Positive Coaching Alliance and OIAAA Partnership

September 9, 2019

To: All Area Media

From: Ryan Virtue, Positive Coaching Alliance

Bruce Brown, OIAAA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CLEVELAND – Positive Coaching Alliance-Cleveland and the Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (OIAAA) are pleased to announce a new partnership effective September 9.  This strategic partnership has been developed to provide additional support to OIAAA members specifically as it relates to enhancing culture development and elevating the social-emotional learning opportunities that co-curricular athletics presents. 

PCA-Cleveland is one of 18 chapters of the Positive Coaching Alliance, a national nonprofit organization that provides live in-person and online tools, resources and training for athletics leaders, coaches, parents and athletes that directly align with each individual schools’ mission.  As a leading professional development nonprofit association for high school administrators, the OIAAA is comprised primarily of athletic administrators of secondary schools in the state of Ohio. It was formed for the purpose of supporting and improving Interscholastic athletics and programs which enhance the development of young student-athletes, the professional inter-relationship between athletic administrators and other supervisory personnel.  The OIAAA also provides educational opportunities and channels of communication for its members.

“The missions of the Positive Coaching Alliance and the OIAAA could not be in more alignment.” said Ryan Virtue, Partnership Manager for PCA Cleveland. “Through this partnership, we have a tremendous opportunity to increase dialogue and provide valuable tools to assist education-based administrators in proactively addressing some of the biggest challenges they face in their roles.  It’s important to address current challenges facing athletic administrators; however we also have the opportunity to work with them proactively to address many of those issues within the youth sports environment before athletes and families even reach high school.”

PCA-Cleveland Board Chair, Neil Weiss, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Cleveland Indians added “Culture is everything to any sports organization at any level of competition.  Whether you are working with youth, high school, collegiate or professional athletes there is a significant level of importance in establishing environments where leadership, reasoning and social-emotional learning are at the forefront of player development. This partnership with the OIAAA will allow significant expansion of that mindset throughout the state of Ohio.”

Bruce Brown, Executive Director of the OIAAA, stated, “The mission of our organization has been to deliver best practice resources to and promote the professional development of the school administrators who coordinate and oversee interscholastic athletics in Ohio schools.  The collaboration with PCA-Cleveland allows us to enhance those resources for our members while strengthening the support of the purpose and vision of what sports can provide for the overall development of children.”

With the launch of this partnership, throughout the month of September, PCA is offering current partner/renewal pricing for PCA live workshops to any OIAAA member schools.  Any interested parties should request more information at https://positivecoach.org/forms/request-more-information/.  As the partnership develops, OIAAA members will also have access to continuing educational opportunities during OIAAA state and regional conferences. Specific PCA tools and resources will also be made available through the OIAAA AD Toolbox.

About the OIAAA

The Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association was founded in 1956 to provide a professional organization in Ohio for interscholastic athletic administrators. From its beginning, the OIAAA was established to create an exchange forum of best practice for the oversight and enhancement of education-based athletic programs in Ohio schools. 

Services performed by the OIAAA include (but not limited to): 

  • Certified professional development for athletic administrators
  • Professional forums for current athletic issue solutions.
  • Exchange of professional literature, ideas and training programs.
  • Marketing of and public relations for the development of education-based athletic programs.
  • Endorsement of ethical standards in interscholastic athletics.
  • Support and development of sportsmanship in athletics. 

The OIAAA is dedicated to the advancement of interscholastic, education-based athletic programs in Ohio. They are a non-profit (501c3) organization.

For more information on the OIAAA, please contact Executive Director, Bruce Brown at oiaaa.brucebrown@gmail.com or 330-352-9848.

About PCA-Cleveland

Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is a national non-profit organization with the mission of creating a positive, character-building youth sports environment that results in BETTER ATHLETES, BETTER PEOPLE.

 

Youth sports currently involves 40M children, which presents a tremendous platform on which to develop youth character and life skills. Research has shown that in order for youth to accrue these benefits from sports, sports needs to be done in a way that creates a positive youth development culture. PCA ensures sports are ‘done right’ with programming that is research-based and designed to have an impact at three levels in a youth sports organization or school:

  • Youth experience improved life skills and character development.  They also perform better!
  • Coaches become more positive and increase their focus on using sports to teach life lessons.
  • Youth Sports Organizations & Schools see their cultures become more positive and everyone involved has more fun.

