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Sports Done RightTM: A Call to Action on Behalf of Maine's Student-Athletes is centered around seven core principles and supporting core practices that describe what healthy sports programs look like. Also highlighting the report are "Out-of-Bounds" items that red flag troubling trends, negative behaviors and attitudes, and policies that should be eliminated. Approximately 400 school administrators, policymakers, sports leaders and student-athletes attended the rollout of the report on January 6, 2005.
Even in Maine, the report points out, schools and communities struggle with issues so often reflected in the national media such as fans harassing officials, coaches and student-athletes, coaches' thoughtless handling of their young charges, and the spectacle of out-of-control parents and fans. Most superintendents and school boards find themselves embroiled in a sports-related controversy each year, requiring tremendous amounts of time to resolve and taking a high toll on relationships and the public trust.
Crafted as a companion piece to the Maine Learning Results, the state's academic standards, and Promising Futures, Sports Done RightTM relies on the perspectives and suggestions of scores of Maine student-athletes and the best thinking of the Select Panel. It provides a working philosophical base for guiding youth sports, linking sports to the overall school mission and community values, while supporting quality coaching education.
The University of Maine initiative, funded by a Congressional allocation secured through the office of Senator Susan M. Collins, was launched October 30, 2003 under the co-direction of J. Duke Albanese, policy advisor for the Great Maine Schools Project at the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute and former Maine education commissioner, and Robert A. Cobb, dean of the UMaine College of Education and Human Development.
Core principles identified in Sports Done RightTM cover the areas of: Philosophy, Values and Sportsmanship, Sports and Learning, Parents and Community, Quality of Coaching, Opportunity to Play, Health and Fitness, and Leadership, Polity and Organization. The report also includes sections on Middle Level Sports and Out-of-School Sports.
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