|
Dear GADA member,
We hope you all had a festive and safe holiday break. Before you know it we'll be in Savannah for the Annual Conference (March 21-24, 2015). We hope to see all of you there.
We're working on the final details and schedule for the conference and will have that information posted ASAP.
Please see the annual scholarship information below. We know each of you have great scholar-athletes so we encourage you to help them with their submissions.
Best Regards,
Mike Singletary
GADA President
Athletic Director - Thomas County Central HS
|
| (Rep. Brian) Prince bill would allow magnet school students to play sports at other schools
By Tracey McManus, AugustaChronicle.com
|  In his first bill proposal as a state legislator, Rep. Brian Prince has prefiled legislation that would allow students who attend magnet schools to play sports at other schools.
Currently magnet schools in Georgia are eligible to participate in the state's high school athletic association, but few magnets offer the full spectrum of sports programs like traditional high schools.
Magnet schools are public schools that have specialized themes such as fine arts or technology and have competitive admissions processes that are open to all attendance zones in a district. With a specialized focus, not all have the demand or time for full-fledged athletics.
Because Richmond County's three magnet high schools offer limited sports programs - primarily golf, rowing and swimming - Prince, D-Augusta, said families often have to forfeit a high school sports career at a traditional public school for an enhanced educational experience at a magnet school.
There is no state law prohibiting students from attending magnet schools while playing sports at the schools they are assigned to attend based on their residence, but bylaws of the Georgia High School Association - the state's athletic regulation body with more than 400 private and public member schools - forbid the arrangement. Prince's bill would essentially force GHSA's hand by legislating that no public school receiving state education funding could participate in regulated athletics if athletic associations do not allow magnet schools' students to play at their zone schools.
"We wouldn't do it willingly, but we'd be forced to (change the bylaws)," said GHSA executive director Gary Phillips. "Under our rules a student has to play for the school they attend... This is not a program where you can go wherever you want and play whatever you want at another school. The premise has always been the students play for the school and represents the school they attend."
Prince, a former Glenn Hills High School athletic standout with two children who attend Richmond County magnet schools, said complaints from constituents helped fuel his bill.
He said some parents feel it is an unfair sacrifice to have to give up a chance to play football or basketball in exchange for attending a magnet school, which may not offer football or basketball.
"If this bill passes, I see an increase in students competing for magnet schools," Prince said, stressing these students would still have to try out and be chosen for sports teams at their zone schools. "What you'll also have is more students staying in the public school system versus going to Aquinas, Augusta Prep, Westminister or even moving to Columbia County." Read more... |
| 2015 GADA Annual Conference Registration
March 21-24, 2015
|
Hilton Desoto 15 West Liberty Street, Savannah, GA 31401 (912)232-9000
Click HERE to download the conference registration form.
|
| 2014-15 High School Female/Male Scholarship Award
Submission deadline - February 10, 2015
| |
The High School Female/Male Scholarship Award will be presented to a senior who has represented his/her sport(s) in both performance and leadership. Each winner will receive a $1000.00 scholarship award.
Please complete and mail the following nomination form with one letter of recommendation attached to the form.
The scholarship application must be returned no later than February 10, 2015. All applications after that date will not be considered. Nominees include one senior female athlete and one senior male athlete.
Scholarship Application PDF
NIAAA Scholarship Award Rubric |
Former HS Basketball Player Cut from Team, Sues School
by Michael Gaio, AthleticBusiness.com
|
 | |
Chase Johanson
|
Getting cut from a high school athletic team can be a tough pill to swallow. For former Ohio basketball player Chase Johanson, the remedy has come in the form of a lawsuit.
Johanson, who graduated from Medina High School in 2013 and now is on the track and field team at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, filed suit against his former high school, the athletic director, the school's principal and his former basketball coach, alleging they violated his First Amendment right of free speech and his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, resulting in a "loss of liberty" when he was cut from the team.
The lawsuit was originally filed in Medina County Common Pleas Court, but was transferred to the U.S. District court last week at the request of the defendants who say the lawsuit belongs in federal court because the claims involve constitutional issues.
According to the suit, which you can read here, the problems for Johanson date back to December of 2010, his sophomore year. That's when the 6'7'' power forward opted to participate in a school-sponsored musical performance over a basketball game. According to the suit, Medina school code says this is perfectly acceptable: "When such a conflict arises, there was an agreement that he could participate in the musical performance with no clarification of penalty." But Johanson says he was benched for half of the next basketball game as a result of choosing the musical performance over basketball. From there things derailed. According to PJMedia.com, two years of conflicts and meetings between Johanson, his mother, the athletic staff and school administration followed. Coaches said Johanson's poor performance and poor attitude didn't warrant much playing time, while Johanson and his mother say he was being unfairly targeted by a coach who didn't like him. Then there's the social media component.