 

Since its founding in 1998, PCA has established 18 chapters nationwide, partnered with roughly 3,500 schools and youth sports organizations to deliver more than 20,000 live group workshops, reaching 19.2 million youth. PCA offers interactive online courses and has thousands of multimedia tips and tools for coaches, parents, athletes, and leaders available free of charge on PCADevZone.org. PCA also runs two annual awards programs: a scholarship program for high school student-athletes and a coach award program to recognize youth and high school coaches who strive to win and teach life lessons.

 

PCA gains support from a National Advisory Board of elite coaches, professional and Olympic athletes, organization leaders, and academics who share PCA’s mission including Dusty Baker, Carol Dweck, Herm Edwards, Julie Foudy, Phil Jackson, and Steve Kerr. PCA is proud to partner with more than 50 national governing bodies, youth serving organizations and professional leagues and teams including Boys & Girls Club of America, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and US Lacrosse.

 

The Cleveland Chapter of the Positive Coaching Alliance was founded in 2011 by then General Manager of the Cleveland Indians and current President/General Manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, Mark Shapiro.


To learn more about Positive Coaching Alliance, or to become involved in the movement contact Ryan Virtue, PCA-Cleveland Partnership Manager at ryan_virtue@positivecoach.org or 440-465-6552.

 

OHIO’S NERL AND POWERS TO RECEIVE NATIONAL RECOGNITION

 

Two Ohio interscholastic athletic administrators have been selected to receive top professional honors from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) at the 2019 National Athletic Directors Conference this December.  Earning the NIAAA’s “Distinguished Service Award” will be Tom Nerl, CMAA, athletic director at Mariemont High School. Receiving the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) “Citation Award” will be Paul Powers, CAA, athletic director at Aurora High School.

Nerl has been Mariemont’s athletic administrator for the past 15 years.  Prior to arriving at Mariemont, he served three years as the athletic director at Purcell-Marian High School, also in Cincinnati.  During his professional career, he has earned numerous recognitions: 2010 Southwest District “A.D. of the Year”, 2012 “Ohio Award of Merit” and the Southwest Ohio District’s “Citation”, “Distinguished Service” and “Professional Development” awards during the past seven years.

Nerl has served both the Southwest District as well as the NIAAA in numerous capacities.  He has been a Southwest District officer since 2009, having served as that organization’s President from 2013-2015.  He currently oversees the Mentorship program for Ohio’s Southwest District. At the national level, Nerl has been an active committee member on the Hall of Fame and Mentoring Committees as well as participating as a national workshop moderator from 2014 through 2018.  He has also been a Leadership Training Institute (LTI) instructor at both the state and national levels for multiple years and currently is on the LTI 502 National Faculty for the NIAAA.

Powers has served as an Ohio athletic administrator for 27 years.  He has been the A.D. at Aurora High School for the past 11 years. Previous to Aurora, he was athletic director at Bedford High School for 10 years and held the same role at West Geauga High School for five years.   During this span of time, he has been an officer with the Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (OIAAA), serving as their president from 2015-2017. Additionally, he has been a member of the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s (OHSAA) Northeast District Athletic Board for the past seven years.  In the 2017-2018 school year, Powers served as the President of the OHSAA’s state Board of Directors.

At the District level, Powers served as the Northeast District’s president from 2009-2011 and remains on the NEOIAAA’s Board of Directors.  He has provided leadership with the Northeast District since 1995. At the national level, he has served as an Ohio delegate to the NIAAA’s National Conference for the past six years and has sat on several committees during the National Conference.

“Both Tom and Paul represent the best of our profession”, stated OIAAA Executive Director, Bruce Brown.  “They have been exemplary leaders for their respective schools and have also provided servant-leadership to the over 800 Ohio athletic administrators our association serves on a daily basis.  These recognitions are well-deserved and we are excited that they will each be honored on a national stage.”

Nerl and Powers will receive their awards in National Harbor (Washington, DC) during the December 12-17, 2019 National Athletic Directors Conference.  Over 2,000 interscholastic athletic administrators from around the country, along with over 100 international athletic directors, annually attend the NADC.

