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Dear GADA member,
I want to remind everyone that the GADA is offering one membership option this year which is a dual membership with the National Interscholastic Athletic Association. You can get additional information and sign up for dual membership on our membership page. Many of the Regions have included the dual membership in their Region dues and then paid for every AD's membership at one time. I would encourage you to discuss this option at your next Region meeting.
The Board is working hard on the conference agenda in order to bring you the best conference ever. We should have the LTI course offerings that will be offered this year on line soon. Please mark your calendar for the conference on March 22-25, 2014. Included with registration this year is a course, taught by Jay Hammes, that will address the risk management issues in athletic competition. Each attendee will receive a certification endorsed by the NIAAA. Good luck to all teams as we continue with the 2013/14 school year.
Gary Long, CMAA
GADA President
Director of Athletics
Mill Creek High School
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Atlanta hall considers Cobb
by John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal
|  Cobb County's Corky Kell and Leo Mazzone are two of the 18 finalists for the 2014 class of the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame.
Kell was a longtime athletic figure at Wheeler High School, coaching football and girls basketball, and he later served as the Cobb County School District's athletic director before dying in 1995. Kell High School is named after him.
Mazzone, an east Cobb resident, worked alongside Bobby Cox as the Atlanta Braves' pitching coach during the team's glory years of the 1990s and early 2000s with Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz.
Kell and Mazzone are among 18 finalists whose accomplishments will be considered by the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame Honor Court. At least five finalists will be presented for induction during a Feb. 7 ceremony.
"If Corky were here, he'd be saying, 'I'm stomping in high cotton,'" said Kell's widow, Carole, a longtime Cobb County teacher and administrator, about the company her husband is keeping among the other finalists.
In his time as Wheeler's football coach from 1970-78, Kell went 77-25-1, taking the Wildcats to the state semifinals twice and a state runner-up finish in 1973. He also was a three-time state runner-up as the school's girls basketball coach.
However, it could be argued that, for as much success as Kell had coaching, he made his most significant mark later on in his professional career.
Kell was one of five founding members of the Georgia Athletic Directors Association, served 14 years on the executive committee of the Georgia High School Association and served as president of the Atlanta Touchdown Club in 1988-89.
Carlton "Corky" Kell was one of eight inaugural members inducted into the GADA Hall of Fame in 2010. |
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| Gary Phillips chosen to replace GHSA's Swearngin
By Todd Holcomb, GHSF Daily, AJC.com
|  Gary Phillips was approved Wednesday as the new executive director of the Georgia High School Association. The assistant executive director since 2001, Phillips will replace the retiring Ralph Swearngin on July 1.
"Dr. Swearngin is a good steward, so I don't think you'll see an earth-shattering change in the GHSA,'' Phillips said. "Something that I learned as a principal was fix the hiccups, and for those things that work good, make sure they stay that way.''
Phillips said some of the issues he expected to face in the next academic year include reclassification of the GHSA's 448 member schools, the public-private debate and increasing allegations of illegal recruiting of athletes.
Phillips said that the board of trustees brought up the issue of recruiting in his interview. Phillips said the hiring this past summer of Carror Wright, an associate director whose responsibilities are compliance and investigations, was a sign that the GHSA is committed to addressing those concerns.
"I think we've always had some concern for issues like recruiting,'' Phillips said, "but we've had to balance that with other priorities and didn't have a specific officer in the association where that was his primary task, taking these charges that we get from time to time, deciding what's valid and what's not.''
Phillips said the move in 2012 to six classifications from five and the separation of Class A into public and private divisions produced favorable results for many schools. The change led to seven state champions in many sports, instead of five. Read more... |
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AD Checklist/Reminders For November
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- Insure that all winter sports coaches have completed required rules clinics.
- Have submitted all GHSA eligibility forms for winter sports.
- Schedule and disseminate agenda for upcoming athletic department meetings.
- Pay bills.
- Insure that fall sports coaches have made nominations and attended appropriate meetings for all region and all-state nominations.
- Have collected and filed all appropriate winter sports forms, to include proof of insurance,emergency medical treatment, emergency contact information, etc.
- Schedule winter sports parents meetings.
- Finalize gymnasium use practice schedules.
- Review all winter sports schedules for possible conflicts.
- With assistance from fall sports coaches, clean out and sanitize all multi-use locker rooms for use by winter sports team members.
- Pre-season meetings with winter sport coaches.
- Confirm all winter sports officiating schedules with time, dates and locations.
- Collect rosters from all opponents.
