Funds sought to continue work of sports initiative

ORONO – With time running out on a federal grant, the Maine Center for Sport and Coaching has hit the trail to search for more money to continue its Sports Done Right program.

The MCSC staff is watching carefully as LD 84 makes its way through the Maine Legislature. If the resolve passes all the way through – it took a big step Tuesday with a positive vote in the House – the MCSC would get a $100,000 infusion.

The MCSC is also hoping to work a connection with Nike through Joan Benoit Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist who served on a panel that put together the Sports Done Right report.

“We need some help. We’ve got 470 schools, 489 Maine communities,” said Sports Done Right co-director Duke Albanese, a former state education commissioner. “… [The money] is targeted specifically to get people, our consultants and folks out in the field to help Maine schools.”

LD 84, which is called “An Act Regarding Interscholastic Athletics,” and is sponsored by Sen. Michael Brennan of Cumberland, passed in the House Tuesday. There was no roll-call vote taken so there is no vote tally available. A Feb. 7 vote on an amendment to the report went 93-52 in favor of LD 84.

The resolve now needs a Senate vote. The Senate will be back in session Thursday.

Even if the resolve passes in both chambers, the MCSC staff will still have to wait until the end of the legislative session, which will occur sometime late in April.

At that point LD 84 will move to the appropriations committee. If the money is available in the budget and the resolve passes both chambers again, the MCSC will get its $100,000.

“It has to pass appropriations,” Albanese said. “But this would be a big thing. … If we get the money we can say, we’ve got the resources to do this work.”

Sports Done Right, which started as the Coaching Maine Youth to Success initiative, was funded by a $397,400 grant authorized by Congress. The two-year grant was designated in the Fiscal Year 2003 U.S. Department of Education appropriation.

The Sports Done Right report was released Jan. 6, 2005, in Augusta. The report seeks to define healthy interscholastic and community sports programs. There are 12 pilot school sites around the state. The ultimate goal of Sports Done Right is that each pilot site’s school board will vote to use the report as a guideline for its programs.

Albanese, along with MCSC director Karen Brown and retired Portland surgeon Bob McAfee, a former president of the American Medical Association, met with legislators last month. McAfee was also on the Sports Done Right panel.

The group got a good reception for the concept of the report, Albanese said, but met with some resistance in regards to the money request.

“Some people said, we’re really worried about the money,” he said. “Good program, can’t get the money.”

The resolve, which was amended by the Senate, encourages Maine middle schools, high schools and community sports programs “to work in collaboration with the Maine Center for Sport and Coaching at the University of Maine to promote healthy, positive and safe sports experiences for Maine youth, experiences that will enhance their emotional, ethical and social development.”

The MCSC is exploring other avenues as well. Albanese said the center is interested in talking to Nike because of their connection with Samuelson. The shoe company gave Bowdoin $300,000 for facilities upgrades at the Brunswick school’s outdoor track and field complex. The track was rededicated in her honor.

Mark Parker represented Nike at the ceremony last fall. At that time, Parker was the Nike Brand president.

“Last week I almost drove off the road with my Jeep when I heard that Mark Parker is the new CEO of all of Nike,” Albanese said. “Mark and his associates are receiving all the latest information and Nike could very well be one of the big national and international players who we hope will embrace Sports Done Right.”

Albanese is hoping that as more national groups representing school superintendents, school boards, principals and athletic directors endorse Sports Done Right.

Among the goals of raising more money are making the University of Maine’s online coaching course free of charge, and also getting the Sports Done Right consultants, who work with individual schools to implement the program, out in the field more often.