Sportsmanship Conference

The CIAC and its membership are committed to the value of a positive sporting environment at all interscholastic competition and believe that sportsmanship is everyone’s responsibility. The CIAC Sportsmanship Committee is dedicated to establishing a common set of sportsmanship standards that can be implemented at every member school, and to providing educational opportunities to its membership in pursuit of these goals.

Foremost among those opportunities is the annual CIAC Sportsmanship Conference. Schools teams consisting of student-athletes and one adult (coach, athletics director or administrator) are encouraged to attend the event which features keynote presentations from experts in the field and CIAC staff, and breakout sessions intended to help produce best practices and practical solutions for sportsmanship challenges. In addition, the yearly CIAC Michael’s Cup winners will be formally recognized during the lunch portion of the program.

The 6th annual CIAC Sportsmanship Conference took place on Thursday, November 15 with a total of more than 650 students and administrators in attendance at the AquaTurf in Southington.

The day-long program featured a renowned keynote speaker and breakout sessions with experts in the field. Keynote speaker Harvey Alston is a dynamic public speaker who provided a presentation titled “Be the Best.” He also closed the day’s program with a presentation titled “Responsible Leadership.”

Following the presentation, Alston led an interactive breakout session titled “Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain.” Also leading a breakout session was Ann Postwaite, the Director of Student Programming for the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Her session titled “Leadership in Athletics: How Do I Work Within My Group?” featured small group work with students working to develop solutions to common problems athletics leaders face. All students took part in both breakout sessions. A breakout session was also provided for the school administrators with Julie Fay an attorney with Shipman & Goodwin, LLP. The workshop reviewed important legal obligations for public school districts in connection with a variety of topics.

The day’s program also featured recognition of 18 schools that were selected as CIAC Michael’s Achievement Cup exemplary programs for the 2011-12 academic year, and the announcement of Glastonbury High School the overall CIAC Michael’s Achievement Cup recipient.

Karissa Niehoff, the Executive Director of CAS-CIAC opened the day with a brief presentation on CIAC sportsmanship standards and expectations. Portions of the event were streamed live and a more complete broadcast will be available at CIAC.tv.