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Dear GADA member,
I hope your summer has been at least a little restful, and we are ready to begin a new school year. I know many started Monday the 4th, and some are starting a few days later, but just remember no matter when you start there are student athletes that will depend on the decisions you will make this year. My prayer is for all your schedules, contest, and personnel issues to go smoothly.
Be willing to reach out to other AD's for help and offer help when asked to do so. Our job is one that most people don't understand, so as a result they don't respect the many difficult issues we deal with on a daily bases. We need to explain what we do in a positive and clear manner so that our administrators, teachers and coaches have a better understanding that our job is one of service, and we are here to make their jobs easier.
I'm proud to be called coach, but equally proud to be call A.D. As long as we remember we are here for our athletes, then we will be able to enjoy our job of service. Hope you have a great year.
Mike Singletary
GADA President
Athletic Director - Thomas County Central HS
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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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Q&A: New GHSA Executive Director Gary Phillips addresses wide variety of issues
by Ron Seibel - Macon Telegraph
|  It was fairly cool for the first day of August, but the air was super thick with plenty of humidity on an overcast morning. Scattered showers likely did nothing except weigh pads down even more for players who hadn't put them on in eight or nine months.
Players on the three Bibb County private school teams joining the GHSA this fall, however, didn't have to worry about a rainy first practice in pads, at least not Friday. While that was the first legal day for GHSA schools to work out in full protective gear, former GISA members Mount de Sales, Stratford and Tattnall Square chose to wait.
Still, for players like Tattnall running back/linebacker Jonathan Ward, there is eager anticipation for the day when the pads come on and contact drills begin.
"Oh yeah, everybody is (excited)," Ward said. "We're ready to see who's all talk and who's the real deal."
Mount de Sales, which is making its return to the GHSA after leaving for the GISA in 1980, did not practice Sunday and thus did not have the required number of acclimatization practices in by the time Friday rolled around. The Cavaliers are scheduled to work out in pads Saturday. When the pads do come on, it will be the initial chance for first-year head coach Keith Hatcher to see how well the offense has been installed.
"The big thing for us, everything is fairly new to our guys," Hatcher said. "Offensively, schematically, and defensively, we're going to look a little different this year (and) a lot different in some areas. We had to spend a lot of time just teaching this summer and into the first week of practice. Now that our kids are learning what to do, we're working on doing it faster. Read more... |
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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 insurancefor 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
It's August and a new school year! A lot of i's to dot and t's to cross! We hope this list helps!
Click HERE to download the check list.
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| Opinion: High School Football Will Never Be Totally Safe
by Jay Evensen, Deseret News
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Last month, California lawmakers passed a bill limiting full-contact football practices for middle- and high-school players to two 90-minute workouts per week.
Not long after, the Utah High School Activities Association implemented a new rule requiring all athletes to have yearly physical exams, rather than only one during their high school careers. Coaches are to take special care to avoid heat-related stress among players, and they must be first aid- and CPR-certified.
Nothing says autumn is approaching quite like the annual concern for the safety of young people engaging in what has become the national pastime. With some sources estimating the number of annual concussions attributable to football at 140,000 (although, no one can be sure because the injury isn't always diagnosed or reported), this is not a minor public health concern. Neither are the many other injuries tied to the sport.
And yet, kids keep lining up to play. The trick is to separate facts from feel-good political acts. In this case, score one for Utah, at least for not imposing meaningless rules.
In California (and several other states with similar laws), a bunch of politicians with no special medical or athletic qualifications are imposing an arbitrary rule. Utah is probably being a bit more realistic.
Bart Thompson, assistant director of the Utah High School Activities Association, told me the extra physical exams have little to do with concussions. They are primarily to guard against heart problems - sudden cardiac arrest due to undiagnosed heart conditions.
This doesn't mean, he said, that Utah officials are unconcerned with concussions. The rules already require coaches to be aware of the symptoms. It just means officials don't want to impose rules that are meaningless.
Thompson said most Utah high schools don't do much tackling at all during the week, once the season starts. To limit teams to two 90-minute full-contact workouts is to prohibit something that isn't happening. Read more...
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Join and Renew your GADA-NIAAA
memberships with Paypal
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Sincerely,
Mike Singletary
President
Georgia Athletic Directors Association
www.gadaonline.net |
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GHSA March 2014 Newsletter
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Click HERE for the latest GHSA Newsletter
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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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| Coaching Opening: Head Varsity Baseball Coach
Deadline: Oct. 31, 2014
| | Westover High Schoo
l is looking for an experienced head baseball coach. Valid Teaching certificate is required.
Please contact
Johnny Seabrooks, Director of Athletics
P. O. Box 3170
Albany, GA 31701
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