Sports Done Right initiative offers 'healthy programs' (Printed Oct. 19, 2007)
By Jonathan Farley
Special to the Leader
On a chilly night at a recent middle school football game at Noble, what Ken Simon of Scarborough saw and heard was shocking. Several Scarborough fans were cheering on their team after the referee called a penalty against Noble for roughing the Scarborough kicker. A Noble parent, volunteering on the chain gang, started chastising the visiting fans – and the cheerleaders.
“It was absolutely inappropriate,” Simons, parent of an eighth grade football player and a youth hockey coach said. “What I and many other parents and cheerleaders saw and heard was this man making obscene gestures, using foul language and comments.”
Toward the end of the game, Simon said had heard enough and took it upon himself to go and speak to one of the Scarborough coaches to make them aware of the situation and to point it out to the officials for further action. While nothing further happened, this was a prime example of the kind of behavior the new Sports Done Right initiative wants to stop.
“I fully support Sports Done Right” said Simon. “I’ve coached a lot of hockey and want to see this succeed.”
While some parents and coaches like Simon are aware of Sports Done Right, many only have heard the name or have no real impression of what it is about.
According to the Maine Center for Sports and Coaching,(MCSC) Sports Done Right is a “Call To Action on Behalf of Maine’s Student-Athletes” that is centered around seven core principles and supporting practices that describe what healthy sports programs look like. Also highlighting the report are “Out-of-Bounds” items that call attention to troubling trends, negative behaviors and attitudes, and policies that should be eliminated.
Recommending how to implement Sports Done Right and what parts to implement in Scarborough is the task of the town’s Sports Done Right committee.
John Cole, chairman for the committee and a candidate for Scarborough School Board, recently commented on the progress and procedure that faces the task force as it works to determine what is working for Scarborough, and what isn’t
“Scarborough does a lot of things right,” Cole said. “But we’re not out to reinvent the wheel. We are taking inventory of how we are doing against the Sports Done Right model and then focusing on the areas that need our attention the most. We have to get our feet under us and get more factual information about those areas. Then we need to determine the best way to communicate what Sports Done Right is, how it applies to Scarborough and how the community can get involved.”
The committee met Oct. 10 and among many items discussed, agreed that developing an Action Plan for 2007-2008 where they identify problems and areas of improvements with the goal of achieving Sports Done Right accreditation.
Karen Hawkes from MCSC is the assigned facilitator for the committee was asked for her perspective on the town’s progress.
“It’s going fantastic,” she said. “The committee is an active, diverse and dedicated leadership team and is progressing nicely.”
Hawkes mentioned other communities such as Greely, Rockland and Winthrop, where SDR has already been implemented and how Scarborough compares to them at this point.
“Each community tackles it differently” she said. “Fortunately Scarborough is doing a lot right, and the process validates what they are doing right already. You have to take it step by step. They are not behind and are not rushing (the process).”
Cole said the committee reports its progress to the school board monthly, but is targeting December/January to complete the first action item list to the board.
“The consistent theme I hear at our meetings is that we need to determine why are we doing this and what are we going to do. The committee has no actual authority. The purpose of Sports Done Right is to offer a ‘common language’ so players, parents, coaches, and administrators know when they are crossing the line,” he said.”
The whole process is expected to take about a year, with ongoing meetings to communicate the principles of Sports Done Right to booster organizations, parent groups and other local groups.
“We don’t want to lay it all out to the town at once and say ‘Here it is.’ We want to start with small groups to facilitate questions about what SDR is and what it isn’t. That way the town can look at it to isolate problems and solutions on how to address them,” Cole said.
Special to the Leader
On a chilly night at a recent middle school football game at Noble, what Ken Simon of Scarborough saw and heard was shocking. Several Scarborough fans were cheering on their team after the referee called a penalty against Noble for roughing the Scarborough kicker. A Noble parent, volunteering on the chain gang, started chastising the visiting fans – and the cheerleaders.
“It was absolutely inappropriate,” Simons, parent of an eighth grade football player and a youth hockey coach said. “What I and many other parents and cheerleaders saw and heard was this man making obscene gestures, using foul language and comments.”
Toward the end of the game, Simon said had heard enough and took it upon himself to go and speak to one of the Scarborough coaches to make them aware of the situation and to point it out to the officials for further action. While nothing further happened, this was a prime example of the kind of behavior the new Sports Done Right initiative wants to stop.
“I fully support Sports Done Right” said Simon. “I’ve coached a lot of hockey and want to see this succeed.”
While some parents and coaches like Simon are aware of Sports Done Right, many only have heard the name or have no real impression of what it is about.
According to the Maine Center for Sports and Coaching,(MCSC) Sports Done Right is a “Call To Action on Behalf of Maine’s Student-Athletes” that is centered around seven core principles and supporting practices that describe what healthy sports programs look like. Also highlighting the report are “Out-of-Bounds” items that call attention to troubling trends, negative behaviors and attitudes, and policies that should be eliminated.
Recommending how to implement Sports Done Right and what parts to implement in Scarborough is the task of the town’s Sports Done Right committee.
John Cole, chairman for the committee and a candidate for Scarborough School Board, recently commented on the progress and procedure that faces the task force as it works to determine what is working for Scarborough, and what isn’t
“Scarborough does a lot of things right,” Cole said. “But we’re not out to reinvent the wheel. We are taking inventory of how we are doing against the Sports Done Right model and then focusing on the areas that need our attention the most. We have to get our feet under us and get more factual information about those areas. Then we need to determine the best way to communicate what Sports Done Right is, how it applies to Scarborough and how the community can get involved.”
The committee met Oct. 10 and among many items discussed, agreed that developing an Action Plan for 2007-2008 where they identify problems and areas of improvements with the goal of achieving Sports Done Right accreditation.
Karen Hawkes from MCSC is the assigned facilitator for the committee was asked for her perspective on the town’s progress.
“It’s going fantastic,” she said. “The committee is an active, diverse and dedicated leadership team and is progressing nicely.”
Hawkes mentioned other communities such as Greely, Rockland and Winthrop, where SDR has already been implemented and how Scarborough compares to them at this point.
“Each community tackles it differently” she said. “Fortunately Scarborough is doing a lot right, and the process validates what they are doing right already. You have to take it step by step. They are not behind and are not rushing (the process).”
Cole said the committee reports its progress to the school board monthly, but is targeting December/January to complete the first action item list to the board.
“The consistent theme I hear at our meetings is that we need to determine why are we doing this and what are we going to do. The committee has no actual authority. The purpose of Sports Done Right is to offer a ‘common language’ so players, parents, coaches, and administrators know when they are crossing the line,” he said.”
The whole process is expected to take about a year, with ongoing meetings to communicate the principles of Sports Done Right to booster organizations, parent groups and other local groups.
“We don’t want to lay it all out to the town at once and say ‘Here it is.’ We want to start with small groups to facilitate questions about what SDR is and what it isn’t. That way the town can look at it to isolate problems and solutions on how to address them,” Cole said.
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