CHSAANow

Category: Q&A

  • Q&A: CHSAA hall of famer Justin Armour dishes on today’s landscape of high school athletics

    MANITOU SPRINGS — This past spring, Justin Armour decided to get back into the world of high school coaching. He spent two years as the head football coach at his alma mater of Manitou Springs before stepping down to open a restaurant in his hometown.

    This winter, he’ll roam the sidelines as the Mustangs’ girls basketball coach.

    It’s been quite a ride for the 2011 CHSAA hall of fame inductee. After a star-studded career with the Mustangs he found college football success at Stanford. Then he made his way to the NFL.

    As one of the rare standouts who has reached the highest level of athletic success, he was able to look back at how high school sports worked in his day and how today they’re better in some ways and not as good in others.

    [divider]

    Question: What’s the biggest thing you expect in your second go around as a varsity head coach?

    Armour: Probably less surprises. Just from an administrative point of view and the handling of communication with the parents and all that will be a lot easier.

    Football is different venture. It’s more complex on a day-to-day basis. There’s a lot more film review required, there’s a lot more strategic planning for a particular opponent each week. That’s why you have the collaboration of all these coaches and it’s a much larger process than playing basketball.

    I don’t expect it to be quite as much (of a time commitment) as being the head coach of football requires. Obviously I have a vested interest in that I get to be around my daughter and her friends that all play basketball that I’ve been coaching for a while.

    Probably the most important thing that I expect is that I didn’t just move here. I was trying to open a restaurant with my family. I wasn’t just starting to work full-time (at the school district). Now I’m just running a business, spending a lot more time with my family. It’s a much better time-management time of my life to be doing this.

    Q: You’re now pulling double duty as a parent and a coach. Between those two, what do you see now from kids, parents or coaches in general that you’ve from or used as an example of what not to do?

    Armour: I would say my coaching style has matured for sure. It’s from observing parents, observing other coaches – particularly good coaches.

    I’ve definitely become less feisty, or tried to, and stopped blaming officials or other factors in the game other than how you’re team is playing. I’ve kind of matured to and become much more friendly with officials and the environment instead of going in there with a hot head of steam wanting to compete.

    It’s funny how it’s taken a while. I’m 44 now, so I’m mellowing out for sure.

    Q: Back when you were 17 or 18, could have imagined that the high school sports world would blow up to the size it is now with 24-hour recruiting services and kids who are always looking for the next best offer?

    Armour: Not so much. It’s funny, because I always tell the kids that I got through college basically without the internet. It pretty much arrived right when I got out.

    Back then you had fewer teams, very select tournaments. Not as many kids traveling.

    You certainly played against teams with superstars, kids who were really good and really great shooters. Nowadays every player on every team is good. Really good. I think the competition is way better. It’s much more available. It’s available all year long, through every season.

    So that and the fact that everyone communicates immediately, it’s a frenzy. Once you get on the field level or the court level, I don’t know, I don’t think it’s that different.

    You have kids that love it and some that don’t. The kids that love it are fun to coach.

    Q: What was your decision-making process like compared to what it is today? Now, kids announce what they do on Twitter. What was happening in 1990 or 1991 when you decided to sign and play football at Stanford? How did people hear about it?

    Armour: That’s a good question. I would say, honestly the majority of the people who knew me or followed me found out through the newspaper.

    That’s a good question…

    My family knew immediately. Probably some of my best friends. I’m sure it spread through my own close-knit circle.

    My only concern with these kids is that they have to remember that they have to remain personable with these people. Communicating via text, especially emotional things or important things, really diminishes the value of what you’re saying.

    Of course, you’re always giving these kids your corny speeches over dinner and whatever chance you get. I think they’re listening.

    Q: Going to Stanford, going to the NFL, sometimes people don’t grasp how rare and unique of a situation that is. What do you tell your kids and the kids you coach when they tell you that they want to reach such a high level?

    Armour: I think that my main thing would be that a lot of things have to come together for a student-athlete to get that opportunity.

    In my case, one of my recruiters told me that my academics, my grade-point-average, my test scores and really all the participation in all the things that my school offered – school plays, student council – basically said that it was a slam dunk application.

    So that piece has to be in place. And then you have to have some gifts in place that hopefully you’ve worked on and developed enough that they want those too.

    That has to happen.

    If a kid really wants to create that opportunity for himself, he really has to learn to want it early. In high school, you really have to keep all your ducks in a row at school.

    And then maybe if you’re good enough, you practice hard enough and you want it badly enough you can get a chance to go play and someone will pay for your college tuition and education.

    I wish I had been more organized about it or more aware of what was happening.

    I didn’t really have have much of a college plan per se. I thought I’d just go to business school or law school basically. So my undergraduate degree was in public policy, which I was drawn to and what I was interested in.

    But beyond that, I didn’t have much of a plan.

    There’s a lot of race to nowhere going on with these parents and these kids. I feel like we’re overdoing it, putting them in these camps and tournaments everywhere and spending a lot of money with no guarantee of a return.

    You have to look at your kids and see if they’re having fun. Are they looking forward to this? Are they excited to go to Wisconsin and compete or whatever you’re doing.

    If the kid is excited and passionate about it, then support him and go for it. But I’d encourage parents to not corner their kid into things that they don’t have passion for.

    You have to like practice, you have to like the process of it.

