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Dear GADA member,
The summer is coming to a close as we open the schools and begin preparations for the 2013/14 school year. Coaches and players around the State have worked hard over the summer, participating in summer workouts, attending camps, going to coaching clinics, and checking on eligibility. Opening day is here and everyone is excited.
What a great time of year as we conduct parent meetings, team meetings, try outs, team pictures, and a million other things in order to be ready for the opening games. It is always great coming on campus, this time of year, and seeing the band working hard on their half time show, cheer leaders working on run through banners and perfecting their cheers, cross country runners putting in volumes of mileage, volleyball working hard on their game, softball players hitting and catching and of course the football team practicing hard every day. It is with a great deal of excitement and anticipation that we begin the new school year!
This year the GADA is offering one membership option that is a dual membership with the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA). You can get additional information and sign up for the dual membership on our membership page. We want to encourage each of you to continue working on your LTI classes and CAA and/or CMAA certification. We are currently working on the LTI class offerings at our State Conference in Savannah as well as other educational opportunities for each of you. Make plans to attend the Conference.
Good luck to all the teams as we begin another incredible year of Georgia High School athletics.
Gary Long, CMAA
GADA President
Director of Athletics
Mill Creek High School
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| Ninety teams make head coaching changes: A look at Class AAAAAA
Produced by Georgia High School Football Daily
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Over the next six days, GHSF Daily and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution will chronicle each head coaching change of the offseason, beginning today with Class AAAAAA.
Of the 412 football programs in the GHSA, 90 hired new head coaches. That's about 1 in 4.5, which is a little more stable than the 1-in-4 ratio of the NFL and NCAA FBS division this offseason.
Of the 90 schools that changed coaches, 59 had losing records. Nine were 0-10. There were 27 head coaches who took the same position elsewhere in the offseason.
It's not always a case of a bigger job, though. In a pair of surprising moves, Jeff Herron of mega-power Camden County downsized to Class A Prince Avenue Christian, while Ed Pilcher of Bainbridge moved to long-suffering Berrien. Those coaches have won nine state titles between them.
Colleges also lure top Georgia coaches. Auburn added Dell McGee of Carver (Columbus) to its staff. Kennesaw State's new program nabbed Grant Chestnut of Central of Carroll County and Tim Glanton of South Paulding.
Then, there are the coaches lucky enough to finish their careers on their own terms. About eight coaches retired, and two were especially noteworthy.
T. McFerrin went out on top at Jefferson, winning a state championship to cap a career that began in 1968. McFerrin was head coach at eight Georgia high schools and led five to the state semifinals or better.
Buck Godfrey won 273 games, the most of any coach in DeKalb County Schools history. Godfrey was a head coach for 30 seasons, all at one school - Southwest DeKalb.
Godfrey was a beacon of a more stable time in high school sports. But McFerrin was a reminder that the revolving door of high school coaches is as old as the forward pass. It just seems to be spinning faster than ever. Read more... |
| Help us stay up to date!
Update your contact information!
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Another school year is here and we know many of you have moved onto new opportunities. Please help us update our records.
A quick EMAIL with your name, school, job title(s) and email address will be very helpful!
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Join and Renew your GADA-NIAAA
memberships with Paypal
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| AD Checklist/Reminders For August |
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 Contact Head coaches to poll their assistants about attendance for CPR/First Aid - Update coaches education records and notify coaches of their current status
- Find out eligibility dates for Fall season
- Review current GHSA Handbook, noting changes.
