Ramblings

RAMBLINGS FROM THE BIG DOG

8/20/08

John Erickson, Executive Director-MSHSCA

 

Welcome back to another exciting year of Minnesota High School sports.  Minnesota schools are blessed with great athletic opportunities for our students and our athletes are blessed to have such outstanding men and women to coach them in their pursuit of experiencing positive athletic experiences.  Schools all across Minnesota are experiencing challenging times with declining funding for extra curricular programs.  The fees charged for participation have become very high in many districts and the ability to offer opportunities for our student athletes has never been more difficult to achieve.  I know the pressure to lead fund raising efforts has been a challenge to may of you.  I do ask that you remember that your calling to be a coach is a very special calling and what you do for your students will greatly impact their futures and our society’s future.

 

Who will step up?  The last days of July and the first days of August were very difficult days for the coaches of Minnesota.  We l lost two great leaders with the passing of Tom Mahoney of Fairmont and Dave Hylla of Proctor.  Both of these outstanding men were icons of leadership for the coaching profession.  Bothe Tom and Dave were George Haun award winners.  This award is given to individuals who have been exemplary in their efforts to further the coaching profession and work of the MSHSCA.  I could not help but be moved by the Pastor’s challenges at Dave’s funeral when he asked now that Dave is gone who will step up?  We need each and every coach to step up.  We need to find ways to continue the legacy of coaching leadership left by these two outstanding coaches.

 

Membership Year  Every year there seems to be some confusion regarding the membership year and the rights that come from membership.  The membership year runs from August 1 of each year to the 31st of July the following year.   The membership year is intended to coincide with the school year.  Each member needs to know that all memberships and insurance coverage ends on the 31st of July and that membership renewal must be completed before a coach will receive a valid membership card, insurance coverage, the Prep Coach and other membership benefits.  Please remind you schools coaches of this information. 

 

Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet  The annual Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet is scheduled to be held on Saturday October 4th at the Sheraton Minneapolis  West.  I would like to encourage all award recipients to attend this wonderful event.  Coaches work very hard at their profession and it is important to take time and smell the roses when you have achieved that championship goal or been recognized by your peers a coach of the year or an assistant coach of the year.  One significant change has been made to the annual banquet with the 25 year awards portion being moved to the December brunch of the retired coaches/25 year coaches.  The response has been very favorable to this change.  The Executive Board did change the awards policy to read that a coach must be a member of the MSHSCA in order to receive award recognition from the MSHSCA.

 

On line registration  the MSHSCA has entered into an agreement for an online registration program.  The new program offers many benefits in terms of on line accurate information as well as allowing each sport association to use it for clinic registration as well as a communication tool and membership tracking tool,  We are excited to have this new service available to our members and sport associations. 

 

Vice Presidential election  There were several constitutional changes made during the past year as the MSHSCA merged together with the MSHSCAGS to form one association for the coaches of Minnesota.  We will be asking the delegates from the sections responsible for a candidate to get together at the Oct. 4th Delegate Assembly.  There can be up to five candidates this year.  One each from class A sections 1,2,3,4 One from class AA 5,6,7,8 one girls sport representative, one boys sport representative and on one at large candidate.  The person elected to the Executive Board will serve four years on the board.