What's Ahead
February 10, 2012
A dozen years ago I sat in on a presentation by a futurist who was speaking with a special committee of the National Federation of State High School Associations, called the “New Paradigm Task Force.” During the presentation the speaker provided a list of the 10 magazines a person should read regularly to keep alert to what’s ahead in our world. Here’s the list:
• Christian Science Monitor
• Science News
• Business Week
• Popular Science
• Utne Reader
• Atlantic Monthly
• Mother Earth News
• Technology Review
• The Economist
• In Context
Since that time I’ve carried the list with me in my pocket planner, and I’ve often purchased and read one or more of the magazines when I’m traveling through airports. Over the years I’ve subscribed to four of these publications.
Some of you will chuckle that this futurist was recommending print publications and not the World Wide Web. Others may note that several of these recommended publications failed to survive modern technology and no longer exist. So it goes with predictions, even for professionals.
Hat Trick
July 31, 2017
When asked recently to identify the most important work of the Michigan High School Athletic Association at this particular time in the history of school sports in Michigan, I paused only briefly, because there is one initiative that scores a hat trick. It’s the MHSAA Task Force on Multi-Sport Participation.
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It is a forum for helping us define and defend educational athletics.
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It is helping us focus on the future of school sports – on the junior high/middle school level, and even younger athletes and their parents, where attitudes are being formed and decisions are being made.
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It is helping us focus on THE most serious health and safety issue in all of youth sports, which is specialization in one sport that is too early, too intense and too prolonged, leading to overuse injuries that tend to cause a lifetime of chronic injuries and related health problems.
The Task Force has convened five times over 15 months. It is moving now from the phase of identifying issues and challenges to developing tools for administrators and coaches to promote the multi-sport experience for young people.