“SUPPORTING MULTI-SPORT
PARTICIPATION”
PRESENTED BY
Mary T. Donnellan, CAA
Retired DSA – RCPS – Virginia
NIAAA Conference –Dec. 2012
PRESENTER - (Mary Donnellan)
BACKGROUND
• Coached 3 sports for 20 years
• Coached 2 sports for 25 years
• Retired after 36 years in public high
school
• Last stop DSA - 5 years at Spotswood
High School, Virginia.
In 2007 Spotswood HS had 1480
students. In 2010, 681 students moved to
a new HS. Leaving 799 students.
DATA
SPOTSWOOD H.S.
2007-08 / 2008-09 - 1480 students
•20 Varsity Sports – 11 JV Sports
•Coaches – 30 - 1 sport / 11 – 2-sport / 2 - 3 sport
•445 athletes
2011-12 - 799 students
•SPORTS – 20 V 10 JV
•COACHES – 17 -1 sport/ 17 -2 sport / 4-3 sport
•384 athletes
DATA con’t
2011-12 School Year
SPWD HS 799
ATHLETES 384
2 SPORT
109
3 SPORT
38
(253 one sport / 145 two or more)
EAST ROCK HS (611)
290
87
26
(177 one sport / 113 two or more)
LAST YEAR PRIOR TO THE SCHOOLS SPLITTING =
2009-10 - 22 Three Sport Athletes (1480 students)
In 2012 = a combined 64 Three Sport Athletes
and increase of 42 Three Sport Athletes
CHALLENGE:
• Develop an environment which gives
athletes an opportunity to participate in
multiple sports.
• Maintain the quality of the athletic
program following a decline in school
population due to a new HS opening.
KEY COMPONENTS:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Coaches
Weight room
Dead Periods
Multi-sport rewards
Spread out events calendar for athletes
Middle school schedules (access to
sports)
COACHES
All Coaches needed to become part of
the
“ATHLETIC PROGRAM TEAM”
•Develop philosophy that the athletic
department is a team and not just
individual teams.
•Coaches need to coach multiple sports.
•Coaches need to work in the weight
room with all athletes.
•Need to coordinate out of season
calendar with all sports.
WEIGHT ROOM
• DEVELOP A WEIGHT PROGRAM with
equal access for all athletes.
• Training of coaches and a common
program developed.
• All athletes develop an Individual
Exercise Program (IEP).
• Coordinate weight program with PE
curriculum.
• After school program – 3-4 PM In season
athletes in weight room.
WEIGHT ROOM – CON’T
Weight Room Schedule –
•3-4 PM Weight room open for in season teams,
while out of season athletes meet with a coach and
participate in a conditioning workout.
•4-5 PM In season athletes report to team practice,
out of season athletes report to weight room.
•STAFFING – One person M-F supervise the weight
room 3-5. Out of season coaches work one day per
week with out of season athletes from 3-4 PM.
DEAD PERIODS
Designated DEAD PERIODS were
set the first 2 weeks of each sport
season (Fall, Winter, Spring).
NO OUT OF SEASON ATHLETE CAN
MEET WITH A COACH OR
PARTICIPATE IN WEIGHT ROOM,
CONDITIONING OR SPORT
SPECIFIC ACTIVITY.
AWARDS PROGRAM
Establish an Athletic Department AWARD to
recognize 3 sport athletes.
EXAMPLE:
•Name the Award.
•Establish Criteria – must participate in 3 sports at any
level.
•Award Tiers – Certificate to 3 sport athlete, Plaque to
3 sport athlete maintaining a 3.0 GPA.
•Present in front of student body or at end of year
athletic program.
•Make a plaque that hangs in athletic hall with names
from year to year on display.
COORDINATE out of season
CALENDAR
• The coaching staff met and adjusted out
of season calendars so that camps for
teams did not conflict.
• They also scheduled out of season
practice schedules to give more athletes
an opportunity to attend.
EG: Football and Boys Basketball set
different camp schedules.
Football scheduled spring 7 on 7 nights on
Monday’s. School did not schedule any
Monday night baseball.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
• Established meeting with Middle
School staff and explained the goals of
the program.
• The middle school established a
calendar so that each sport had their
own season. They did not have
overlapping schedules. ONE SPORT IN
SEASON AT A TIME.
• Meant change to Middle School
Conference schedule….. 4 other county
and 1 city school schedule.
PROGRAM SUCCESS
2007-08 – 4 District Titles / 2 Region / 1 state runner up – 4 teams
advanced
START OF 3 SPORT PROGRAM
2008-09 – 8 District / 4 Region / 0 State
2009-10 – 11 District / 2 Region / 2 in final 4 of BKB. 2 teams
runner up.
SCHOOL’S SPLIT
2010 –11 –9 District / 6 Region / 4 teams in final 4 of state.
EVERY SPORT BUT ONE WENT ON TO REGION
COMPETITION.
2011-12 – 7 District/ 4 Region (4 runner up) / 3 final 4 team in
state.
Strategies for Fostering
Multi-Sport Participation
Sandy Searcy, IHSAA Assistant Commissioner
NIAAA Conference, December 2012
MULTIPLE SPORT ATHLETES
MULTIPLE SPORT ATHLETES
DEION SANDERS
2 Super Bowl Wins
Only person to play in Super Bowl and World Series
ABBY WAMBACH
Olympic Gold Medal, World Cup Champion
Lettered in basketball in high school
TONY GONZALEZ
12 time pro bowler
Leads all TE in receiving yards and touchdowns
Cal Basketball team made it to Sweet Sixteen
CHARLIE WARD
1993 Heisman Winner
1st round pick of the NY Knicks
BABE DIDRIKSON ZAHARIAS
Golf, Track and Field, Baseball
2 Gold Medals, AAU National Championship
Founding member of LPGA
LISA LESLIE
4 Olympic Gold Medals
State Champ in long jump and high jump
TONY GWYNN
8 Batting Titles
7 Silver Slugger Awards
Hall of Fame in 2007
Basketball at San Diego State
Records for assists in a season and
career
TAMIKA CATCHINGS
NCAA Champion, WNBA Champion, and Olympic Gold Medalist
Volleyball State Champion in high school
PAT RILEY
NBA champion coach
Drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 1967
MISTY MAY-TREANOR
3 Olympic Gold Medals
State Runner-up in high jump in 1993
JIMMIE JOHNSON
5-time NASCAR Champion
Participated in water polo, swimming and diving at
Granite Hills High School
JACKIE JOYNER-KERSEE
3-time gold medalist in track
19th all time leading scorer in basketball at UCLA
#1 on Sports Illustrated list of Top 50 Female Athletes
BO JACKSON
1985 Heisman Trophy Winner
4th all-time SEC rushing leader
All-Star for the Kansas City Royals
WHY DO KIDS PARTICIPATE IN SPORTS?
1989 Michigan State University Study on Sport
Participation
1. To have fun
2. To do something I’m good at
3. To stay in shape
4. To learn new or to improve my skills
5. To play as part of a team
“To win” was the 8th ranked response
BENEFITS OF MULTI-SPORT PARTICIPATION

