Defining the Purposes of Athletics.

The father of a junior varsity volleyball player inquires of the coach, "How do you decide who starts each game?"

The mother of a varsity soccer player demands to her coach: "My daughter should be getting more playing time."

The father of a boy playing junior high baseball player makes an appointment with the athletic director to insist the coach play the nine best players regularly, rather than his practice of using every player for at least a few innings each game.

A mother calls the superintendent to announce her daughter "was crushed when she was cut" from the varsity softball team after having played the sport at various levels for the previous six years.

Do these sound like typical situations? Each occurred with regularity in our school district before we developed a written athletic philosophy four years ago.

The Arkport Central School District is a small rural district of 650 students in New York's Southern Tier, just south of Rochester. Our student athletes compete with those from 11 other schools in the Steuben County Athletic Association. Seven of the schools are larger in size.

Consuming Needs

The coaches of our 24 boys' and girls' interscholastic teams, as well as the administrative staff, were spending an increasing amount of time responding to parental concerns about their children s athletic involvement. Frustration levels clearly were on the rise.

As a result, I asked the board of education to establish a community/staff task force to review this issue and recommend a solution. The charge of the task force was to develop a philosophy for the athletic program at Arkport Central School District and recommend that philosophy to the board for its consideration.

Under my leadership, the task force of 23 representatives met several times over a three-month period. Their work included surveying all students in grades 7-12 to determine their attitudes, interests and concerns regarding athletics. Survey results, along with other data and personal opinions, formed the basis of the final task force report, which was unanimously accepted by our board.

Discrete Purposes

Arkport's athletic philosophy outlines the specific role and purpose of each level of competition--modified (junior high), junior varsity and varsity sports.

The role of the modified level is to:

* develop basic skills and learn the rules of the sport;

* determine if the student would like to continue in the sport; and

* provide fair playing time to all participants, at the coaches' discretion.

The role of junior varsity sports is to:

* further develop skills of the athlete;

* increase the intensity of competition;

* prepare for the varsity level;

* place more emphasis on winning but not to the extent of the varsity level.

In addition, the statement for the junior varsity section describes a possibility that "some players may be cut during tryouts as it is our hope that each member of the team will see some playing time."

The purpose of the varsity level is to:

* develop skills and physical conditioning of the athlete to its fullest potential;

* allow the talented athlete the chance to excel and prepare for college level;

* learn to set goals and to strive to achieve them; and

* be a role model for younger athletes.

The philosophy statement also indicates that, at the varsity level, "notification will be given during the preseason to those athletes and their parents who the coach feels will see only minimum playing time. The main focus of our varsity sports program is to win."

Positive Results

Arkport's statement includes a procedure for communicating our philosophy to parents and our community. This procedure includes a "Meet the Team Night" each season, statements on discipline and the role of spectators and parents at athletic events, advertising for coaches and information regarding special recognition for senior athletes.

The development of a written athletic philosophy has eliminated the time-consuming meetings, endless telephone calls and sometimes emotional dealings with parents. Furthermore, we believe our statement has had a positive impact in our community and has enhanced our interscholastic athletics program.

Ralph Kerr is superintendent of Arkport Central School District, 35 East Ave., Arkport, N.Y. 14807-0070.