Last year the schools in Machias didn’t apply to become a pilot site for Sports Done Right, the program based at the University of Maine’s Maine Center for Sport and Coaching that seeks to define healthy interscholastic athletic programs.

So Bob Sinford, the athletic director for grades 3-12 in Machias’ elementary and high schools, felt strongly the schools should be part of Sports Done Right this time around.

Machias is one of the schools participating in the next wave of sites that hope to introduce Sports Done Right this school year and next.

Other sites that have indicated their interest in getting involved in Sports Done Right include Hampden and a combined group from Wells and Ogunquit.

Machias – which includes Machias Memorial High School and the Rose M. Gaffney Elementary School – has already made big strides toward introducing Sports Done Right, having submitted a letter of interest to the University of Maine, hosted meetings for coaches and parents, and put together a leadership team.

There were two main reasons Machias got involved, said Sinford, who was in Augusta when the MCSC rolled out the “Sports Done Right” report in January 2005.

First, the school was looking to get its athletic policies and philosophies on paper. Second, the school is trying to stem the flow of kids leaving sports at a young age.

“The younger the age group you go, you want to make it a meaningful experience,” said Sinford, who also teaches physical education at the elementary school and coaches varsity boys soccer and baseball. “If you’re looking at statistics, you’re seeing a lot of kids leaving sports before they ever reach high school.”

Sinford is the chairman of the Machias leadership team, which also includes the principals of the high school and elementary school as well as parents, a coach, and two student-athletes from each school.

It’s important to involve kids, Sinford said.

“If people would just sit down and listen to kids, they would really hear what [the kids are] saying,” he said. “Yes, everybody wants to be successful, but they know everybody can’t win a title. They want to have fun most of all.”

MCSC director Karen Brown and Sports Done Right co-director Duke Albanese attended both meetings in Machias on the same day last month. Sinford said he had “very positive” responses from faculty who attended an afternoon session.

About 25 parents turned out for another meeting in the evening. Sinford said the response seemed to be positive but would have liked to see more people.

Still, the 25 parents was better than the numbers at some of the meetings held by much larger pilot site schools. About 25 people attended a Sports Done Right community meeting held in Rockland last May.

Rockland, which is part of SAD 5, was one of 12 pilot sites around Maine that were picked late last winter and have been going through a process that theoretically ends with school board approval of Sports Done Right in each of the communities.

Machias won’t get any of the $3,000 grant money that 10 of the 12 pilot sites received, but Sinford thinks the cost to the district will be relatively minor with coaching classes for middle-level coaches being perhaps the biggest cost.