Improved Health & Wellness
• Injury rate will decrease – ending that “never
ending cycle with no off-seasons in one
sport.”
• American Academy of Pediatrics – blames
parents; recommends training at correct
level, having qualified coaches, and avoid
specializing until as late as possible.
• Overuse issues reduced
BENEFITS OF MULTI-SPORT PARTICIPATION
 Improved
Athletic Performance

Development of other athletic skills

Athleticism

Teamwork & Leadership skills

Mental aspects
BENEFITS OF MULTI-SPORT PARTICIPATION
 College
participation and scholarship
opportunities improve.
 Academic
scholarships to athletic scholarships
 Recruiting
opportunities increase.
70:1.
BENEFITS OF MULTI-SPORT PARTICIPATION
o
o
o
o
Character Development
Student athlete learn how to adapt to
different coaching styles
Student athlete develops team loyalty and
pride
Experimentation
MULTI-SPORT PARTICIPATION
 With
a college scholarship being the end goal
for some athletes, how do you encourage high
school students to play more than one sport?
 Indiana
Athletic Directors offered ideas on what
strategies and programs they have implemented
to promote multi-sport athletes.
LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP DOWN
 Hire
coaches who really believe in the multisport concept.
 Incorporate
language into the annual coach’s
evaluation document.
 Meet
with head coaches on a regular basis to
discuss the importance of promoting multi-sport
participation.
LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP DOWN

Identify multi-sport participation as the number
one priority.
 Actively
season.
promote sports outside of a coach’s
 Encourage
coaches to promote multi-sport
participation by being visible at other sporting
events.
LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP DOWN
 Require
all coaches to meet together to talk
about yearly plans prior to each season.
 Do
not permit out-of-season coaches to conduct
open facility time on the same night as a
regularly scheduled in-season contest.
 Restrict
use of facilities for strength and
conditioning during peak practice times after
school.
LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP DOWN
 Require
meetings of coaches with student athletes
who wish to participate in multiple sports in the
same season.
 Either
coach can refuse to allow such participation
which ends the process.
A
written contract is created by both coaches and
filed with the AD.
LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP DOWN
 Schedule
summer workouts as an athletic
department, not as individual sports.
 Coaches
must meet with the student-athlete
and their parents to discuss schedules and find a
way to make it work.
LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP DOWN

Encourage coaches to promote their athletes to run
track in the Spring as a way to condition and build their
athleticism.

