Jeff Collins, principal of Portsmouth (New Hampshire) High School for the past eight years, will become executive director of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA), effective July 1, replacing Pat Corbin.
The mascot at Gurdon (Arkansas) High School – the Go-Devil – reflects the schools’ location in timber country.
A go-devil is a piece of logging equipment that was used to harvest trees before the automation of the logging industry. It is a sled that resembles a cannon caisson, but without the cannon. Logs are placed in the middle of the go-devil, chained down and pulled out of the woods by mules.
Sports provide an arena for acceptance among students and an opportunity for students to develop leadership abilities. The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) is doing more than just focusing on good sportsmanship – it also is promoting positive leadership.
“The goal of ‘We are CHSAA’ was to use the natural leadership of students to help schools become more inclusive to all students – to be the people that stop bullying when it’s happening in the halls,” said CHSAA Assistant Commissioner Bert Borgmann.
Unified Sports programs have been developed in many states across the country and the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) is one of the latest state associations to become involved with its programs in track and field, soccer, basketball and volleyball.
“We started three years ago with soccer, basketball and outdoor track. We have now added volleyball,” said Pat Corbin, NHIAA executive director.
Two softball players from Texas – Tori Vidales of La Porte High School and Jamie Madison of Groesbeck High School – recently hit four home runs in a single game and accomplished the feat three days apart.
Acts of sportsmanship by the schools in the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) do not go unrecognized. Each year, since 1991, the FHSAA has awarded schools that display exemplary sportsmanship with the Fred E. Rozelle Sportsmanship Award.
What item is most commonly requested by soldiers with head injuries upon their return to the United States?
This question was posed to the listeners of a Boston radiocast in 2007. University of New Hampshire (UNH) Senior Associate Athletic Director Dot Sheehan had tuned in and discovered the answer – a baseball cap.
Rick Bowden, assistant executive director of the Kansas State High School Athletic Association (KSHSAA) from 1993 to 2011, was posthumously selected as the recipient of the KSHSAA Governor’s Award.
Becky Oakes, director of sports at the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS),was one of 15 individuals inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame at the January 26 induction ceremony in Springfield Missouri.
After spending the past 16 years with the National Federation of State High School Associations, Director of Coach Education Tim Flannery is retiring this summer.
Flannery joined the NFHS in 1998 as assistant director and worked primarily with the NFHS Coaches Association as well as rules responsibilities in the sports of swimming and soccer.
The fact that high school athletic events haven’t often been the targets of violent attacks doesn’t mean schools should forgo precautions.
The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) is trying to make sure schools are prepared if such an attack were to occur by expanding its initiative to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA).
“We were very, very happy,” said Dale Gabor of the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) regarding the first year of wheelchair track and field events.
The OHSAA introduced wheelchair events in the 100, 400 and 800 meters, along with the shot put, during the 2012-13 school year. According to Gabor, the OHSAA spent a year learning the rules and regulations based on the Paralympic Committee Guidelines.
When the football team from Meade High School in Fort Meade, Maryland, ventured into inner-city Baltimore this past October, to volunteer with Happy Helpers for the Homeless at the Our Daily Bread Employment Center, some of the players were apprehensive, having never been to the city.
“The goal was to get away from the military base and the suburbs and learn to interact with people from various backgrounds,” Coach Rich Holzer said.
Sherman Sylling, who has been the executive secretary of the North Dakota High School Activities Association (NDHSAA) since 1999, will retire following the 2013-14 school year. Prior to joining the North Dakota association, Sylling was superintendent of schools in North Dakota for 29 years.
Each time she stepped to the foul line over a 21-game stretch, Lakin Preisner of Allen (Kansas) Northern Heights High School never missed a free throw. When her streak of 120 consecutive made free throws ended, she had earned a national record.
Preisner’s streak ended when she missed a free throw in Northern Heights’ 52-35 victory over Herington (Kansas) High School. It was the first free throw she’s missed since the fourth game of the 2012-13 season.
New Haven (Connecticut) Achievement First Amistad High School junior Kayla Samuel didn’t win the 2013 Connecticut State Cross Country Championship. Instead, she reminded student-athletes and spectators that acts of sportsmanship still exist by helping Maryn Vaillancourt, a junior at Sacred Heart High School, cross the finish line after an injury.
Lolo Jones isn’t waiting until 2016 to compete on the Olympic stage again; she’s headed to Sochi, Russia this month to compete as an Olympic bobsledder.
A Summer and Winter Olympian, Jones is a graduate of Des Moines (Iowa) Roosevelt High School where she was the state’s fastest 100-meter hurdler.
After leading the Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA) for eight years as executive director, John Billetz has announced his retirement.
Billetz replaced Bill Young in 2006. Young had spent 18 years as the IHSAA before retiring.
One of the many tasks required by an athletic director is maintaining and remodeling the athletic facilities. One of the biggest facilities is the school’s track and field competition area.
The 2012 National Athletic Directors Conference featured a presentation by Don Smith, the track division president of the American Sports Builders Association (ASBA), about the reconstruction of a high school track surrounding a football or soccer field.
The Youngstown (Ohio) City School District (YCSD) has a new initiative – the reinstatement of the speech and debate program.
Until 2006, the YCSD had an active speech and debate program, including state and national tournament qualifiers. In 2006, when the district was facing financial strain, the speech and debate program was discontinued.