A Triple Play for Coaches
May 28, 2013
The following resolution was adopted by the Delegate Assembly of the Michigan Association of School Boards last November:
“The Michigan Association of School Boards urges all local school boards to:
“(a) Employ qualified persons as coaches of interscholastic teams.
“(b) Provide in-service training for all coaches, including training in first aid, current CPR certification, proper athletic conditioning, recognition of athletic injuries, recognition of the use of performance enhancing drugs, and the proper way to deal with hazing within the athletic programs of a school. Much of this training is available through MHSAA’s Coaches Advancement Program (CAP).
“(c) Require supervision and evaluation of coaches.
“(d) Make coaches aware of pertinent school policies, rules and regulations and require compliance.
“(e) Encourage coaches to follow the athletic code for coaches in the MHSAA Handbook and include information regarding NCAA eligibility guidelines and requirements.”
During the 2013-14 school year, the MHSAA Representative Council will vote on two proposals that are consistent with this resolution:
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In December, the Council will consider this enhancement to coaches preparation:
By 2015-16, MHSAA member high schools will be required to certify by the designated deadlines that all of their varsity head coaches of high school have a valid (current) CPR certification. Inclusion of AED training is a recommended part of the CPR certification process.
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In March, the Council will consider this enhancement to coaches preparation:
By 2016-17, all individuals hired for the first time as a varsity head coach of a high school team, to begin those coaching duties on or after July 1, 2016, must have completed Level 1 or Level 2 of CAP.
These two measures join the following that the Council approved on May 5:
By 2014-15, high schools must attest prior to established deadlines that all assistant and subvarsity coaches at the high school level have completed annually the same MHSAA rules meeting required of all varsity head coaches or, in the alternative, one of the free online sports safety courses posted on or linked from MHSAA.com and designated to fulfill this requirement.
The Importance of Play
September 9, 2016
In the usual post-Olympic sports news coverage there was the predictable commentary about over-commercialization of the Olympic movement and corruption of the Olympic ideal. Is this really what the Greeks intended?
Of course not.
But really, what do we do today that has any resemblance to what we intended a century ago when the “modern” Olympic movement was resurrected, much less to what was intended 27 centuries earlier when the ancient Olympics began?
But at least one thing with ancient Greek roots remains unchanged. It is this.
Plato, student of Socrates, mentor of Aristotle and founder of the “academy” in Athens during the heyday of the ancient OIympics, wrote that more can be learned about a person in an hour of play than a year of conversation.
That has not changed.
And that is one very important of very many reasons why play of a competitive nature – not mere recreation – matters, just as much today as 28 centuries ago. In fact, in this “modern” world of nonstop electronic conversation, the hour of physical engagement between people may be our most revealing communication.