‘Sports Done Right’ meetings scheduled

The Maine Center for Sport and Coaching has set up a series of seven informational meetings around the state to discuss a report about improving interscholastic sports programs that was released last month.

Among the locations that will host meetings to discuss the federally funded “Sports Done Right: A Call to Action on Behalf of Maine’s Student-Athletes,” will be Rockland, Brewer, Machias and Presque Isle.

The meetings will be open to the public.

The intent of the regional meetings is to discuss the contents of the report and how schools and communities can get involved.

All seven meetings will run from 4 to 6 p.m. The first meeting will be held Feb. 16 at the South Portland Public Library.

From there the meetings move to the Rockland Middle School cafeteria on Feb. 17; Auburn Hall in Auburn on Feb. 24; the Brewer High School cafeteria on March 2; the University of Maine at Machias Science Building, Room 102, on March 3; the Augusta City Center Lecture Hall on March 10; and the UMaine-Presque Isle Student Center, St. John Room, on March 17.

The regional meetings will be facilitated by J. Duke Albanese, the project co-director and former Maine commissioner of education, and Karen Brown, director of the Maine Center for Sport and Coaching.

Free copies of the report will be available at the regional meetings and refreshments will be served.

For more information go to the Center for Sport and Coaching Web site, www.mcsc.umaine.edu.

“Sports Done Right” was released Jan. 6 after a 15-month process in which a panel of Mainers devised a series of core practices and principles for middle school and high school sports programs.

Cassidy enjoys coaching

Former University of Maine basketball standout Jamie Cassidy, who was in Orono on Sunday to have her jersey retired, said she’s enjoying her new job as the Salem (N.H.) High School girls varsity basketball coach.

Especially now that the Blue Devils have come out of their 0-5 skid at the beginning of the season.

“They’re a young team and they’ve inexperienced, and then you have a new coach and a new philosophy,” said Cassidy, who is teaching math and history to eighth-graders in her native Methuen, Mass. “I think it was a big adjustment for them. But they’re getting better everyday.”

Methuen is just across the border from Salem, so Cassidy has just a 5- to 10-minute drive from school to school.

Since the shaky start, Salem has rallied to go 6-2. Cassidy has two strong post players and a host of guards on the team, which competes in Class L (the equivalent of Maine’s Class A).

Cassidy still hopes to coach at the college level some day but is getting a lot out of what she’s doing now.

“I’m in no rush, I’m just getting some experience and enjoying it,” she said.

Cassidy’s Salem players drove up for the jersey retirement ceremony at Alfond Arena and cheered when she was introduced along with a host of former UMaine players at halftime.

Cassidy coached at Methuen High School last year.