    Q: So as a parent, how do you deal with that when it comes to your own kids?

    Armour: It’s tough. It’s very tough. They know who I am as an adult. They know my personality isn’t that much different. I’m kind of a charger-like person. My wife is laid back, my son is a blend of our personality and so is my daughter.

    I feel like if anything, and my kids will attest to this, I probably don’t push them enough. I talk to them and I support them, but I want them to enjoy it. They don’t have to go this route. Scholar athletes.

    My biggest sell is that it’s a great way to get through school and create opportunities for yourself. If you create that for yourself then you’ve already learned how to work really hard. Because you’re going to have to starting right now.

    My son turned 14 this year so he works (at my restaurant) during the week and has practice all week. He’s a busy kid and he’s a fit kid and he’s healthy. Because he plays.

    He’ll have to set his own goals.

    I wish I would’ve had the goal to play NFL football when I was in high school, but I certainly did not. It wasn’t a conscious goal. I think my goal was to get a scholarship. Once I was there, my goal was to win at the first conditioning exercise.

    I think when I got to the NFL, on some level I was shocked. I don’t know how to explain it. So many people would naysay and tell me I’m not fast enough or just that it wouldn’t happen.

    By the time I was a senior, it looked like I would get the opportunity and then I had a pretty good first year.

    And then, I don’t know. If my goal had been to become a professional football player, I would’ve been more professional about it when I got there instead of moving all over the place.

    I probably should’ve moved to Buffalo and lived there for 10 years and gone in (to the facility) every day. But on the other side, I would leave and meet the people who eventually gave me my jobs after football.

    You look back and think if I had just gone one different direction, I could’ve maybe made a different move here or there and gotten to play five more years.

    Q: Everybody in this area knows Justin Armour the football guy. What would Justin Armour the basketball guy have been like? Not everybody knows that basketball was your primary sport.

    Armour: Yeah, they don’t associate me with basketball. Few people realize that’s what I love. I love basketball and spent all my time doing it.

    (Former Manitou football coach George) Rykovich had to talk me into pretty going on the field as a sophomore. I did not want to.

    I was a super-physical basketball player, but getting the ball every play and getting hammered, I wasn’t there yet. It evolved later.

    Most of the schools that ended up offering me football opportunities only knew me because of seeing me at the Nike Camp and playing in tournaments against the Fab Five and those type of high-level tournaments and games.

    That’s how most colleges saw my athleticism and ability to compete at that level. It certainly wasn’t here at Manitou. Then they would come back and realize ‘oh, he plays football too.’ Then they would tell people that this kid they were looking at for basketball was also on the football field.

    That’s how it worked back then.

    And when you go to school on a scholarship, you have to take the scholarship that offers more. Football programs offer more.

    But my intention was honestly to focus on basketball there.

    I think they would be surprised at how much I like it. Even today, it’s probably what I watch more than anything else. My son gets to play a lot and I love watching his games.

    It’s a fast game, they’re quick games. The weather is always perfect.

    It’s probably one of the most athletic games there is just with the way you have to transition in the game and use a lot of technical skills, make difficult shots. Then there’s the team component. It’s exciting to watch. I love watching, especially when my kids play.

    I’m looking forward to it. We’ve had open gyms all June, I’ve had a lot of the girls that are playing next year. I’m excited about what I see. We pretty much scrimmage together and push each other around.

    I just give them the freedom to play ball and go attack the basket right now, don’t worry about whether or not it goes in.

    There’s a lot of enthusiasm at the middle school. I think 20 to 25 girls are interested in basketball. That’s a good fleet coming up.

    I’m excited to be around the gym.

    I’m excited to have (Amelia) Schofield, and for a lot of people who follow local basketball, they know she was a phenom at Manitou a couple of years ago.

    And then there’s another girl, Jessie Black who works in the district. She’s a local, Woodland Park, girl and she’s been coming to all the open gyms and scrimmaging with the girls.

    We’re going to have fun. We have some good teams in that league the next couple of years so we’ll probably learn how to play really good defense and take a pounding a few times.

    St. Mary’s looks good, CSCS obviously and Lamar. All those teams are going to be beasts for the next couple of years.

    Q: You said earlier you were mellowing out. Now that you have, where do you put your emphasis on learning, having fun and winning?

    Armour: Having fun and learning… if you’re paying attention in practice you’re into it and having fun, you win. I think it goes that way naturally.

    It’ll be different this time. I don’t have any expectations. I want to just go coach basketball.

    I considered it last year when the job opened up and they had a pretty good senior team. I talked to my family and I wasn’t quite ready. At the end of the year, I knew it was available and I had talked to Ed (Longfield) and Danny (Gieck) and it gave me more thought.

    Needless to say it hasn’t been a super-popular position in the last little while. I didn’t exactly weed through a bunch of applicants.

    I think it’ll be a good fit. The other reality is that my son is going to be a freshman. The way that the boys and girls teams travel together, I’ll be traveling to all those games anyway.

    I was already planning on the time commitment because I love watching him play.

    I’ve learned that basketball is coached in practice. When you get to the game, you let them play and see what they got. Maybe talk to them a little along the way.

    When I say I’ve mellowed, I mean I’m done trying to verbally force the game with energy. That was my style to bring a lot of energy. While I try to bring it, I don’t bring it toward the officials anymore. I just act like they’re not there.

    I really do. And I’ve learned that from other good coaches.

