Message From the Executive Director …

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Earlier this fall, I began a column, which attempted to address philosophies we hold at the Athletic Union, or outline procedures we utilize for everything from tournament assignments to the selection process for state tournament hosts.  These columns were born from a need and desire to communicate better with all stakeholders of our interscholastic athletic programs.

The next step in this process is development of a monthly electronic newsletter, which debuts this month.  While you can read it on our web site around the first of each month, we now have the capability of delivering a monthly electronic version to your mailbox.  Click HERE to add your email address to our database to receive this monthly newsletter (Be sure to put “subscribe” in the subject box).  This column will be one feature of that monthly newsletter.   We are also developing an on-line calendar for all unified activity events that you can review through this newsletter.  Feel free to contact me, or Jason Eslinger, the newsletter editor, to offer suggestions for content that you feel would best serve those interested in interscholastic athletics.

In November, my column dealt specifically with conduct counts, and the guidelines put in place last year by the four activity associations (IGHSAU, IHSAA, IHSSA – speech & debate, IHSMA – music) for spectator conduct at our events.  In general, I would rate the behavior of our coaches and participants as exceptional, and the behavior of spectators as generally exceptional.  However, like everything, one coach whose emotions overtake good judgment can cause all coaches a black eye.  Likewise, one or two fans in the stands can impact the reputation and image of an entire community and its schools.  Thus, rules were put in place to regulate the small percentage of fans that have trouble acting appropriately at our events.

All too often we encounter fans that have lost perspective – the reality of why we even play sports.  The sole objective behind the fact schools spend educational dollars to sponsor interscholastic athletics is to offer an educational opportunity outside the classroom, and help prepare students to be successful throughout their adult lives.  As I wrote in an earlier message, our purpose is not to prepare students to earn a college scholarship, or to garner all-state recognition.   In fact, if the objective of interscholastic athletics changes away from education and development of the student, then we must re-evaluate the merit in spending educational dollars to fund interscholastic competition.

When someone loses perspective, it impacts their judgment.  We go after coaches because our kids don’t play enough, or our teams don’t win enough.   Yet, I’ve never heard of anyone looking to replace a coach because that coach wasn’t providing educational benefit to his/her student participants.  We scream at officials, threatening them with bodily harm, yet such an act would be considered criminal if it happened in your workplace.

What has prompted the loss of perspective?  What has changed so much over time that the four activity organizations were prompted to draft guidelines for spectator behavior? 

When I graduated from LDF High School in 1984, other than little league baseball starting at age 9 or 10, the first opportunity I had to participate was in my school-based junior high programs.  The first real experience of competition for my parents and me was in this educational setting.  Today my own daughters, ages 7 and 11, have been playing various sports since age 4.  The purpose of these teams wasn’t educational.  The purpose I’ve observed has been for fun (at times, this gets lost), and skill development.  Peers of my 11 year old have been split into “elite” groups that travel through the state and around the Midwest.  (Sorry, but in my own mind, no one is “elite” at age 10)  The purpose of these teams is skill development.   

By the time those kids get into high school, one of two things has happened.  Either the kids have been burned out, or those who weren’t “elite” enough at age 10 have quit sports and moved onto something else.  Either way, those kids are not taking part in one of the greatest opportunities we can offer as a part of their educational development. 

Others do stay active into the high school program.  Families have spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars in preparation for the inevitable college scholarship.  When kids don’t succeed at a level that is satisfactory to the parents, it becomes the fault of the officials, the coaches or even the school administration.  Sadly, too many parents see their kids enter high school athletics and expect a return on investment for the time and money spent in youth programs. 

While youth sports are certainly not solely to blame for the ills in our high school gyms, it is harder and harder to re-instate the proper perspective in the parents’ minds when their child enters school programs.

The attention given interscholastic athletics is both a blessing and a curse.  A blessing from the standpoint that activity participation can be every bit as important as the classroom to a student’s overall development.  The credibility, respect and attention activities receive make it easier to drive students in those programs.  However, the curse comes as we overemphasize the value of activities, to the point the value can only become realized when success is achieved.

While we have established Conduct Counts guidelines to regulate spectator behavior, there are three simple philosophies that, when followed, will ensure students get the most out of our programs, and allow us to take down Conduct Counts posters because spectator issues will become a thing of the past.

1) Never refer to high school students who participate in athletics as “student-athletes.”  That is a term that should be reserved for collegiate programs.  In our programs, everyone is a student – nothing more, nothing less.

2) Cheer for and support every student who participates, including those who do not share your last name.  Students make an important decision when they choose to participate in interscholastic athletics.  There are a number of things they could choose to be involved with that have no educational benefit.  When they choose to enhance their education, they deserve your support. 

3) Ask your coaches what you can do FOR the program, not TO it.  Just like you may volunteer to help out the school PTA or booster club, offer to help your coaches.  In the end, you will provide a benefit to your child, as well as everyone else on the team, though your efforts.  You cannot judge the success of a coach by the wins and losses.  The only way to judge a coach is 10 years down the line, when you see the person your child has become as an adult, and how the influence of that coach helped shape your son or daughter.

I regularly get calls from parents who want to fire a coach or allege misconduct because another “favored” student plays.  Parents have pulled their kids out of school and open-enrolled for the last year or two of high school because of playing time – with no consideration to how that impacts their total education.  We’ve even had more than a handful of parents actually file for divorce and re-assign custody of their child so eligibility can be established immediately in another district. 

In the end, it comes down to goals and objectives.  It is the ultimate objective we must keep in perspective as we strive for goals along the way.  We want to recognize those who are successful in athletics just as we recognize those who succeed in the classroom through National Honor Society or valedictorian awards.  All tournament awards and championship trophies are means to do just this.  But these awards are goals for every participant and can be objectives for none.  Making the team, being a starter, all-stater or playing at the next level are great goals as well.  But, we don’t teach in our classrooms with the National Honor Society as the defining objective of an education.   Similarly we can’t teach in the athletic arena with a college scholarship as the defining objective of an education.