Issues: April 2008 Archives

The IHSA announced on Tuesday the creation of a Sportsperson of the Year Award that will honor seven people each year "for their outstanding sportsmanship during interscholastic competition."

It took almost another two full sentences in the press release to plug the title sponsor.

There are five criteria listed that potential good sports awardees need to own, but three are boing so I will skip to the two that caught me eye.

-- Student shall not have EVER been ejected from a high school contest.

-- Student must have a minimum of a 2.5/4.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

Nothing against all you C students out there, but I find it interesting that the IHSA is willing to dip that far down in the GPA scale just to find someone who hasn't been ejected.

Each school can nominate one student-athlete as long as that school participates in the IHSA's sportsmanship program.

What I think is important to make clear is that it is possible to book the Add A. Tude mascot for your next high school event for the low-low rate of $25. Silly mascots rule.

The entry deadline is May 16. The award will be given out June 2 along with $500 to the winners courtesy of the sponsorship deal. I guess it's a "scholarship" or something like that, but what's up with an amateur athletic body handing out cash?

About a month ago, we learned that Neuqua Valley senior Chris Derrick was named to the IHSA All-State Academic Team and that Waubonsie Valley's Mark Homan, Naperville Central's Steve Couch and Benet's Sarah Clark were given honorable mention.

The IHSA let us know on March 18 that these athletes were amazing students, needing a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or greater after their seventh semester. On Friday, the IHSA let us know that again, seemingly posting the exact same notice.

If you look at the IHSA homepage right now, you can see both of the notices listed. But there isn't anything about the court case with the Illinois press the IHSA settled this week.

Wonder why this is hidden? The poster contest from this week is there, but not the only major announcement since the drug testing policy on March 17. Anyway...

I don't have screen grabs figured out yet, so while it lasts take a look at March 18 and see if there is anything different with April 11. Derrick, Homan, Couch and Clark are on both lists.

Maybe somebody took a semester off. Maybe somebody who works at the IHSA has kid who is a really smart athlete.

UPDATE: I just checked both the all-state team and the honorable mention list on both links and they identical. This seems to be a glitch.

Arizona recently became the fifth state in the country to require all high school coaches, including faculty, to take and pass a coaching class.

With this move, Arizona joins California, Massachusetts, Oregon and Rhode Island in requiring this certification.

The NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching course, which was started in January 2007 as the signature course of the NFHS Coach Education Program, address the following subjects: educational athletics and the role of the coach, the coach as a manager, the coach as a teacher, the coach and interpersonal skills, and the coach and physical conditioning.

In Illinois, only non-faculty coaches are required to take a class called the ASEP. Should the IHSA become the sixth state to require this training of all coaches?