    I just take a deep breath because I’ve never seen an official change a call. Even if it was a bad call. Even if they know it was a bad call. In the NBA they do now, I guess. But at our level, they don’t and they’re not going to.

    It’s a tough job. It’s a lot like being a restaurant server, I’m sure, except you don’t get tipped, but you do get yelled at.

  • Q&A: Pomona’s Max Borghi talks renewed focus for 2017 football season

    Max Borghi has a bad taste in his mouth. And it’s a familiar one at that. For the second consecutive season, he and Pomona will enter the football season coming off a loss in the Class 5A state championship game.

    Even worse, his season prematurely ended with an injury. Without him, and others, Pomona couldn’t play to the level that it was hoping for and a state title eluded the school once again.

    That certainly is no reflection on the Panthers as a program or on Borghi as a player. He amassed over 1,300 yards from scrimmage in 2016. He found the endzone 20 times. Every time he was handed the ball, he ran for an average of 9.3 yards.

    Those numbers helped him get the attention of Mike MacIntyre at the University of Colorado. In the fall of 2018, Borghi will be a Buff.

    But it’s still 2017.

    He’s still a Panther.

    And he has unfinished business to attend to.

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    Pomona Cherokee Trail football Max Borghi
    (John Priest/CHSAANow.com)

    Question: You guys are heading into the season the same way you did last year, is there anything that you’re focusing on this time around that you didn’t a year ago after losing in the state title game?

    Borghi: We just have to take it week by week. We can’t think about the big picture yet. We still have a lot of work to do. And we have to stay healthy, that’s a big thing for sure.

    We don’t even need to think about state. We still have 10 games before we even get there.

    Q: Does losing that game make you a better competitor and a better football player down the line?

    Borghi: Yeah. That obviously puts a fire in my chest, along with my whole team. We’ve been there a couple of times and we’ve been working for it. It sucks not coming away with a state title, but it just builds more character and puts more fire in our chest.

    We’re going to come out this season with something we haven’t done before.

    Q: On the injury front, having to come back and rehab in order to get back to the level you know you can play at, is that another thing that fuels you for the upcoming fall?

    Borghi: Oh yeah. Especially not being able to play in the semifinals or the state title game. That really fuels my fire for sure.

    I wanted to play in that game and worked worked hard the whole year and just had it taken away from me on a simple play. It built more character and it’s taught me to work harder. It’s given me more respect for the game.

    Q: It didn’t seem to hurt the recruitment process for you. What was it about the University of Colorado that made it the place for you?

    Borghi: It felt like home. It felt like somewhere where I could go in and fit in well. I felt like I had a good shot at going into the program and maybe having a shot at playing as (Denver South grad Phillip) Lindsay is graduating.

    Obviously playing in front of my hometown and my state is pretty cool.

    Q: The big knock on the in-state schools has been their lack of recruiting in-state players. But Colorado has put an emphasis on the home-grown guys lately. What are you seeing from the program that makes it a place that in-state kids want to play for?

    Borghi: The last season really has a big draw on it. I think, personally, they beat Colorado State because they’re in the Pac 12. That’s it for me, I want to play for a Power 5 school compared to a Mountain West school.

    I think the pride and tradition that Colorado has is pretty sweet. You can really feel it when you’re up there.

    Valor Christian Pomona football
    (Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)

    Q: That’s a year down the line, though. Have you guys talked as a team about the unfinished business you want to take care of this year?

    Borghi: Oh yeah. I’m not even thinking about college right now. I have my whole senior season and we’re going to do something that we haven’t done in a long time.

    Q: What’s Coach Madden been like this offseason? What has he been preaching to you guys to get you focused for 2017?

    Borghi: He’s just preaching that we’re not the same team. We lost some guys and we need some guys to step up. We need the younger guys to take on big roles and it’s not going to come easy.

    Just because we were the big dogs last year doesn’t mean that we’re the big dogs this year.

    Q: As a senior, what do you feel like you need to do to provide some leadership for those younger players looking to step up?

    Borghi: Leadership is huge as a senior. Not even really just as a senior, but just for everyone.

    Taking a role and creating a spark. Every game you need to do something to create that spark and take control.

    Q: Have you started thinking about individual goals or team goals even though the season is still two months away?

    Borghi: As a team, we obviously want to get back to that game. And not just get back there, but we want to seal the deal. We want to win it.

    We have to take it week by week. That’s huge. We all want to stay healthy of course.

    Personally, I’ve made some goals. I want to go for the Gold Helmet Award this year. I want to score more touchdowns that I did last year. I want to do my thing. If I do my thing, I know I can make good things happen.

    Q: But 20 touchdowns is a hefty number to beat. What’s going to be the main factor in you getting to the end zone that many times.

    Borghi: My o-line. The boys up front.

    Q: You went through last year without Jake Moretti. Did that give some of those younger guys that you’re counting on a good opportunity to get situated in your system?

    Borghi: Yeah. We had some guys step up last year. We lost two o-linemen or so, but we have some young guys looking to step up. I know they’ll get it done.

    Q: What about the scheme? Is Coach Madden looking at doing anything differently or is he just sticking with what’s been working the last couple of years?

    Borghi: We’re no longer that hit it up the gut, powerhouse football team that Pomona was back in the day.

    We’ve changed it up a lot. I think we’re going to keep getting creative with it because we have the skill that we can (do that). We’re loaded with skill players all over the field; not just offensively, but defensively too.