Count I of the lawsuit claims Johanson's First Amendment rights were violated when he was punished for sending tweets critical of his team and coaching staff. After one game, the suit alleges the "Plaintiff sent a private tweet on the Twitter Social Media System which stated 'Am I that bad that I can't even play on a losing team??" Other tweets included: "At this point the trainer has been on the floor more than I have." And following a conversation where Johanson alleges opposing coaches told him he would start on their teams, Johanson tweeted, "At least the Elyria and Brunswick coaches would take me to play basketball." Read more...
|
| Important Membership Dues Changes! |
The board of directors has implemented the following membership options in order to better serve our association and it's members. Effective immediately dues changes are as following Standard Dual GADA/NIAAA Membership $140 Includes: $1,000,000 liability insurance $2,500, Life Insurance 10,000.00 accidental life insurance 24/7 Benefits of membership
Retirees Only Dual Membership $60
Working NIAAA Lifetime Membership $60
Retired NIAAA Lifetime Membership: $30
We have updated the GADA website Membership Application page and Paypal payment options. You may also download the applications and mail in your payment.
If you use Paypal please be sure to also fill out the online membership form so that we may match it up with your payment.
Click HERE to visit the GADAONLINE.NET membership page If you have any questions regarding membership, dues, or attending the annual conference, please contact Dr. Lucia Norwood, GADA Exec. Director (678) 262-3664
|
| Negligence, Athletic Trainers at Heart of Football Lawsuit
by John T. Wolohan, AthleticBusiness.com
|  Colter Rios was playing in a junior varsity football game for Grossmont (Calif.) High School in 2008 when he felt a pop in his right ankle as he was tackled. Although he complained of pain when he tried to stand up, his coaches sent him back into the game without having the ankle examined. Colter was eventually removed from the game and sent to the athletic trainer to get his ankle taped.
The athletic trainer, Keoki Kamau, was not there, so Adrian Dunn, a college athletic training student who had been assisting Kamau on a volunteer basis, examined Colter's ankle. Dunn found no bruising, deformity or other abnormality and, after taping Colter's ankle, had him jog, zigzag, sprint and backpedal. Colter told the trainer he felt fine and was then cleared to return to the game. Upon returning, however, Colter fractured two of his cervical vertebrae and injured his spinal cord when he was tackled. The injuries prompted Rios' mother to file suit against the Grossmont Union High School District, alleging that the district was negligent to allow Colter to continue to play after injuring his ankle, and that the initial injury caused him to subsequently sustain permanent and debilitating injuries.
In most cases involving negligence, the courts will use a basic negligence standard, which asks the jury to decide how a reasonably careful or prudent person would have acted in the same situation. In some cases, however, especially when dealing with medical personnel, the courts will look at the national standards promulgated by a national organization to hold the individual to a higher standard of care. This was at the core of Rios v. Grossmont Union High School District, 2013 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 9007. Read more... |
Join and Renew your GADA-NIAAA
memberships with Paypal
|
Sincerely,
Mike Singletary
President
Georgia Athletic Directors Association
www.gadaonline.net |
|
|
|
|
|
GHSA November
2014 Newsletter
| 
Click HERE for the latest GHSA Newsletter
|
| NIAAA's Guide to Interscholastic Athletic Administration
Featuring Decatur AD and past GADA President Carter Wilson
|
 "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.
|
|
AD Checklist / Reminders For January
| |
- Schedule and disseminate agendas for upcoming athletic coaches meetings.
- Check, check and double check winter sports eligibility forms.
- Attend scheduled region meeting.
- Begin academic and residency checks for upcoming spring sports for eligibility purposes.
- Schedule spring sports picture day.
- Meet with current winter sports booster clubs.
- Review and audit concessions receipts and revenues.
- Review and adjust if necessary all basketball, wrestling and swimming game day
- preparation as needed.
- Check spring sports scoreboards to insure that they are operational.
- Attend weekly administrative meetings.
- Inform faculty on upcoming athletic events. Talk about the positive things that are
- happening in the athletic program.
- Update your athletic website.
- Finalize fall sports schedules for next year.
- Finalize wrestling weight class rosters for upcoming area duals.
- Update transportation of any changes or adjustments to winter team travel schedules.
- Pay outstanding invoices from fall sports.
- Review region standings for seeding possibilities for upcoming basketball tournaments.
- Review spring sports officiating schedules and associations. Give association President
- or booking secretary a phone call to confirm all schedules.
- Forward spring sports schedules and assignments to all gate workers.
Click HERE to download the print version
|
|
|
