Follow up letter to Directors

We wanted to send each of you a sincere thank you, albeit belatedly, for taking the time out from your busy schedules to meet with us regarding our “Every Player, Every Game” idea. We think that the meeting proved to be very productive, as each of us gained insight to the others’ perspectives. It also confirmed for us how fortunate we are to live in a School District, where the administration truly cares about the quality of each child’s school and sports experience.

There are still, however, a few areas of concern. The point was made at the meeting that varsity sports were the equivalent of “AP Phys Ed”. We can appreciate the advanced nature of each sport and level of competition at the varsity level. But to complete the analogy, every AP student in any AP class gets to participate in the labs or tests. No one is asked to sit out of a particular chemistry or physics lab because the concept being illustrated might be beyond their skill level. The elite musical ensembles offered at schools allow each band member to play each piece. Not every player expects to get a solo, however. The same should be true of sports.

As for the surveys conducted in past years at the end of each sport’s season, the survey identified the problem perfectly: the team members that get to play, love the sports program. Team members that don’t play, are dissatisfied. We couldn't have said it better ourselves. It’s not that the surveys were uninformative, on the contrary, they were dead on. What needs to happen next is to find ways to improve the satisfaction level of those on the lower end of the survey spectrum. It is exactly this problem that led us to developing the “Every Player, Every Game” concept. More playing time would be an obvious solution to those that are disgruntled with the current system. Another positive step would be the student/team-captain board to which we alluded at the meeting. Removing, or at least distancing, the coaches from the “complaint department manager” function would certainly be well received by the coaches. Players and parents would also appreciate the elimination of the emotional and confrontational nature of voicing suggestions, opinions or complaints directly to the coaches.

With open dialogue, open minds, and a willingness to keep each student’s success at school and in sports as a primary goal, we feel confident that these issues will be fully addressed and overcome.It was a pleasure meeting and working with each of you, and we look forward to assisting in any way possible to achieve this worthy goal.

Meeting with the administrators

We did have a meeting with the Superintendent of Schools, the Assistant to the Superintendent, and the Athletic Director. Everyone expressed their ideas and concerns regarding the Every Player, Every Game concept and the current status of high school sports.

Areas of concern included how this might be implemented in sports such as golf, tennis, or track. The expectations of parents and the community to provide a "winning" program. And the pressure each coach faces to meet these expectations. How varsity sports were deemed to be the competetive level of sports while JV and Freshman sports are instructional.

It was highlighted that the NYSPHAA Code of Ethics makes no mention that schools are required to provide a winning program nor to make Varsity sports a highly competitive program.

The discussion lasted for about 45 minutes and concluded with some ideas that the Athletic Director will be introducing next year. All agreed that the meeting was very beneficial and that all parties are interested in making the athletic program the very best, a well rounded and rewarding experience.

Board of Ed update

Our local Board of Education did not contact us for a while so we contacted them. We called and left a message for the Superintendent of Schools and one of his assistants called back. The assistant was very helpful and we had a productive discussion for over twenty minutes. The Assistant thought the idea held enough merit to schedule a meeting with herself, the Athletic Director, and indicated that the Superintendent might sit in as well.

AAU should be applauded

There is an AAU organization in our area that has recently come out with a Coaches Code of Conduct. Their document captures the spirit of the Every Player, Every Game idea and puts it into a document that their coaches have to read and sign! The document has been edited to remove their name, but you can still understand the text. This organization should be applauded for their efforts!

Coaches Code of Conduct
The function of a coach is to encourage, develop, and educate all players participating in
THE _____ _____ AAU. Skills, sportsmanship, and teamwork should be taught and
promoted. Each player should be treated with the belief that the welfare of the player is the
coach's uppermost concern. To promote these ideals THE _____ _____ AAU has
adopted the following Code of Conduct that all coaches must adhere to.
• THE _____ _____ AAU Coach shall be aware that he or she has a
tremendous influence - both positive and negative - on the development of the
player.
• THE _____ _____ AAU Coach shall never place the value of winning above
that of instilling the highest ideals of character.
• THE _____ _____ AAU Coach shall uphold the honor and dignity of the
sport, organization, and league in all personal contact with participating players,
parents, coaches, officials, administrators, league officials, spectators and public.
• THE _____ _____ AAU Coach shall strive to set an example of the highest
moral and ethical conduct.
• THE _____ _____ AAU Coach shall avoid the use of alcohol and tobacco
products when coaching players.
• THE _____ _____ AAU Coach will select a Team Mom if they are a male and
do not have a female Assistant Coach.
• THE _____ _____ AAU Coach will encourage the parents to provide feedback
via our website WWW._____
• THE _____ _____ AAU Coach shall strive to master the sport of ______
rules and shall teach these rules to his/her team members. The coach shall not seek
an advantage by circumvention of the spirit or letter of the rules.
• THE _____ _____ AAU Coach shall exert his/her influence to encourage
sportsmanship by spectators.
• THE _____ _____ Coach shall respect and support officials. The
_____ _____ AAU Coach shall not indulge in conduct which would incite
players or spectators against the officials.
• THE _____ _____ AAU Coach shall initiate an exchange of cordial greetings
between competing teams.
I acknowledge that I am an extension of THE _____ _____ AAU organization and
agree to conduct myself in a fashion that will bring pride to THE _____ _____ AAU. I
will abide by the Code of Conduct.

Board of Education meeting

We attended our first Board of Education meeting and made our statement during the Public Comment section of the meeting. Being that it was our first BOE meeting, it did not go as smoothly as we would have liked but the Board listened attentively and asked a question or two after the presentation. The Athletic Director was present as well. We are still awaiting a response from the BOE and/or the Athletic Director.

The next step

We've sent letters to our local high school athletic director and our high school's board of education. We have also sent a letter to Nina Van Erk, the Executive Director at the NYSPHSAA. We are still waiting for responses from them.

Next up, we will be sending letters to the Executive Staff, Association Officers, and the Central and Executive Committee Members of NYSPHSAA. All of this in hopes of finding an advocate within the system that can help change the current policies.

Feedback

We have received a lot of positive feedback from parents, players, and coaches. Thank you to everyone who has shown their support in verbal conversation and by e-mail. We have changed the comments setting so you can leave an anonymous comment on the blog. The following comments are copied from e-mails we received but the senders names have been removed:

-"What a beautiful letter. As a (person) who works with troubled juveniles I second your call for athletics to be run for the benefit of the kids as opposed to adult coaching or spectating interests. Putting the interests of our children above the "winning at all costs" philosophy of coaches and spectators is long overdue. As a parent whose daughter was involved in year-round sports for about 5 years I have seen some atrocious displays by coaches, spectators , and even referees. The coaches and referees that I admired during this period were the ones who were sensitive to the children's needs. [I have often wondered what would happen in women's school sports if only women coached and refereed. Perhaps its time to float the idea. I would guess that the male coaches would be a bit more sensitive as a result]. Your call is well overdue and I support your efforts. Let me know if there is any assistance I can provide."

-"WOW!!!! I was totally blown away by your letter. I think you've touched on every point there was to touch on, and if this doesn't change things for players all across the board in every sport, I truly don't know what will. In my wildest imagine I never could have written anything so powerful yet so basic and simple.
Being one of the many parents who have suffered through watching their child sit the bench and cry afterwards, I thank you so much for taking the time and caring enough to appeal to the "higher ups". If it changes nothing then that says alot about the real ideals and goals of our athletic department/coaches. I will be very surprised though if that is the case."

-"Well done. If there is anything I can do to help support your initiative please let me know.
.....Your proposed plan is sound and I believe that AAU basketball has proven that. Every player, every game...."