One Twenty sports, ONE team. - multiple teams must
come together as one if they are going to be successful.

Allow in-season athletes to attend open gyms of other
sports should they choose .
LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP DOWN
 Establish
a schedule for out of season
weightlifting supervision which can be utilized
by all athletes not in season.
 Do
not allow off-season conditioning programs
to begin until after Labor Day in the fall and not
until after Thanksgiving in the winter.
 Hire
a strength coach specifically for
conditioning.
MARKETING MULTI-SPORT PARTICIPATION
Recruiting Video – Jeffersonville High School
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OHbeE96R8Y


Name a captain from each fall sport to help recruit kids
to our sport.

Attend the contest of a different sport as a team to
demonstrate support.

Conduct drill sets in practice that recreate soccer
footwork, or football blocking so that kids know that our
sport and their sport mesh.
MARKETING MULTI-SPORT PARTICIPATION
o Send postcards to kids in other sports when
they are successful.
o Talk about their sports during practice.
o Consistently pass out literature and recognize
those who are participating in other sports.
o Use FACEBOOK AND TWITTER to consistently
tell keep the school community up to date.
MARKETING MULTI-SPORT PARTICIPATION
 Conducts
SPORTS PERFORMANCE Class
(advanced PE).
 Student
athletes from 20 different sports work
together lifting weights and doing footwork
drills.
 They
are told they are one team and they need
to pull for each other.
JEFFERSONVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

Created a power point presentation to encourage
football players to come out for wrestling
Jeffersonville Red Devil Wrestling
FOOTBALL TO WRESTLING
A GREAT COMBINATION!
WINTERIZE OUR FOOTBALL TEAM
“Wrestling is a sport for discipline and it breeds
toughness, it has helped me tremendously!!."
Roddy White – All-Pro Receiver, and wrestling state champion
SUMMER PARTCIPATION
 IHSAA
rules permit coaches to work with their
student athletes during the summer with no
limitations.
 Many
athletic departments have established
strategies which allow student athletes to
participate in multiple sports without schedule
conflict.
SUMMER PARTCIPATION
 Schedule
all camps and open gyms for the winter
sports in June, and schedule Fall sports conditioning
in July.
 The
summer conditioning program should be open
to all sports - boys and girls.
 The
top 3 grades work together - there is a separate
class for incoming freshmen.
 Hire
an outside group athletic training group that
will work with the athletes during the summer.
SUMMER PARTCIPATION
 Coaches
plan summer schedules to allow
players to participate in multiple sports.
 Summer:
1st 3-4 weeks are reserved for spring
and winter sports.
 The
last 4 weeks of the summer are reserved for
fall sports.
SUMMER PARTCIPATION
 Schedule
conditioning sessions several times
throughout the day so that all student- athletes
can participate.
 Designate
specific sport days. Monday = Fall,
Tuesday = Winter, Thursday = Spring.
 Hire
a strength and conditioning coach to oversee all summer workouts.
RECOGNITION PROGRAMS
 Many
schools offer incentives for participating
in multiple sports.
RECOGNITION PROGRAM
 Award
who:
a letter jacket to the student-athlete

Earns 4 varsity letters, or 3 in one sport and;

“Defends” these letters by playing the sport
through their senior year.
RECOGNITION PROGRAM
A
letter jacket may only be earned by a two or more
sport student-athlete.
 Athlete-Of-The-Year
Award is issued to the senior boy
and girl who have accumulated the most points
during their four-year career.
RECOGNITION PROGRAM
 Point
system for Participation
1 unit of credit - Freshman or JV level
2 units of credit – Varsity level
 Athletic
Clock - 12 units, with at least 8 at the
varsity level
 School
Blanket - 18 units, with at least 14 at the
varsity level
 Athletic
Ring - 23 units
RECOGNITION PROGRAM
 The
local newspaper recognizes a male and
female senior who has participated in 3 varsity
sports.
 Award
a watch to any student-athlete who is a
3-sport athlete for four years.
 Start
encouraging multi-sport athletes in grade
school. One small high school awards a trophy
to any student athlete who participates in 6
sports their 7th and 8th grade years.
RECOGNITION PROGRAM
 Loyalty
Award is provided for student athletes
who participate in 10 sports and earn 5 varsity
letters.
 The
highest athletic award, a blanket, is
awarded to an athlete who participates in 3
sports a year for a minimum of 3 years - one
being his or her senior year.
Questions?