School Athletics in 2018 – How To Do It Well

Scott G. McNevan, MBA

Assistant Head of School – Co-Curriculars & Residential Life

Athletic Director

It has been said routinely by coaches and administrators for years that ‘athletics are an extension of the classroom’.  This very American mantra (most countries do not embrace athletics so formally in their school systems) is more true today than ever.  As technology annually provides our students with more and more opportunity for inactive stimulation, it can be argued that the value of participating in organized school sports is at an all-time high.  While the value is inherently there, just as it is for learning about literature or social sciences, the delivery is something that many schools take for granted and should re-evaluate.  How can schools deliver quality athletic programming well in 2018? 

DEFINE SUCCESS

The traditional measures of athletic success are performance-based statistics.  How many games did the team win?  How many points did the player score?  How many saves did the goalkeeper make?  Similar to test scores in the classroom, these quantitative measurements provide us with information about output.  In this way stats are used to identify high performing teams and individuals.  However, it is very important for school leadership to avoid over-prioritizing traditional stats as the only measure of success.  In over-focusing on wins and losses we lose one of sport’s most teachable moments, context-based reflection.  In addition to competitive results, defining success for a school’s athletic teams and programs must include other contextual considerations like the starting point of pre-season expectations, injuries and other adversity throughout a season, the amount of improvement over time, academic performance of athletes, graduation rates, and representation of community core values.  It is a valuable exercise for school leadership to pause and reflect on what contextual considerations are most important to them outside of competitive results.  The real benefactors of this reflection are the student-athletes, who can begin to learn that winning and losing are relative and that defining success is context-based. 

ALIGN WITH THE MISSION

Every school has a mission statement.  Most athletic departments have a mission statement.  The exercise of creating a mission is important and valuable work.  It helps an organization realize its identity.  However, more important than creating a mission is living it out in day to day operations.  The mission is the lighthouse.  It is there to guide operating decisions through the good and the bad.  When things seem troubled and confusing, the mission is there as a beacon, helping a school to stay on course.  For athletics to be done well, the department, like all others at the school, must align with the mission.  School leadership must be very intentional about its athletic policies, ensuring that decisions are made with intent to reflect the mission, rather than in an arbitrary fashion. As an example, at Andrews Osborne Academy our mission is to develop students who can lead and serve in a global community.  To ensure our student-athletes don’t confuse team goals with the mission, we support participation in school activities outside of athletics, even during the season. This year the senior captain of the boys’ varsity basketball team also pursued a lead role in a school theatre production.  Restricting him from doing this due to ‘team commitments’ would not have aligned with our mission.  By being a part of both experiences, he is becoming more prepared to lead and serve in his community going forward.  

KEEP PERSPECTIVE ON THE LANDSCAPE

The landscape of youth sports has been changing steadily for the past twenty years.  Much has been documented about the rise of club sports, the loss of unstructured play due to technology, and the more frequent participation in year-round training for kids.  Despite one’s opinions on these topics, it is vital for a school to recognize and accept the reality of this landscape.  We are incapable of changing the greater environment of youth sports.  However, we are very capable of considering the realities of that environment and then being creative.  Many schools have made the mistake of taking a defensive posture regarding their athletics, asking families to ‘choose a side’.  Some have even instituted penalties for those that participate in outside training rather than with the school-endorsed program.  Schools should not so easily choose this adversarial position.  Sports-loving families are always going to find ways for their student-athlete to participate in programming that they believe is best.  Whether or not we agree with their thinking on this, it is a reality we should accept.  Keeping a big perspective on this and choosing to be creative in the ways we approach things can prevent a lot of frustration and encourage stronger relationships with families.  Examples of this usually involve compromise.  If a family would like their middle-school aged daughter to participate on both a club soccer team and the school team, seek a way to make this work.  Instead of blindly sticking to old policies that link attendance to playing time without any conversation, determine to be creative.  Perhaps the club team schedule can take priority and the player can be warmly welcomed to school practices and games when she is available.  Perhaps when she is available a starting role, while warranted based on caliber, is not granted while instead considerable playing time off the bench is agreed upon.  There are many creative ways to provide an outcome that benefits both the school and, most importantly, the student-athlete.

DON’T FORGET TO HAVE FUN

Students are experiencing higher levels of stress and anxiety today than ever before.  Pressure stemming from parents, outside club sports, social media dynamics, and normal adolescent turbulence is combined with growing academic pressure at many schools to create a very unhealthy equation for the student.  School athletics can avoid contributing to this.  While hard work, determination, and perseverance remain foundational expectations of any good coach, it is vital for all of us to remember that sports are supposed to be fun.  Inside the structures of training and practice, it is not only possible but necessary to incorporate moments of silly, goofy fun for student-athletes.  There are many moments during every season that call for some light-hearted play.  Sometimes it can be spontaneous, providing a disheartened team with 15 minutes to try a new, unstructured game just to break the tension.  Other times it can be planned, scheduling a light, fun practice to compensate for a series of tougher, more physical days.  One goal of every coach should be to see each student-athlete finishing their season loving that sport just as much or more than they did on day one of the season.  If we are not seeing smiles or hearing laughter from our student-athletes, we may be forgetting to incorporate enough fun into the schedule. 

BREAK THE CYCLE

One of the biggest challenges for school athletics is finding, developing, and retaining good coaches.  The demands of coaching in 2018 are significant.  There is a long list of certifications to complete, increased expectations from schools and parents, and evolving needs from student-athletes to deal with.  Schools should be sensitive to these demands on coaches, provide the resources necessary, and support them well.  However, one thing schools cannot afford to do anymore is turn a blind eye towards coaches who continue an outdated, unhealthy, unacceptable cycle of treating student-athletes poorly.  I’m not referring to the need for coaches to maintain high expectations or push their players out of comfort zones at times.  I’m talking about the boundaries regarding language, terminology, and appropriate methods of motivation.  There once was a day when coaches motivated more commonly through yelling, screaming, and emotional outbursts towards student-athletes.  Questionable language and intimidation were more widely accepted.  Thankfully, that day has passed.  Students still need a strong response from coaches at times.  What they don’t need is to be publicly embarrassed or shamed in front of their peers.  They don’t need to be screamed at routinely or motivated frequently through threats or aggressive behavior.  Most of the time when coaches act this way today, they are simply repeating a standard experienced from their playing days in high school.  They are continuing a cycle that must be broken.  The best coaches in 2018 are those who build a deeper toolbox of resources.  They are committed to being good communicators, highlighting goals and objectives, planning well, and staying relatively positive as a role model for their players.  Schools that look the other way and continue to support coaches who perpetuate this cycle do so at the expense of their own student-athlete experience.

At AOA we are committed to doing school athletics well.  We’re adding new programming, re-evaluating the ways in which we measure success, and establishing new goals for our athletic department.  It is an exciting time to be here.  Go Phoenix!