TEN OHIO ATHLETIC DIRECTORS RECEIVE CAA DESIGNATION

Ten Ohio interscholastic athletic administrators recently passed the national exam for the Certified Athletic Administrator (CAA) designation from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA).  The exam was taken as part of the recently completed Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (OIAAA) Annual Summer Institute, held in Columbus from June 11-13, 2019.

 

The CAA designation recognizes and incorporates the professional development opportunities provided through the NIAAA’s Leadership Training Institute.  Courses within the Leadership Training Institute have been reviewed and certified by AdvancED, which oversees such accreditation organizations as North Central Accreditation and similar education certification providers.  AdvancEd has validated that the NIAAA courses and certification process demonstrates the ability to meet and exceed national and international standards of excellence. Accreditation is an affirmation of and gives credibility to all programs administered by the association. 

 

Jon Payne (Reading HS), the OIAAA’s state Certification Chair, commented, “The completion of the CAA process by these athletic directors is a reflection of each recipient’s high professional standards and their commitment to the profession.  Ultimately, it is a strong indicator of the type of dedication each recipient has to assure their respective school district and students that education-based athletics is the focus of their efforts.”

OIAAA Executive Director, Bruce Brown added, “There has been a significant increase in the number of Ohio athletic administrators who have sought this advanced designation over the past four years.  As such, we continue to seek opportunities to support this professional development by offering more course training sessions and outreach sites to our membership. We are excited about this current generation of Ohio athletic directors who are certainly some of the best and brightest in the country.”

The ten Ohio athletic administrators who recently passed their CAA exam were:

Kyle Baughn Galion High School

Brian Conatser Loveland High School

Margarita Covin Nordonia Middle School

Eric Fry Loveland High School

John Justice Brunswick High School

Justine Kozlevcar Catholic Diocese of Cleveland

Andy Oudomlith Painesville Harvey High School

Don Shimek Norton High School

Eric Sholtis Sarahsville Shenandoah High School

Chad Spradlin Circleville High School

This recent group of CAA recipients increases the list of Ohio CAA designees to nearly 300.  For a complete list of Ohio CAA designees, go to http://www.oiaaa.org/ohio-cmaas-and-caas/#caa

OIAAA “SUMMER INSTITUTE” SETS NEW MARK WITH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR ATHLETIC DIRECTORS

The Fourth Annual “Summer Institute” was hosted by the Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (OIAAA) and sponsored by OhioHealth. The three-day series of courses and workshops were held June 11-13 in Columbus at the OHSAA campus.

 

Course presentations covered a broad range of topics which were focused upon enhancement of interscholastic athletic administrators’ duties in their role as school athletic directors.  Included in these course offerings were topics such as “Leadership Presentation Best-Practices for Athletic Administrators”, “Legal Issues involving Title IX, Harassment, Social Media and Risk Management”, “Establishing and Managing Interscholastic Sports Medicine Programs”, “Administration of Strength and Conditioning for Interscholastic Athletic Programs”, “Overview of Best Practices in Promotion, Special Events, Fund-Raising, Sportsmanship, Citizenship and Strategic Planning for Interscholastic Athletic Programs”, “New Athletic Directors’ Workshops”, “Leadership Management and Supervision”, “Identifying and Teaching Appropriate Professional Boundaries for Coaches”.  Additionally, presentations by the OHSAA staff members helped to address topics involving the Competitive Balance initiative, use of the Arbiter system and OHSAA administrative expectations.

 

“This was our fourth summer of offering classes to assist not only our new athletic directors, but also providing our more veteran administrators with sessions that will help grow education-based programs in our schools”, stated OIAAA Executive Director, Bruce Brown.  “Our goal in offering this annual workshop-like opportunity is to share best-practices and key ideas to assist our member schools deliver the best educational opportunities through school sports to our students.”

 

“We are again grateful for the tremendous collaboration we’ve had with the OHSAA in serving as our host site as well as contributing to our presentations.  Along with our Summer Institute sponsor, OhioHealth, we have developed these sessions into one of the largest summer professional development opportunities for interscholastic athletic directors in the nation.”

 

This year’s Summer Institute drew 288 attendees to the various course roster spots. Combined with the three prior Summer Institutes, nearly 1,100 attendees have filled roster spots.  In 2019, 102 different athletic directors filled the roster spots; or, 1 out of every 8 Ohio athletic directors attended this year’s Summer Institute.