    Q: Aside from the football component, what are you looking to savor heading into your senior season?

    Borghi: Making those memories with my buddies. I’ve been playing football with them since second grade, a lot of them. This is my last time with them so I have to make the most of it and make some good memories.

    This will be something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

  • Q&A: Outgoing CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico reflects on his career, and high school activities

    AURORA — Paul Angelico is in his final weeks as the Commissioner of the Colorado High School Activities Association.

    It will mark the end of a 40-year career in education, and a 27-year career at CHSAA. The past seven have been spent in the organization’s highest role, overseeing the office that administers high school activities for the entire state of Colorado.

    On July 1, Rhonda Blanford-Green will officially become the CHSAA’s ninth commissioner, though she and Angelico will overlap during the NFHS Summer Meeting in Providence. In addition to working at CHSAA from 1996-2012, Blanford-Green was Angelico’s Associate Commissioner for two years.

    We caught up with Angelico and asked him to reflect on his career, and ponder the future of high school activities.

    [divider]

    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Question: Do you remember your first day as a Commissioner?

    Paul Angelico: (Laughs.) Huh. No, I don’t think I do. I don’t think I do. It wasn’t any big deal. You know, it was summer. Bill left right after his retirement dinner. I didn’t even move into this office for a week. I just felt weird about it.

    Q: Why?

    Angelico: Because he was still the Commissioner. It was still June. He had moved out, but I didn’t move in right away. I didn’t feel like that was my place.

    Q: Do you remember the first big decision you had to make?

    Angelico: Yes, I do. It was a girl that went from Chaparral to Highlands Ranch, girls basketball. The dad walked in here, a very nice man, and told me her story, and then asked, “What are you going to do?” I said, “I’m going to do what they pay me to do. I’m going to follow the rules.” And he said, “OK.”

    And we had a good working relationship. Even though we went to court, I always respected that he knew why, that it wasn’t vindictive, it was what I had to do, and he was doing what he had to do.

    So, yeah, right out of the chute, we were in court.

    Q: Did it feel different, in that there was no one above you to change your decision?

    Angelico: What struck me immediately was that all I had as backup was this book (the CHSAA bylaws). I’ve got to follow what this book says, because if I don’t, I don’t have justification for what I do. It became very apparent that it’s not an optional thing. Right out of the chute, it was like, “The book is my only security blanket.”

    Q: What was the adjustment like, going from Associate to Commissioner?

    CHSAA Hall of Fame
    (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

    Angelico: I sort of had an advantage because as soon as Bill became Commissioner, two things happened: First, he had a surgery, so I spent like two weeks doing waivers, and then he became president of the (NFHS), and he was gone a ton that first year, so I was doing a lot of that stuff. It wasn’t all too new, because of that.

    Q: Did you have a grand plan?

    Angelico: I had one goal, and I told it to the Legislative Council, that we were going to go back to talking about kids’ human growth, not about their stats and how good they are, and their accomplishments athletically. It seemed like I kept hearing more and more conversations all around these stats, this kid’s done this thing, done that thing.

    Nobody was talking about their human development, and that’s what we’re about. I said, “Before I leave, we’re going to go back to talking about kids, not about athletic prowess.”

    Q: Is the culmination of that the InsideOut Coaching Initiative?

    Angelico: It’s You Can Play!, the InsideOut Initiative, it’s Positive Coaching Alliance, it’s our partnership with the coaches association, partnerships with CADA, videos that go to school boards. It’s all of that.

    And I can’t tell you that that was some master plan. It was not. As opportunities showed themselves, we took advantage of them.

    Q: Do you have any favorite memories from your time as Commissioner? Or maybe what you enjoyed the most?

    Angelico: Enjoyed?! (Laughs.)

    Obviously, any state championship you’re at. It’s a mixed bag, because anything could go wrong and the whole thing could blow up, so you kind of have your breath held. But watching the culmination of all the work is always good.

    Shift Why initiative Paul Angelico
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Some of my favorite days were at the All-School Summit, or the coaches’ clinics, or that event down in Douglas County. We got to talk about kids and what they were doing, and how they are growing, and what our sports and activities are doing for them. Any opportunity to tell people about what great things kids can do when given the opportunity, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

    Q: It seems like it’s a job that doesn’t shut off.

    Angelico: It never does. It never goes away.

    Q: And how do you juggle that?

    Angelico: Humor. Truly. Well, two things for me: Humor, and — nobody dies in what we do. We’re not doctors where if we make a mistake, it’s the end of the world.

    I never was let down when I got people together to solve a problem. No problem was ever insurmountable when we approached it as a group, whether it was the eight administrators in this office, or some committee of coaches and ADs. Every time I’ve felt the pressure of, “We’ll never get this fixed, this is hopeless,” it’d be like, “No, if you put enough good people in a room, we’ll come out of there with a solution.” And it always worked.

    Q: Did you aspire to a job like this early in your career, when you were a teacher at Air Academy?

    Angelico: Never. Never. I’d left Air Academy kicking and screaming, thinking, “Well, what good am I if I’m not working hands-on with kids?” Honestly. And it’s only now that I’m starting to realize that some of the things we do will affect a lot of kids directly.

    I had someone write the other day, saying, “Thanks for insisting that we hire coaches that will be role models for kids, because they might not have them anywhere else.” And you don’t think of those things at the time. That was a meaningful sentiment.

