Iowa GirlsÕ High School Athletic Union

Strategic Plan 2008-2013 (Tentative)

October 11, 2007

 

Click here to download a PDF of the IGHSAU Strategic Plan

 

Mission Statement

The Mission of the Iowa GirlsÕ High School Athletic Union is to govern fair, safe and sportsmanlike interscholastic competition in a manner which emphasizes the educational enhancement of all participants.

 

Environmental Analysis

The Athletic Union is committed to monitoring, analyzing and understanding the changing environment in which it operates. In doing so, it will adjust its operations and outcomes to address the needs of its member schools. The Athletic Union also recognizes it will have little if any impact on this changing environment. Environmental factors include:

 

á        Changing demographic trends related to student population increasing in metropolitan areas and decreasing in rural areas

á        Aging of population of coaches, officials and administrators

á        Impact (positive and negative) of school district reorganization including increased academic opportunities, decreased activity opportunities because of fewer teams, games, etc., greater costs due to increased travel distances

á        Impact of Federal regulations, including No Child Left Behind, on member schools

á        Impact of State regulations, including elimination of the budget guarantee, on member schools

á        Continued proliferation of participation opportunities outside of school programs

á        Actions of the State Board of Education and/or State Legislature which may impact participation opportunities

á        Lack of meaningful growth of funding for interscholastic activities at the local level

 

In addition to these external environmental factors, the Athletic Union must carefully assess internal factors, both present and future, including:

 

á        Whether the physical facility housing the Athletic Union is conducive to organizational growth

á        Whether the organizational name and its marks clearly represent the ongoing activities it supports and sponsors

á        In the immediate 5-10 year period, a significant percentage of Athletic Union senior staff will be eligible for retirement

á        Funding for current operations would be significantly impacted by a reduction in the number of schools due to consolidation

 

 

Assumptions

No long-range plan will be successful if the assumptions on which it is based are not clearly stated. The assumptions we have considered include:

 

á        The Athletic Union will continue its commitment of providing high quality tournament series in each of the activities it sponsors

á        The Athletic Union will continue its commitment of providing high quality services to its member schools, coaches, officials and activity program administrators

á        The Athletic Union will continue to be one of four organizations authorized by the Department of Education through a 28E agreement to govern interscholastic activities in Iowa

á        The Athletic Union will receive no appropriation of funds. Rather, the majority of operational funds will continue to be derived from existing sources such as tournament attendance receipts, registration fees and vendor rights fees

á        The Athletic Union will continue to financially support the Iowa High School Speech Association with direct payments of at least $130,000, as well as in-kind contributions such as office space and associated incidentals

á        There will be no changes in the composition of the existing management team

á        Existing tournament co-sponsorships with the Iowa High School Athletic Association will be maintained

 

Objectives

In this area of the strategic plan, we outline specific, achievable and measurable objectives for all aspects of our organization.

 

á        Ensure the educational basis for interscholastic activities remains in focus

á        Ensure member schools have input in Athletic Union operations

á        Student participation rates will increase annually during the term of this plan

á        The Athletic Union will increase non-ticket revenue and increase allowances paid to state tournament participating teams during the five year term of this plan

á        Increase involvement with strategic partners to provide member schools and students with benefits and resources not currently available

á        Promote and improve educational opportunities for coaches and officials

 

Strategies

For each objective, specific enabling strategies are written. These are the steps that will be necessary to achieve each objective.

 

á        Ensure Educational Basis

o       Conduct a comprehensive review of the literature addressing the benefits of student participation in interscholastic activities and publish this information. In the absences of such research:

o       Commission a comprehensive study to provide the best data available regarding the benefits of student participation in interscholastic activities, including but not limited to assessments of: academic benefits at both the high school and post-secondary levels; lifestyle and behavior traits; post-graduate job level and compensation

 

á        Ensure Input

o       Conduct regular surveys seeking input from the membership, compile results and report back to the membership

o       Seek greater involvement of the Representative Council in the policy making process including but not limited to regularly scheduled meetings between members of the Board of Directors and their respective Representative Council members

o       Alter advisory committee composition; rather than appointments made by management, offer application opportunities to all member school coaches, while at the same time assuring diversity and balance of gender, races, urban/rural, etc

o       Sport specific surveys of coaches at state tournaments

o       Provide increased information to member schools and public through the web site and increased activation of an electronic newsletter

o       Participate in every AEA superintendentsÕ meeting at least every other year, athletic director meetings annually, and conference meetings every three years

 

á        Increase Participation Rates

o       Evaluate existing programs and consider sanction of new programs which already exist in some form within our member schools

o       Develop ways for retention and expansion of participation opportunities normally lost due to consolidation of programs

 

á        Increase revenue & optimize expenses

o       Develop new marketing opportunities to ensure revenue sharing milestones with the Iowa High School Sports Network are surpassed

o       Expand merchandise rights to include clothing beyond T-shirts, and start a line of logoed merchandise not associated with a state tournament

o       Bring sale of souvenir program advertising in-house

o       Maximize revenues opportunities for ball contracts

o       Utilize strategic partners to provide services which will impact bottom line growth

o       Evaluate total dollars paid to schools as a supplement for tournament participation, and increase those supplements in sports which the largest gap with actual expenses occurs

o       Work with member schools to increase participation at local levels which will provide greater operating revenues for member schools and increase the crowd base of individual schools

 

á        Increase strategic partnerships

o       Seek a partner to take a more active role in addressing childhood obesity and healthy eating

o       Investigate collaboration with a strategic partner(s) to develop and implement criminal history checks of all IGHSAU licensed officials

o       Investigate the feasibility of developing and implementing a member group purchasing program for equipment, uniforms and other items for all sanctioned programs

 

á        Promote Coaches and Officials Education

o       Maintain and expand the current licensure workshop for coaches

o       Provide ethical and legal training updates for coaches and officials

o       Expand rule meeting to include legal issues

o       Develop playing videos to assist coaches and officials

o       Strive to increase the ratio of coaches who are also teachers

 

 

Evaluation

The Athletic Union will set up a system by which the progress in achieving each objective is monitored, and feedback is provided to the appropriate persons. The Representative Council will monitor plan progress at its fall (November) and summer (June) meetings. The Board of Directors will have a monthly line item which calls for review of the plan and activity since the prior meeting which addresses an aspect of the plan.