 

In addition to the Summer Institute, the OIAAA offers extensive training sessions at their annual State Conference, which will be held November 10-12, 2019 at the Hilton Easton in Columbus.

 

Summer Institute Class breakdown- 2019 Columbus (288)

501-42

502-40

503-46

504-36

506-34

617-  6

627-12

640-10

709-20

715-11

790-  4

OHSAA Update: 27

For additional information about the OIAAA, go to www.oiaaa.org .  The OIAAA can also be found on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ohioiaaa/) and on Twitter (@ohioiaaa

New Athletic Directors Workshop

On Thursday, July 11, 2019, the Northeast Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NEOIAAA) will sponsor a workshop for new Athletic Directors in the Northeast District. Information is as follows:

New Athletic Directors Workshop
Thursday, July 11, 2019
9:00-12:00 – lunch provided
@ Beachwood High School
25100 Fairmount Blvd. Beachwood, Ohio 44122

If you will have a new athletic director, assistant athletic director, or middle school athletic director, please encourage him/her to join us for this workshop. There is no cost for the workshop. To register please respond to Barb Salata, Athletic Administrator, Walsh Jesuit HS, at salatab@walshjesuit.org; or call 330-929-4205 x 118.

The NEOIAAA puts on another successful conference and banquet…

The Northeast District held our annual spring athletic director’s conference and awards banquet on April 7th and April 8th. This was our 54th Annual Awards Program. The Sunday night banquet was hosted at the Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls. The Northeast district had over 110 athletic directors attending our Spring conference.

The agenda for the day was kicked off by NEOIAAA Presiddent Kevin Leigh addressing the attendees to highlight the current initiatives of the OIAAA. The keynote presentation this year was delivered by the Cleveland Indians Bob Dibiasio.  Bob has been with the Cleveland Indians for 39 years and is currently the Vice President of Public Affairs.

The workshop also included presentations from Solon Soccer Coach Ryan Conner on Building Positive Relationships with parents. Coach Conner was followed by John Smith who spoke about Emergency Action Plans.  Finally, Mike Elder, Human Resources Director at Avon High School, presented on building relationships and culture in your school and community.

The OHSAA also provided us with the Town Hall and Referendum Update.  Thank you to Dr. Deborah Moore and OHSAA Commissioner Jerry Snodgrass for presenting at our conference and providing critical updates from the state office.

Lastly, a special thank you to Phil Cassella for all of his help and organizational efforts in putting on this year’s conference. Phil announced his retirement this year as Treasurer of the NEOIAAA.  In honor of Phil, the NEOIAAA Scholarship will now be named the Phil Cassella Scholarship.  Thank you Phil for our your years of service!  You will be missed!

To view award winners, go to http://neoiaaa.org/

IN HONOR AND REMEMBERENCE OF FORMER OIAAA TREASURER, RALPH YOUNG

The OIAAA is saddened to announce that Ralph T. Young, the longtime Treasurer of both the OIAAA and OHSAA Central District Board, has passed away. Ralph (along with his wife, Nancy) have lived in Delaware in recent years.

Ralph served on the OIAAA Board of Directors beginning in 1985 and became the OIAAA Treasurer in 1989, a position he held until his retirement from that post in 2012. In addition to his duties with the OIAAA, he served the OHSAA Central District Board of Directors in numerous positions before he became their Treasurer.

Ralph was also instrumental in helping form and administrate the Ohio Capital Conference in the greater Columbus area. He served in various roles for the OCC and was part of several league expansions and division re-alignments. For his OCC efforts, he was selected as a charter member of their Hall of Fame in 1997.

He received numerous awards at both the state and national levels of athletic administration associations. In addition to receiving “Athletic Director of the Year” accolades, Ralph was inducted into the OIAAA Hall of Fame in 1987, while receiving the NIAAA’s Distinguished Service Award and the NFHS Citation Award in 1990 and 1997, respectively.

In 2016, the OIAAA Board of Directors added an additional student scholarship in honor of Ralph and Nancy Young and continue to award the scholarship on an annual basis.

Our sincere condolences to the family of Ralph Young. Please keep Nancy and the family in your thoughts and prayers. https://www.snyderfuneralhomes.com/obituary/ralph-t-young/‬