    State volleyball Fossil Ridge champions
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Q: You’ve told me the story before about how you were hired by Ray Plutko, and then …

    Angelico: Yeah, and then the never day, he had resigned. Well, it wasn’t the next day. The day after I was named officially at the Legislative Council, the radio story came out on KOA that Ray Plutko has resigned. That was also the day after the Board at District 20 had accepted my resignation (from Air Academy).

    I was going, “Well, I wonder how long this will last.” Because Bob [Ottewill, the Commissioner who succeeded Plutko] didn’t have to keep me. He could have hired his own person. And I called him and said, “Bob, let me know if you still want me here, or if you want somebody else.” He did keep me on, and then it was his decision. I hadn’t signed a contract, or done anything like that.

    Q: What were those early years like at CHSAA?

    Angelico: Those were the most stressful. I was coming out of a school where you have a lot of latitude around policy, because you have hands-on with kids, and if the policy says, A+B=C, you can work with kids and make A+C=D. But here you can’t.

    What occurred to me early, early on was that you can’t do that in a state this big. Because if you make this exception for Kid A, how do you not make it for Kid B, and if you do that, then you really don’t have that rule anymore. And it didn’t take long for that to sink in.

    So the pressure of making sure what you said was making sure was right — that was a good year, year-and-a-half of making sure, “Am I right?” A decision carried a lot more weight than it did at a school.

    Q: How have high school activities changed since then?

    Angelico: At its core, nothing. But what we do, and how we do things, certainly has. We do many more activities. Kids have lots more options. Kids can do more than one thing at a time, kids can be in a club and in a high school.

    None of those things could happen back then, it was all very regimented, and then state law changed a lot of that. You were stuck at your school when you were enrolled, and if your school didn’t have a program, you lost out, and you just didn’t participate.

    At that time, kids adapted to programs. Now programs are starting to adapt to what kids want. For example, girls wrestling.

    National High School Hall of Fame Tom Southall
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Q: In the last couple years, while we may not have added sports, classifications have really grown.

    Angelico: Yeah. The number of classifications, how we’re classifying. I think that’s going to even go further, to get some kind of equality, so when you step on the field, there are actually similar schools that are hopefully somewhat alike.

    Q: Is that the biggest challenge, you think, that high school activities are facing?

    Angelico: I think right now, the biggest thing is how do we combine community rivalries that are healthy with playing the right schools to make for good competition. Schools can be five miles apart but a million miles apart in their abilities.

    In today’s world, socioeconomics can determine the quality of programs. How much time are kids spending in the summer paying for camps, or year-round, paying for clubs?

    A school of 300 in the Denver area, where kids go to clubs, is not the same as a school of 300 by Bethune. Because they don’t have the same access to clubs and outside training.

    Q: What has the process of your retirement been like to go through?

    Angelico: Painful. It’s been way long, way overblown. I think we’ve drug it out to where the staff and the schools are ready to move on. As they should be. It’s like, “OK, already. Let’s move.”

    And I think with Rhonda coming on, her energy and her enthusiasm — I think if we have the fundamentals and the basics down and we’re going to continue to keep those as our center, she’ll be able to do a lot of other things that I was not prepared to do.

    Q: You had worked closely with her before. What are the good things she’s going to do with the Association?

    Angelico: For starters, she’ll know our basics. She’s on the same page about the fundamentals, about why we have high school sports, as opposed to club sports. And she understands the value of both.

    She was an elite, All-American athlete. So she gets the elite level of that, and yet she understands that we’re here for the average kid. I think that’s an unusual combination today. And I think that’s her best quality. She’ll understand what we have to do for all kids, not just get pressured by the elite level.

    4A girls swimming state meet VMAC Paul Angelico
    (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)

    Q: You’ve said that you will kind of take a step back after you retire for a year or so, and not really be around a lot of CHSAA events. Why do you think that’s important to do?

    Angelico: Rhonda needs to have full latitude to do what she wants, and she doesn’t need anybody saying, “Why are you doing that?” She needs to try things on her own, succeed on her own, fail on her own — not that I think she’ll fail — but what happens next year needs to be hers.

    Now, does she need to know pitfalls she might not know about, or politics? Sure. But she doesn’t need anybody telling her, “Here’s what you need to do.” She needs to look at whatever it is she wants to accomplish, and work towards those ends.

    Q: What do you think you’ll miss?

    Angelico: The people. The people I work with inside the office, and the people I work with outside the office.

    I’m not going to miss court, I’m not going to miss lobbying, I’m not going to miss accounting. I’m not going to miss all that stuff — although I’m glad that I did it, because I feel like I did it the way I wanted it done, those things — but I’ll miss not seeing everyone everyday. That’s really the bottom line.

    Q: If you look back, what are you most proud of over the course of your career?

    Angelico: I knew you were going to ask that.

    What I hope — and you don’t know if you’ve done this — is that we’ve reestablished that rules are good, parameters for kids are good, and the higher we raise our bar, the more kids will respond. They’ll respond to however high we want to make our standards, and in today’s society, we’re shy to do that.

    I think member schools are feeling like without what we do here, everything isn’t as educationally valid as it should be. Having high standards and demanding high standards and expectations — and high integrity — is good for kids, even though it’s harder for kids. It will make them better adults. That’s all we’re here for. So if we want a mediocre society, we’ll have mediocre standards.

