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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --July 13, 2001
Contact: John Johnson or Andy Frushour-- 517.332.5046

EAST LANSING, Mich. - July 13 - One of the major roles of the Michigan High School Athletic Association is to service its member schools by providing educational programs. For the upcoming school year, two traditional programs are being joined by an orientation session for first-time coaches.

The New Coach Orientation Program was created to give first year coaches of both junior high/middle school and senior high school interscholastic sports teams background information about coaching in the educational athletic ranks.

The one-day seminar will take place at Okemos High School on July 30, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., and topics to be covered include MHSAA regulations, risk minimization, coaching psychology, practice planning and structure, sexual harassment, chemical health, conditioning and sports injuries, and sportsmanship. The cost of the program is $20, and includes lunch and materials.

Speakers at the workshop include MHSAA Executive Director John E. "Jack" Roberts and Assistant Director Nate Hampton; attorney Al Bush, Jr., of Escanaba; long-time head football-track and field coach Jeff Smith of East Lansing High School; athletic trainer Sally Hightower from Gladwin High School; John Powell and Marty Ewing of the Youth Sports Institute at Michigan State University; and Jody Brylinsky of Western Michigan University, an assistant professor of health and physical education.

"This conference was developed because so many coaches come into the school sports world without knowledge about what educational athletics entail," said Jerry Cvengros, associate director of the MHSAA. "This program will provide the basic orientation for coaches that will encourage them to become better teachers, and to become better informed about member school and MHSAA policies. This could be considered a prelude to our Program of Athletic Coaches Education, which we would also encourage attendees at the New Coach Orientation to participate in when it is offered in their area."

The Program of Athletic Coaches Education, or PACE, is one of the most popular educational services offered by the MHSAA, which is co-sponsored with the Youth Sports Institute at Michigan State University and the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

The 2000-01 schedule includes eight single-day Level I and Level II programs; and four two-day Level I and Level II programs. The two-day programs meet on a Monday-Wednesday within in the same week. The single-day programs are all on Saturday, with two exceptions. Programs are scheduled so that Level I and II program participation may take place in consecutive weeks. Last year, 595 coaches attended the program.

Among the PACE venues are workshops scheduled at major meetings of statewide coaches and athletic administrator associations. During 2001-02, PACE Level I and II programming will again be offered at the fall meeting of the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan, the winter meeting of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, and in conjunction with the MHSAA's Women In Sports Leadership Conference.

"Each year, we receive excellent cooperation from allied groups which integrate PACE workshops into their major annual meeting programs," said Cvengros, who coordinates PACE from the Association office. "PACE continues to be one of the most popular services the MHSAA offers to the coaching community."

Cvengros adds that PACE continues its popularity because it teaches the game outside the lines -- teaching much more than game strategies. "We see whole coaching staffs, sometimes veteran coaching staffs, enrolling in the program because the coaching environment has changed so much in recent years. Many schools are requiring attendance at PACE as a condition of employment for its new coaches, be they faculty or non-faculty. More colleges and universities now include enrollment in PACE as part of their undergraduate coaching curriculums."

PACE provides training in legal responsibilities, prevention and care of sports injuries, physical conditioning, planning and evaluating instruction, motivation of student-athletes, positive coaching and MHSAA regulations.

Registration for PACE is $50 per individual for each of the Level I and Level II seminars.

The following is a list of the dates and sites of the 2001-02 PACE Workshops Programs:

LEVEL I -- 9 a.m-4 p.m. (unless otherwise noted)
· Aug. 4 - Troy High School
· Aug. 6, 8 - Saginaw Heritage High School - (6:30 - 9:30 p.m.)
· Aug. 11 - Dearborn Heights Crestwood High School
· Aug. 18 - West Shore Community College, Scottville
· Sept. 10,12 - Holland West Ottawa High School - (6:30 - 9:30 p.m.)
· Sept. 19 - Farmington Training Center
· Sept. 24, 26 - Marysville High School - (6:30 - 9:30 p.m.)
· Oct. 5 - Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Clinic, Holiday Inn South, Lansing
· Feb. 2 - MHSAA Women In Sports Leadership Conference, Sheraton Lansing Hotel
· Feb. 4, 6, - Flint, Genesee County ISD Building - (6:30 p.m. -9:30 p.m.)
· March 16 - Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Conference, Grand Traverse Resort, Traverse City
· April 13 - Kalamazoo Loy Norrix High School

LEVEL II -- 9 a.m.-4 p.m. (unless otherwise noted)
· Aug. 11 - Troy High School
· Aug. 13, 15 - Saginaw Heritage High School - (6:30 - 9:30 p.m.)
· Aug. 18 - Dearborn Heights Crestwood High School
· Aug. 25 - West Shore Community College, Scottville
· Sept. 17, 19 - Holland West Ottawa High School (6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.)
· Sept. 26 - Farmington Training Center
· Oct. 1, 3 - Marysville High School - (6:30 - 9:30 p.m.)
· Oct. 5 - Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Clinic, Holiday Inn South, Lansing
· Feb. 2 - MHSAA Women In Sports Leadership Conference, Sheraton Lansing Hotel
· Feb. 11, 13, 2002 - Flint, Genesee County ISD Building (6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.)
· March 16 - Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Conference, Grand Traverse Resort, Traverse City
· April 20 - Kalamazoo Loy Norrix High School

This August will also mark the 15th year for the annual series of regional in-service workshop for school athletic directors.

The series of seven workshops begins August 8, and one session is intended specifically for first-time athletic directors and their secretaries. The workshops will be conducted in various parts of the state. This August, the half-day seminars will focus on the history, rationale and application of essential rules for educational athletics. A special session for new athletic directors at the MHSAA office on August 16 will cover many of the basic responsibilities of a school athletic director, from working with game contracts, facility scheduling, and budgets; to hiring game officials and on-going relations with the public and the media. Athletic department secretaries and booster club officers are also encouraged to attend at all sites.

Each program will include presentations on recent actions by the MHSAA Representative Council, Association regulations, round-table discussions and the presentation by a local athletic administrator.

The programs begin at 8:30 a.m., and six of the sites will conclude their day with lunch at Noon. The site offering the program for new athletic directors will run into the afternoon.

Each year, approximately one-third of the MHSAA's 749 member high schools are represented at these workshops, and last year's attendance of 297 was the highest for this meeting series since 1991.

Registration is $15.00 and includes lunch and an in-service manual.

The following is a list of the dates and sites of the 2001 MHSAA Athletic Director In-Service Programs:
· Aug. 8 - Frankenmuth, Zehnder's Restaurant
· Aug. 9 - Gaylord, Holiday Inn
· Aug. 10 - Escanaba, Pioneer Motor Inn
· Aug. 10 - Grand Rapids, Holiday Inn Airport East Hotel
· Aug. 14 - Bloomfield Hills, Fox & Hounds
· Aug. 16 - East Lansing, MHSAA Office -- NEW ATHLETIC DIRECTORS
· Aug. 17 - Kalamazoo, Pine West

Parties interested in additional information for the New Coach Orientation, PACE and Athletic Director In-Service programs may contact Cvengros at the MHSAA office, 1661 Ramblewood Drive, East Lansing, MI 48823. Telephone: 517/332-5046. E-Mail: [email protected]. (NOTE - Media attendance at all of these programs is welcomed, and registration is complimentary - Contact John Johnson or Randy Allen at the MHSAA if you wish to send someone to one of these programs.)

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,300 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.

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