 |
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