    That could be it. Tomorrow I might have a different answer.

    State track graduation
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

  • Q&A: John Carricato talks high school sports through an official’s perspective

    John Carricato
    John Carricato. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    John Carricato isn’t in it for the money. He’s not in for the recognition. He’s in it for the kids.

    The longtime Colorado Springs resident is active during every athletics season in Colorado. He coaches boys golf in the fall and girls golf in the spring, both at Cheyenne Mountain.

    In the fall, he spends his weekends officiating football games as a white-hat. In the winter, he still wears his referee stripes only on the hardwood floor.

    He’s been called names. He’s been told he’s no good. But he continues to persist as an official because like anything he does in regard to high school athletics, his focus is on providing a positive experience for the competitors.

    Given the downward trend in the number of high school officials, he seemed like the perfect person to provide some perspective on how high athletics are view from the guys in the stripped shirts.

    For more information on how to become a high school official in Colorado, visit highschoolofficials.com.

    [divider]

    Question: Why do you think we’re hearing so much about the number of officials trending down?

    Carricato: I think from the awareness part, in order to retain officials it’s multifaceted with one of them being how fans treat them. So that’s why you’re hearing so much about it.

    I don’t necessarily think there’s a trend down, it’s probably flat. The issue becomes that there are more and more schools. That’s the primary thing.

    The officials associations need to keep up with the growth of the number of high schools.

    Q: What makes a good official?

    Carricato: I think there’s a couple of things that come to mind real quick and one of them being you have to be athlete-focused. I think the best officials are those who coach. And I’m not saying that because I coach.

    But I have peers in the officiating world that are also coaches and they’re pretty good. So that piece about being athlete-focused is pretty important.

    And the second part, which is just as important, is how well you communicate.

    You’ve got to figure out as an official how to be an effective communicator not only with the coaches – which is really just to stay quiet and let them talk – but how to communicate with kids.

    I’ve learned that when you catch the athletes doing things right, you can get them on your side pretty easily.

    Q: You mentioned the coaches. Is it essential to stay quiet but is there a bond or almost relationship that you have to have with those guys?

    Carricato: Yeah and that bond and relationship comes probably with confidence. The more they see you and the more they see you on the road and to know that they’re going to get a fair shake on the road, that probably helps.

    I only have a couple of things to say to coaches and they’re pretty simple. It’s that I try to get them to talk. I’ll ask them what they saw on that play and get them to say what they saw and I’ll tell them that I’ll take a look at it next time.

    So it’s more about listening to them and not responding in statements is really important. When they have a question and it’s a legitimate question, it’s probably repeated more than once and I’ll try to answer it.

    But it’s really about trying to start that conversation when you get that feel that coaches and the coaching bench is getting a little agitated with what’s going on.

    If you can get there and ask what they’re seeing and get them to talk about what’s frustrating for them, I think that really helps.

    Q: What the most common frustration you see from coaches towards officials?

    Carricato: Consistency on both ends of the court. I’m talking basketball here, but that’s the most common thing.

    And that’s what we talk about as officials too. We want to have like calls and like plays on both ends. Does it happen all the time? No. But I think the reason we say that is because that’s what we hear from coaches. They just want consistency.

    Q: You work football too. Would you almost call that a safer environment being much more distanced from the fans?

    Carricato: Yeah I think it is. It’s a different environment because you’re pretty far aways from there.

    And coaches can talk to you, but then the next play happens. They have to get ready for the next play. They’ll talk to you and there may be some frustrations on the sidelines but I moved from the sidelines to the referee position several years ago and every time I go back on the sidelines, that’s what I enjoy most about football is being on that sideline and listening to the chaos that happens there.

    Just as important and what fascinates me the most about officiating is when I’m able to listen to coaches talk to their kids. I learn so much from just listening how they communicate that I can actually take that as a coach and use those communication techniques.

    Q: What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever heard from a coach?

    Carricato: The one that sticks out right away is Manitou Springs boys basketball. They were struggling a little bit in the backcourt and the ball was thrown from the backcourt in the air, and it was caught by Coach (Ken) Vecchio. He just looked at me, bounced the ball once and says, “Ball always finds the shooter.”

    That’s the thing that sticks out to me the most. When I have to answer the question off the top of my head, that’s what really sticks out. Any time a ball goes out of bounds and a coach catches it, I always think of that statement.

    Q: What’s the worst thing you’ve ever heard from a fan, parent or student?

    Carricato: Early on when I still had hair, I mean I was bald, but trying to fight being bald, it was probably the hair jokes that were the worst from the fans.

    After 20 years of being bald, pick something else because I’ve pretty much heard everything.

    The worst thing that happened to me was when a fan came and actually threw punches at me and my teammate in a corner of a gym. It started there but ended up in the middle of the court and what people saw were two officials ganging up on this spectator and thought that we were at fault.

    That was actually the worst thing that happened to me, but I don’t know if I want to rekindle too much of that.

    Now it’s pretty funny.

    Q: Sometimes you see officials with a bit of a quick trigger to boot a fan out of venue. What would it take to get you to that point?

    Carricato: I have to be honest, I became a decent official when I was able to take all that commotion and distractions from spectators and ignore it.

    That’s when I elevated my ability as an official.

