Students Rally for Fair, Positive Sports Experiences

Contact: Kay Hyatt at (207) 581-2761

ORONO, Maine — A statewide panel charged with shaping core principles and practices to guide interscholastic sports turned to the experts today to glean information about the athletic experience in Maine’s high schools and middle schools. 

Approximately 300 athletes and the adults responsible for their sports programs poured onto the University of Maine campus this morning to participate in the Maine Sports Summit and have a voice in defining characteristics of healthy interscholastic sports programs.  By the concluding session this afternoon the students and many of the adults had identified promising practices that the panel should encourage, as well as some existing practices to eliminate. The students represented 87 high schools and 24 middle schools in every area of the state.

Carrying signs bearing their messages, students called for: stronger communication between athletes, coaches, and parents; positive sports learning environments; quality coaching education, including the importance of teaching life skills; more fun in sports, with winning kept in perspective; and consistent and fair treatment of athletes of all abilities.

Among practices identified as detrimental to a healthy sports experience were:  bad attitudes; lack of respect; parental politics; coaches favoring the best players; negative comments and inappropriate behavior by parents and fans; win at all cost attitudes; and the media’s role in glorifying negative behavior at sporting events.

The Summit was sponsored by the UMaine Sport and Coaching Education Initiative, Coaching Maine Youth to Success, a federally funded project to develop a national model for quality sports programs that complement state academic learning standards and overall school objectives.

Today’s Summit was part of a comprehensive approach to tap the perspective of students and the adults involved in school athletics about the characteristics that make — or prevent  — positive, beneficial interscholastic sports programs.  Their input will be used by the Select Panel in crafting a working philosophical base for improving interscholastic athletics and supporting effective coaching education.

Since October, the 18-member Panel has been working to identify major themes and concerns in interscholastic sports, which Summit participants further explored and articulated in a series of workshops throughout the day. Those themes include: Sportsmanship, Academics, Opportunity to Play, Quality of Coaching, Role of Parents, and Health and Fitness.

The students and adult participants also completed surveys, further tapping their views on the characteristics of quality sports experience. The Select Panel will analyze those responses at its spring meetings, then begin writing recommendations to be released early this fall.

During a news conference, Richard Durost, executive director of the Maine Principals’ Association, noted some concerns of the MPA, which oversees high school athletics in Maine.  Among these concerns are coaching preparation and the increase of non-teacher coaches; undue expectations and pressures from parents and communities on students and coaches; sportsmanship and civility; and peer pressure involving unhealthy practices, such as drug abuse. These issues, he said, are now sliding down into middle school and youth sports.  The Coaching Maine Youth to Success initiative could provide a blueprint to help keep the sports experience enjoyable and in perspective, he said.

The interaction and input of student-athletes from all over the state was a tremendous experience, according to Falmouth High School senior Trevor Paul. “We’re all pretty much in agreement about what’s good and not so good,” he said.

Four UMaine varisty coaches were also on the same page during a presentation to participating high school and middle school coaches, athletic directors and other school administrators.  Scott Atherley (women’s soccer), Jack Cosgrove (football), Terry Kix (field hockey), and Tim Whitehead (men’s ice hockey) were unanimously against early specialization in one sport. 

“Specialization in one sport is one dimensional,” said Kix. “We want creativity, which comes from learning multiple sports.

“Athletes need a balanced life,” said Whitehead. “Specializing too early can take away the passion of the sport.”

They were also in agreement about the pressure and negative influence of some parents, even at the college level, who can’t distinguish between being supportive or intrusive.

In describing the qualities of a great coach, they all emphasized the importance of the coach as teacher.

 “Training coaches more like we train teachers could have a huge impact,” said Atherley.

Unfortunately, said Cosgrove, “we measure the value of a coach by wins and losses, not by being a mentoring teacher and leader.”

“When you consider the different roles and schools represented  at the Summit, the amount of agreement and concurrence was striking,” said initiative co-director Robert Cobb. “There were different perspectives, but the people directly involved in sports all seem to know what the issues are.” The information gathered at the Summit represents a major step toward resolving some of those issues whether it’s working with individual schools or developing model policy, he said.

“The perspective of the student-athletes is invaluable to the process of creating credible, realistic core principles and practices,” said co-director J. Duke Albanese, lead policy advisor for the Great Maine School Project at the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute in Portland and former State Education Commissioner. The process of involving students in shaping education reform has become a respected tradition and efficient model in Maine, he point outs.

Ruth Fitzpatrick, director of the Maine Center for Sport and Coaching at UMaine, and other Summit leaders complimented the students on their difficult and important work. “You had the courage to tell your truth,” Fitzpatrick told the students at the end of the day.

Keynote speaker John Jenkins of PepTalk.com , former Lewiston mayor and state senator, got the students off to an eager start on tackling the issues. “A great program, he said, recognizes everyone and is infused with respect. Your praise is in your work.”