- Review winter sports season guidelines.
- Prepare winter sports game event managers schedules.
- Highlight and communicate all deadlines.
- Send all winter sports schedules to appropriate media.
- Arrange all home event gate workers. Cover necessary protocol and procedures.
- Update athletic website.
- Schedule winter sports booster club meetings.
- Complete and mail all booster club meeting agendas.
- Prepare for winter sport parent night.
- Disseminate all winter sports schedules to school administrators for sign up of administration game duties.
- Winter sports team picture schedule.
- Have completed all fall sports inventories for sports that are finished with their seasons.
- Speak with and/or inform student body on good sportsmanship and proper behaviors for
- winter sports events.
- Begin fall sports coaches end of season evaluations and conferences.
- Send thank you notes to all fall sports seasons coaches spouses.
This should give you a start in your preparation for the month of November. Good luck!
Jeff Beggs CMAA
GADA Past President
Director of Athletics
Atlanta Public Schools
Click HERE to download the check list.
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| 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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7 Keys To Succeed As A First-Time Athletic Director
 Kevin Flegner says he has evolved in his role as athletic director over the years, citing increased patience, more research and deeper analysis prior to making decisions. He also began a practice of over-communicating to make sure all his bases are covered.
When asked what advice he could give to the next generation of aspiring athletic directors, he came up with this these tips:- Organization counts. "You must be highly organized because you're constantly multitasking," he says, "and there's little room for error in our position."
- Hone your 'people skills.' "You must be good with people, but you've got to be firm and fair. People need to see that you're in it for the right reasons. If you're not truly student-athlete centered, it's not the right position for you."
- Observe & listen. Flegner says he spent a great deal of time in his first year simply watching, listening and taking notes. "You can find out a lot about the school, the genetic makeup of the staff, the coaches, the athletes and the parents by seeing how things ran previously. You want to keep in place what has worked and made the place great or special. You don't want to transition things too quickly, because not everything needs to change. Be careful not to criticize before you really know what's going on or how programs have run in the past."
- Improving the weak points. After that period of gaining and understanding, "take a hard look at the weaknesses or stagnant pieces that are causing individual programs or the athletic department as a whole to be spinning in the mud," says Flegner. "That's where you start tweaking and putting on your personal touches. By following a process and concentrating where things most need improvement, people will see that you're not trying to reconstruct everything."
- Surround yourself with talent. "It's not what you know or how good you are that makes you successful. It's the people you surround yourself with." Admitting he doesn't have all the answers, Flegner says it's important to bounce ideas off of staff and coaches, and get them to see their jobs as problem-solvers-not just problem-voicers. "If you as the athletic director fix situations that others are empowered to fix themselves, nobody learns, and it's very difficult to sustain a successful program."
- Lean on your peer community. Flegner says some of his closest friends are athletic directors, and a day rarely goes by in which he doesn't reach out to a peer (many who've been in the game much longer than he) who may have faced similar situations. "A fresh set of eyes and ears is always good in making a final decision," he says, "and to validate that I'm looking at the situation correctly."
- Stay positive. "This job is very draining, and things can seem very negative at times. But you've got to persevere and stay positive. If you're in it for the children, you'll find no greater joy than going to an event and seeing the excitement on their faces knowing that, win or lose, they gave it their best. That's the ultimate joy in high school athletics."
| Kevin Flegner's home page
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Sincerely,
Gary Long, CMAA
President
Georgia Athletic Directors Association
www.gadaonline.net |
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GHSA September 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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2014 GADA Conference News
Hilton Desoto, Savannah, GA March 22-25, 2014
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Safe Sport Zone and NIAAA Certification
FREE TO ALL GADA MEMBERS
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Athletic directors must address the risk management issues in athletic competition. Author of Contest Management, Jay Hammes will address these issues to assure a safer environment. Identified in the course are issues related to fans, athletics, facilities maintenance, evacuation procedures and applications for most other emergencies. By attending the course, members will receive a certification endorsed by the NIAAA.
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| NIAAA's Guide to Interscholastic Athletic Administration
Featuring Decatur AD and past GADA President Carter Wilson
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 "It is an honor to have served as a contributor to Human Kinetics' NIAAA Guide to Interscholastic Athletic Administration. The goal of this publication is to serve as a comprehensive guide for athletic administrators in Georgia and throughout the country. I am proud to be a member of the GADA and the NIAAA and I hope that this publication will assist others in their service to young people." - Carter Wilson Click HERE to purchase the guide.
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