    The advice that I would give is to ignore the distractions, ignore that piece of it. The benefit is that you will become a better official when you can do that.

    It took me 20 years to figure that out, but there are a lot officials that have figured that out early. You can see that their development is on a really good trajectory.

    Q: What advice would you give a kid looking to become a high school official?

    Carricato: It’s the best part-time job you can get. Especially if you’re in college. You set your own schedule.

    Contrary to what you hear, it’s still pretty good money. But the key is you set your own schedule when you officiate.

    You’re also part of a sport that you have a passion to and you’re moving that passion from playing that sport to officiating. That’s the biggest thing.

    As far as officiating, find a mentor. Find a person that you like how they work, like their style and I don’t know any veteran official that wouldn’t help a young official out.

  • Q&A: Rhonda Blanford-Green talks becoming CHSAA commissioner, plans for the future

    CHSAA seal plaque
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Rhonda Blanford-Green is ready for the challenges in front of her. But don’t expect, as she says, a “change agent.”

    On March 15, CHSAA’s Board of Directors hired Blanford-Green to be the Association’s next commissioner. She will succeed Paul Angelico, a mentor and close friend, to become the ninth CHSAA commissioner.

    “My culture is Colorado culture. That’s where I cut my administrative teeth,” she said this week. “Are there going to be changes eventually? Absolutely. But I don’t have this laundry list of things that people are telling me or that I want to fix.”

    Blanford-Green worked at CHSAA for 16 years, including time as the associate commissioner, before taking the job as the executive director of the Nebraska School Activities Association in 2012. Currently, Blanford-Green is the assistant executive director of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, and has been since 2015.

    Those experiences in Nebraska and Louisiana, she said, “assisted me in becoming better. Colorado is getting a better version of me than the one that they may have appointed to the position.”

    Blanford-Green will be introduced to the CHSAA membership next week at the Legislative Council meeting, and also attend the Board of Directors meeting prior to that.

    After finishing out her time at LHSAA, she will assume her new role at CHSAA on July 1.

    We caught up with Blanford-Green this week to get her thoughts on her new job, her history, the challenges CHSAA is facing, and much more.

    [divider]

    Question: Has your phone stopped ringing since you were hired?

    (Courtesy of Rusty Costanza)

    Rhonda Blanford-Green: Once the release went out, my phone, Facebook friend requests, and LHSAA email blew up. I even received cards at the temporary office where we have been housed since the flood.

    The congratulatory messages meant so much. I even received some unsolicited professional and personal advice, but it’s all good.

    Q: That’s pretty amazing. Especially people sending you — I mean, who mails stuff anymore?

    Blanford-Green: (Laughs) I know! Within the congratulations, Paul was often mentioned. He is so highly respected not only in Colorado but with our sectional states and nationally. It is a complement to know that people think our leadership and communication styles are similar. Open, honest, direct, passionate about students and educationally based programs, we don’t have much gray.

    Q: That kind of leads me to my next question, which is that you’ve been mentored by and have worked under Bob (Ottewill), Bill (Reader), and Paul (Angelico). What do you take away from each of them?

    Blanford-Green: When I sit in the commissioner’s chair, there will be a piece of Bob, Bill and Paul in that office and in that chair. When you’ve been mentored by the top-of-the-line administrators, you can’t help but exhibit their leadership styles, their communication styles, their core values. They will continue to have a seat at the table.

    It’s no different than coaching. I’ve been coached by a diverse group of coaches, from gymnastics to cheerleading, to track and field, to volleyball. When I coached on the high school and collegiate level, I was amazed at how my coaching style was shaped by the coaches that influenced me the most. I have to believe that my leadership style has evolved into the administrators that I have admired and been influenced by the most. I’ve also started to sound like my mother (laughs).

    Q: You’re a member of four Halls of Fame. And a big part of that is your athletic success. So how does your athletic life kind of shape who you are now?

    Blanford-Green: 85 percent of the women in Fortune 500 companies competed in athletics and/or activities either in high school or college. I believe that athletics and participation shaped who I am. I still remember activities from student council that taught character building and collaboration — I was in student council, no one ever talks about my student council history (laughs) — I’m not the initiator of this idea, just the result. Anyone can Google the “benefits of participating in interscholastic activities” and know that no other high school experience is as impactful for a student’s life-long tool box.

     The Halls of Fame inductions are a recognition of the totality of my athletic success. But the building of my character, integrity, perseverance, team concept, and ability to lead, comes directly from my participation.

    Anyone who is part of our programs, or part of athletics and activity programs and has great mentors, coaches, music and/or speech directors leaves better than they came. You don’t have to be a champion, you don’t have to be an 11-time All-American to walk away with a sense of accomplishment, just by being involved, you feel like you’re part of something bigger than yourself.

    Q: That kind of ties into what Joe (Ehrmann) and Jody (Redman) have been building around the country (with the InSideOut Initiative).

    Blanford-Green: Colorado was one of the only states in the nation to be selected to incorporate this platform in their educational outreaches. This program aligns with the CHSAA mission and vision. Ms. Redman is a colleague and friend and she speaks highly about Paul and the CHSAA administrators that have embraced and become intentional about changing the culture of why we do, what we do.

    We are high school activities — 92 percent of our student-participants don’t participate after high school. We get four years to make an impact that will last a lifetime, and that’s a huge responsibility.  I am looking forward to being involved when they return to Colorado in August to begin the second phase of their national platform.