- Rules Clinics for Fall Coaches
- Arrange for First Aid/CPR classes
- Remind Head Coaches about fall League coaches meetings
- Contact police and Ambulance for home football games
- Contact announcer/timer/chain crew for home football games
- Contact event manager for home football, soccer, volleyball contests
- Contact Team doctor for home football games and make sure they have schedules
- Prepare Parent night presentation
- Prepare and/or complete JV and Freshman schedules
- Prepare "Season Arrangements" for coaches and schedule Pre-Season Coaches Meeting
- Confirm picture dates with team photographer
- Attend Freshman Parent Orientations
- Process all fall athletic participants paperwork - check eligibility concerns
- Prepare coaches contracts for out-of-building coaches
- Discuss theft and facility "etiquette" with coaches
- Discuss etiquette with spirit team(s)
Football home games - Who will clean up stadium? If team, get commitment from them
- Check with Athletic Secretary or consult paperwork and coaches to see if any eligibility appeals are necessary for any of our transfer students
- Make sure to arrange for transportation for away events
- Send schedules to administrators and meet regarding game supervision
- Review schedules and give athletic secretary the dates reservations are needed for overnight trips
- Keys to coaches
- Review current casebook
- Look for GHSA Membership forms
- Make sure lockers are ready to go with locks and paperwork for coaches
- Contact insurance company Certificate of \insurance for field use
Fiscal - Pay Bills
Report to school board the school's interscholastic program for the year - Prepare Booster Club board meeting agenda
- Update Website
- Arrange for AV needed for parent night
- Check with student government for promo events
- Schedule and send out agenda for any Athletic Department meetings
- Prepare yearly calendar, note scheduled games, league and district meetings, SAT and ACT dates
- Send roster of all head, assistant and volunteer coaches to district office making sure that volunteer coaches are registered and cleared
- Send maps to league members for game sites
- Schedule picture day for local media
- Review eligibility clearance - resident and academic rule prior to first competition
- Schedule Team Picture Day
- Join GADA-NIAAA
Click Here to download a print version of this month's checklist.
This should give you a start in your preparation for the month of June. Good luck and have a great summer!
Jeff Beggs, CMAA
Director of Athletics
Atlanta Public Schools
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| Public-private school split causes issues in Year 1
By David Mitchell - Columbus Ledger-Inquirer
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Split costly to pair of Brookstone teams, beneficial to two Marion County teams
Heading into the 2012-13 academic year, one of the major questions in Georgia high school athletics was how a split between the public and private schools in the postseason in Class A would affect on-field competition.
The split came about after an overwhelming majority of the Georgia High School Association executive committee voted in its favor in early 2012. It was an effort to balance competition in the state's smallest classification, which contains both public schools in lesser populated areas and private schools from much larger metropolitan areas.
Public schools complained that private schools have more resources and threatened to leave the GHSA if their demands for a separate playoff was not met.
Under the old system, which is still used for the GHSA's five other classifications, the top four teams for each of the eight regions would qualify for the postseason. The split in Class A meant there would be two 16-team tournaments.
Throughout the first year of the system, coaches expressed some concern about a power-ranking system that would select determine a majority of the the 16-team fields -- only the region or area champions were guaranteed a postseason berth.
The system takes into account wins and strength of schedule, often rewarding teams that may win fewer games but play teams from higher classifications.
Despite some lingering concern, coaches, whether for or against the system, said it was relatively successful in reaching its goals. Read more... |
| Steroid testing urged by FHSAA
By Larry Savage - Gainesville Sun (FL)
| The effects of performance-enhancing drugs, which have grabbed the headlines in major league baseball for weeks, have also reached down to the high school level.
Early this week, reports surfaced that the same defunct anti-aging clinic in South Florida (Biogenesis) that reportedly supplied PEDs to major leaguers, such as Alex Rodriguez, also supplied them to high school athletes. Those reports by the Miami Herald spurred the Florida High School Athletic Association into action and on Tuesday executive director Roger Dearing announced he has instructed its 15-member medical advisory committee to come up with a tougher policy against steroids to be enforced by individual school districts.
"We believe that we must draw a line in the sand against performance-enhancing drugs," Dearing said Tuesday. "It is the elephant in the room that all of us have known has existed for some time, but may not have been as vigilant as we should have been.
"School districts simply can not condone coaches that encourage or look the other way when they know student-athletes are using performance-enhancing drugs. Therefore, these coaches should not be allowed by their school district policies to be able to influence and coach these students in the future. It is more about safeguarding fair play and saving students' lives."
In its report, the Miami Herald, which has seen a 2011 partial list of Biogenesis high school clients, reported that two are current high school seniors and five athletes attend Dade or Broward colleges. Read more... |
Sincerely,
Gary Long, CMAA
President
Georgia Athletic Directors Association
www.gadaonline.net |
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GHSA April 2013 Newsletter
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Click HERE for the latest GHSA Newsletter
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GADA Pullover Jackets Now Available
Order yours today!
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Available in Men's and Women's cuts.
Men's feature removable sleeves
Sizes: Small to XXL!Click HERE to order yours today! |
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