Greetings!
 On behalf of the Georgia Athletic Directors Association, I am pleased to introduce our new e-newsletter. This newsletter will provide our members with up to date information regarding membership, leadership training courses, the State Conference, the Directors Cup, job postings, the GADA Hall of Fame, as well as a new feature "Ideas that Work".
Our goals for this year include keeping our membership better informed and becoming a resource for Athletic Directors to do their jobs in a more efficient manner. Please feel free to contact us with any thoughts and ideas that you may have that will help us to become more responsive to our members.
Sincerely, Carter Wilson, CAA GADA President |
| Dr. Lucia Norwood to be Inducted into the NIAAA Hall of Fame
|
 Sam Rasmussen, President of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA), recently notified us that our own Lucia Norwood will be inducted into the inaugural class of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Fame.The induction ceremony will take place on Tuesday, December 15, 2009, at the Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine, Texas. This is a huge honor and a wonderful accomplishment for Lucia and just confirms all that we have known about her for quite some time. She has worked tirelessly for the Georgia Athletic Directors Association (GADA), the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) and the NIAAA for years. If anyone deserves an award like this from the state of Georgia, it is certainly Lucia. She has given so much of her time and effort to represent high school athletics in Georgia and has brought a tremendous amount of national attention and positive recognition to our state because of her devotion to these organizations.
Tim Vick, CMAA
GADA Past President
|
The Benefits in belonging to the GADA and NIAAA
It's time to join
|
As an organization its strength and value is derived directly from its members. Being a member opens many doors of opportunity. They include but are not limited to training programs, attending the annual conference, communicating, mentoring and learning along side your peers within Georgia and beyond. The GADA is making great strides to improve our organization. This email is the first step in that process. Your membership in both the GADA and the NIAAA will help insure that you receive the valued benefits and have the ability to make a greater impact with your coaches, administration and most of all your student-athletes. GADA Board of Directors 2009-2010
- The NIAAA and the GADA promotes the professional growth and development of interscholastic state high school administrators.
- The NIAAA and the GADA promotes the professional image and prestige of state interscholastic athletic administrators, as well as high school athletic programs.
- Members receive "Interscholastic Athletic Administration", a quarterly journal written by, and for, high school athletic administrators through the NIAAA.
- The GADA provides an association with the leaders in interscholastic athletic administration to all its members.
- Through the GADA, each member is provided with a $10,000 Life Insurance Policy.
- Receive $2,500 term life insurance through the NIAAA.
- Each member has the opportunity to take professional Leadership Training Courses in specific areas of professional interest and earn PLU's.
- Each member has the opportunity to earn RAA (Registered Athletic Administrator), CAA (Certified Athletic Administrator) and CMAA (Certified Master Athletic Administrator) designation through the NIAAA.
- Through the NIAAA, each member is provided with $2,000,000 liability coverage while performing the duties of an athletic administrator.
- The association with members in the GADA and the NIAAA is a valuable resource for all athletic administrators, from beginning to experienced.
- Each member has the opportunity to earn Region and State AD of the Year recognition.
- Each GADA member has the opportunity to participate in the GADA sponsored Professional Outreach Program to assist with membership, LTC class registration as well as state conference attendance.
- Each member has the opportunity to attend the GADA annual state conference, as well as the national (NIAAA) conference.
- Each member has the opportunity to nominate students from your school for the annual GADA ($1,000) and NIAAA sponsored student-athlete scholarships.
|
A Sporting Chance
| The late country comedian, Jerry Clower, tells a story about going coon hunting with Mr. John Eubanks. According to Clower, "Mr. Eubanks was a great American. He taught us to give everything a sporting chance." For most of us, we watch able-bodied students participate in extracurricular activities. However, there is a segment of students who have some form of a physical disability that keeps them from participating in traditional sports.
We all know the many lessons that are taught through athletics: discipline, self-sacrifice, team work and commitment, but what about students with physical disabilities? Through the efforts of the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, students with physical disabilities can now play in a competitive, interscholastic event. Adapted Sports was founded in 1996 and has grown in popularity in Georgia schools. Since individual schools don't field teams, disabled athletes from different schools are combined to form squads. The program takes traditional sports and adapts them for players with disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, spinal-cord injuries, muscular dystrophy and amputees. These students are given "a sporting chance."
The adapted sports program is endorsed by the Georgia High School Association and students are bound by the association's policies in regards to academic eligibility and having a yearly physical.
Currently, there are four athletic programs available for students with physical disabilities: wheelchair handball (fall), wheelchair basketball (winter), wheelchair football (spring) and wheelchair track & field (spring). All teams are co-ed. Students are taught how to play the sport in a wheelchair. There are game rules that must be followed and officials who call the game to make sure it is played fairly. The students are held to the same high standard of behavior that able-bodied students are held to in high school athletics.
The following school systems participate in adapted sports: Atlanta Public Schools, DeKalb County, Gwinnett County, Houston County, Oconee & Clarke County, Meriwether County, Clayton County, Henry County, Muscogee County, Richmond County and the Alpharetta YMCA.
If you have the opportunity to go watch one of these teams play, you will be amazed at the competitive level the students play at. But most importantly, it is the difference the adapted sports program is making in these students' lives that makes them true winners.
Mike Phillips
Adaptive Sports Director for Gwinnett Co. |
At some schools, budget cuts shut down sports
Students see fewer options, higher fees
|
by Marlen Garcia
Instead of gearing up to run cross-country for Grove City High School in Ohio, Andy Bennett is training for a marathon. It will give the 16-year-old some consolation because sports programs and clubs at his school have been shut down. An hour after the last bell each afternoon, it's lights out at the school. More....
|
|
Protective Gym Floor Covers
A great offer!
|
Dunlap Industries has protective gym
floor covers available free to schools and parks and recreation for the
cost of the hem on the outer edge. Protective covers are used to
prevent scuffing and damage to gym floors. All shipping costs are free.
For more information call Mr. Gene Stephan at (520) 274-0685. All
requests are on a first come first serve basis.
|
|
|
We value your comments and feedback. We encourage you to submit articles and items of interest for the newsletter and website.
Sincerely,
Board of Directors
Georgia Athletic Directors Association
www.gadaonline.net
|
|
|
|
