Athletic Program Orientation

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Athletic Program Orientation

• San Francisco University High School
• August 26, 2009

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Agenda

• Mission/Objectives
• Areas of Focus
• Program Elements
• Parents
• QA

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1. Mission/Objectives

• Mission
• School Objectives
• Athletic Program Objectives

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Why Do We Have An Athletic Program?

• From the www.uhsathletics.org website
• The interscholastic athletic program seeks to
  help student-athletes grow physically, mentally,
  emotionally and socially through the challenges
  of athletic discipline, team participation and
  interscholastic competition. The mission is
  educational and designed to enrich and complement
  the UHS academic experience
• All decisions we make need to stand up to the
  test of being consistent with this mission.

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School Objectives

• Keep the educational mission of the program in
  clear focus above all other objectives
• Represent the school positively to the outside
  world through behavior and performance
• Provide a complementary experience to the core
  academic program

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Athletic Program ObjectivesFocusing on the
Student-Athlete Experience

• Positive a happy experience
• All players valued
• Coaches who build, not berate
• Constructive a learning experience
• Exemplary coach behavior
• Clear expectations for athlete behavior (with
  consequences)
• All bad situations are teaching opportunities
• Memorable a treasured experience
• Great achievements (or at least the thrill of the
  quest)
• A supportive, positive team environment
• Excellent player-coach relationships

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2. Areas of Focus

• Participation
• Achievement
• Honor

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Participation

• 74 of all students on a team(s) in 2008-2009
• Seniors 72
• Juniors 63
• Sophomores 78
• Freshmen 83 (like to see at 90)
• The benefits of athletic program participation
  are only available to those who choose to play
• There is a sport that will welcome every single
  student regardless of athletic ability
• Facility-constrained sports are the only
  situations where we, in some seasons, have to
  limit roster sizes

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Class of 2013

• Fall numbers 22 boys (44), 38 girls (68)
• Cross Country 11 boys, 7 girls
• Field Hockey 6 girls
• Boys Soccer 13 boys
• Girls Tennis 4 girls
• Girls Volleyball 21 girls
• Class participation profile (partial)
• 3-sport 2-sport 1-sport 0-sport
• Boys (25/50 complete) 6 14 5 0
• Girls (17/55 complete) 7 8
  2 0

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Achievement

• Being the best team that we can be
• The only goal that can be relevant to all teams
• Key to a team-based learning experience
• Recognized 5 of the past 11 years as having the
  best D5 athletic program in California (300
  schools) by Cal-Hi Sports
• Recognized by SF Chronicle as one of top 5 Bay
  Area athletic programs others included Concord
  De La Salle, San Jose Mitty, San Jose Bellarmine
  and Mountain View St Francis
• Contend for league titles consistently
• League champs 46/109 seasons since 2004 (42)
• 16 of 21 teams met the contention standard

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Honor

• Ejections (Coach or Player)
• 4 in 2004-2005 season
• Set goal in Fall, 2005 of zero ejections
• No ejections since March, 2005 (53 months)
• Parents/Fans Sportsmanship Complaints
• Two in Spring, 2005
• None since
• Students/Fans Sportsmanship Complaints
• Periodic issue (negative cheering)
• Source issue modeling college student behavior

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Parents Role

• Be a model of good behavior
• Cheer positively
• Keep negative thoughts about opponents, officials
  or players (including your own) to yourself
• Help other parents understand the environment
  (privately, respectfully)
• Report parents that are not able to conform to AD
• Positive Coaching Alliance initiative this year
• Parent nights 8/31 and again in January
• Goal is to build a clearer and clearer
  understanding of the culture that we hope each
  and every team will have

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Indicators of Program Health

• Participation 74 of all students choose to play
• Satisfaction End of season surveys report 90
  with positive experience
• Competitiveness
• 40 plus of teams win league titles
• 60 selected for Section tournaments
• Player Development 61 student-athletes in past 4
  years have gone on to play at the collegiate
  level (15 of a typical graduating class)
• Coaches Average tenure of head coaches is 7
  years
• Reputation
• Most league schools consider UHS to be chief
  rival
• Clean ejection record for 4 years

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3. Elements of Program

• Sports Offered
• League Members
• Championship Structure
• Components of a Season
• Facilities
• PE Requirement

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Sports Offered (JV JV and F programs)
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Bay Area Conference (BCL)
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Championship Structure

• League/Conference
• League round-robin play
• League playoffs
• Section
• Championships
• Classifications (UHS usually in D5 class)
• State

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Components of a Season

• Pre-season
• Captains Practices (week or two prior)
• Try-outs (1st 2-4 days)
• Scrimmages (2 allowed)
• Regular Season
• League games (usually about 10)
• Non-league games (usually 6-10)
• Tournaments (1-2 for most teams)
• Trips (1 for some teams)
• Post-season
• League Playoffs
• Section/State Playoffs
• Out of season
• No obligation whatsoever
• Summer team activities, camps
• Player led activities

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Facilities
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Student PE Options

• Play a sport (always our first choice)
• XC
• Field Hockey
• Girls Tennis
• Boys Soccer
• Girls Volleyball
• PE Class
• Alternate Activity

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4. Parents

• Finding Information
• Middle School vs High School Athletics
• The Perfect Red Devil Parent
• Getting Involved

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Getting Information

• www.uhsathletics.org
• Official game schedule
• Practice schedules
• Directions
• Boosters (eSportsline, Flashes)
• Team Parent emails
• Your student-athlete remembering to tell you last
  minute details (coach, white board)

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Middle School vs High School

• Playing Time
• Vacations
• Other Personal Conflicts
• Raising Issues

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The Perfect Red Devil Parent

• Encourages student to participate
• Supports student in meeting team commitment
  expectations
• Is positive with child through ups and downs
  (often by not saying anything)
• Comes to gamescheers loudly and positively
• Helps us retain our coaches
• Lets them know when your child is having a good
  experience (1 on our list of helpful parent
  activities!)
• Encourages child to go to coach if issues exist
  (and goes to coach directly only if child wont
  and issues are serious)
• Never talks to coach about tactics, playing time,
  positions, etc.
• Raises issues with me if the problem is serious
  and coach is non-responsive
• Gives me, MB or Diane feedback as constructively
  as possible

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Parent Roles

• Basic Support (which we know is huge)
• Coming to Games
• Supporting the Educational Process
• Consequences can be a good thing!
• Listen empathetically, but dont be naive
• Supporting your Students Athletic Development
• Understand the shift in your role from manager to
  (maybe) consultant
• What to play (or if they play) are now their
  decisions
• Aggressively supporting their ideas when they
  have them
• Helping them succeed with athletics through
  camps, outside teams, etc. is where you can
  really help
• Supporting the Program UHS Sports Boosters

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UHS Boosters

• People, Not
• Team Parents
• Transportation
• Team Pot-Lucks
• Big Red Fridays
• E-Sportsline
• Special Events
• Sports Nights
• Other (Oracle BBQ, etc.)

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5. Questions/Issues

• Club Sports Conflicts
• Single Sport or Multi-Sport?
• Out of Pocket Costs