Prinstein said. “That’ s a testament to our coaching staff and our kids.” Although Prinstein is the sole executive director for International Stars Baseball Academy, the academy wouldn’ t be where it is today without the support from Coach White. “He goes out of his way to mentor these kids. He’ s like everyone’ s uncle,” Prinstein said. “He doesn’ t get paid for this; he does it out of the good- ness of his heart. His sons, Layton and Landon, and White himself are on the ground picking these kids up from Baseball Academy Justin Prinstein strengthens Detroit’ s youth through baseball. CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER Jason Boschan’ s quest to run a half-marathon in every state in honor of his late grandfather took him to Lincoln, Neb., on Nov. 3. Boschan, formerly of Bloomfield Hills, was one of more than 6,500 runners who competed in the Good Life Halfsy in Nebraska. That was half-mar- athon No. 23 of 50 for Boschan, whose Run4Papa effort raises funds for Alzheimer’ s disease research. Papa is Boschan’ s late grandfather, Dr. Louis Heyman of Bloomfield Hills, who suffered from dementia before passing away in 2013 at age 88. Boschan self-funds his trips to races. All the donations to Run4Papa go to Northwestern University’ s Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’ s Disease. Several runners besides Boschan ran the race in Nebraska with “R4P” writ- ten on their hands. Boschan is one of about 1,000 people who has run a marathon on all seven continents and run in all six major mara- thons — Boston, London, Chicago, New York, Berlin and Tokyo. Josh Nodler scored his first collegiate goal. The Michigan State University freshman center from Oak Park put the puck in the net Nov. 2 during the third period of the Spartans’ 6-2 loss to No. 4-ranked Cornell at Munn Ice Arena. It was a power play goal, a one-timer from the right circle, and it came with the Spartans down 5-0. “(Scoring a goal) is definitely a weight off my shoulder and it was nice to do it in front of the home crowd,” Nodler told the State News. MSU coach Danton Cole is expecting a lot from Nodler even though Nodler is a freshman. The Berkley High School graduate and 2019 Jewish News High School Athlete of the Year was a fifth-round choice of the Calgary Flames in the NHL draft this summer. Dr. Louis Heyman and Jason Boschan Coach Larry White gives hitting tips. PHOTOS BY ALLISON FARRAND Executive Director and founder Justin Prinstein talks to kids after winter training.