Presidents Converge on MHSAA Office
January 29, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Coaches serving over three seasons and in a variety of different sports can have a variety of perspectives when it comes to most topics, including MHSAA rules.
The Coaches Association Presidents Meeting, an annual event hosted Monday at the MHSAA office in East Lansing, allows an opportunity to gather that valuable input as our staff works through pressing issues at the start of each new year.
Presidents from high school coaches associations representing nearly all of our MHSAA-sponsored sports met in East Lansing for an inside look at some of our latest efforts and how that work could affect their sports and the coaches they serve.
On the menu this time was an update on the MHSAA's drive to increase coaches health and safety training, followed by updates on recent research into how the association might better serve junior high and middle schools.
The entrée was discussion on out-of-season coaching rules, and how or if they should be altered to allow high school coaches more contact with athletes during offseasons than currently allowed.
This meeting allows for input on these topics, with the key, again, that the input comes from various sources who face differing circumstances but are all tied together under the umbrella of interscholastic athletics. Input from our coaches associations will be valuable as MHSAA staff and its Representative Council consider potential rules changes over the rest of this school year, and beyond.
Crisis Coaching
June 14, 2013
On the highway outside my office window last week, there was a traffic accident that involved two 2012 graduates of a mid-Michigan high school. One was killed, the other appears to be recovering from serious injuries. The young men had been on their way to work.
The next morning’s newspaper coverage – in the news section, not the sports pages – revolved around the boys’ high school football coach. He told the reporter about his former players’ character and their dreams, and what a difficult day he had spent with their families. Later, local television stations made this coach their go-to person for updates.
This plays out so often: a family faces a crisis, and a coach is quickly on the scene. The best part of coaching – close and even lifelong relationships with players – becomes the toughest – being physically present when those players or their families need support.
It has played out so often in my experience that I can’t imagine what is lost in our schools as interscholastic coaching positions are farmed out to volunteers, or programs are eliminated altogether. I can’t imagine what is lost in the lives of students, and many of their families.
The richest part of coaching is relationships, which are often most revealed during the worst circumstances.