    Q: One thing about you is that pretty much wherever you’re going, you’re breaking some kind of barrier. That’s true again here, being our first female commissioner, and also our first African-American commissioner. What does that mean to you?

    Rhonda Blanford-Green

    Blanford-Green: I used to think that it was a compliment when someone would say to me that they didn’t see color. In the last 10 years or so, I thought that if they don’t see that I’m a black female, then there’s a part of me that they’re dismissing.

    I don’t emphasize it but I also know that it’s important to recognize the first and then it becomes a non-topic. It is who I am, and it tends to make for a good story. Barriers and glass ceilings have to be broken by someone.

    Lean-In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, co-written by Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook) sold millions of copies. I believe because women in highly-visible leadership positions, and especially women of color in those positions, are still talking points.

    Q: What about from a student standpoint?

    Blanford-Green: Diversity is important to inclusiveness of our Association. We have a responsibility to role model and provide a space for diverse groups, not just color and gender but students with special needs, and socio-economic challenges.

    Activity and athletic participation brings together groups of students with school environments and life experiences different from their own. One has to believe within the construct of competition, the opportunities for exposure will facilitate a level of acceptance and diminish misconceptions.

    If a member school and/or parent comes in for a hardship waiver and feels that those in the room can’t relate to their issue or their story, then a person can go in a different direction of why they think a decision will be made for or against them. We have to be respectful of that perception. We have to be mindful of the messages we send, how we make decisions, how we select activity, athletic and appeals committees.

    If we can take away perceived biases, then we can actually get to what we should be addressing and focusing on.

    Q: What do you think you can take away from your time in Nebraska, and now also in Louisiana?

    Blanford-Green: I’m going to start off by saying how excited I was when I heard that the Board was going to open up position after appointing an internal candidate for the past 27 years. I served as the CHSAA Associate and when I made that decision to leave for Nebraska, I knew that by accepting the position, I could be eliminating myself from consideration for a future Colorado Commissioner’s position.

    As I told the Board in the interview, my three years in Nebraska, my two years in Louisiana, the experiences — good and bad — the challenges, the decision-making, the diverse opportunities, assisted me in becoming better. Colorado is getting a better version of me than the one that they may have appointed to the position.

    I had a great experience in Nebraska, I had an even better experience in Louisiana, which culminates into the inspiration and enthusiasm that I have in accepting the Commissioner’s position. Together, we will definitely raise the bar!

    It is important that people hear that I wasn’t hired as a change agent. The CHSAA Board of a directors made it clear that I was being hired to lead the Association. How refreshing!

    I have come to discover that micro-management doesn’t lead to empowerment but it does slowly kill the spirit. Positive growth and innovation doesn’t come by feeling comfortable. I’ll make some mistakes but it won’t be because I was afraid to challenge the status quo on behalf of the staff, membership, and Colorado students.

    Communication, trust, competency and collaboration along with mission driven decisions and ideas, will takes us to the next level.

    Q: You’ve mentioned that a few times, that you’re not here to be a change agent. You have said that we don’t need to make all kinds of changes early on. Why is that?

    CHSAA building
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Blanford-Green: I think part of being a good leader is listening, and doing your homework and your research. You can tell when a state association is in crisis, and that it will require leadership to come in and start moving right away. That could be an association in stagnation; 20th-century bylaws in the 21st-century; an association that believes that at-large positions without voting rights promote diverse representation. Aagggghh! I knew where educationally-based activities are progressing, and I needed to bring those people along.

    The CHSAA has a reputation for getting in front of issues, not deciding to address them after 30 other states do so, or with the threat of litigation or legislative proposals before taking action. I am excited that those barriers won’t distract me from doing my job and serving the membership to the fullest.

    My culture is Colorado culture. That’s where I cut my administrative teeth. Unfortunately for other states, they’ve had to hear about Colorado all the time. I’m sure neither state has or will miss the comparisons.

    Are there going to be changes eventually? Absolutely. But I don’t have this laundry list of things that people are telling me or that I want to fix.

    I’m excited to come in, take my time, listen to the staff, the membership, our educational partners, and more importantly the Board of Directors before creating a priority list. This mindset comes with administrative maturity, and can only be gained through trial-and-error and past experiences.

    My number one goal is to travel the state of Colorado and reestablish those relationships, be at every fall league meeting, meet with our corporate partners, legislators, and educational institutions, including CASE or CASB. My 100-day plan is to reestablish those relationships, and put a face to the name, and reassure our educational partners that the commitment and narrative established by Paul is going to continue through my leadership.

    Q: Some of that stability, too, is keeping (associate commissioner) Tom (Robinson) in the office. Why did you feel that was important, and how did you make that happen?

    Blanford-Green: I would say about 30 minutes after accepting the job, in the midst of contract negotiations, I asked the Board members if they would mind if I reached out to Tom. The Board members said, “Absolutely 100 percent.”

    I made a phone call to Tom Robinson and, after talking with his “better half,” he accepted. It’s a dream to be able to work closely with Tom. I have always called him my “voice of reason.”

    How blessed am I to have that opportunity to work with him, the excellent CHSAA staff and the Board of Directors as I navigate my first year?

    Q: You started a lot of things here that are still in place, things like the CHSAA mission statement, the core values, “We Are CHSAA,” along with some diversity initiatives that still stand. Are you excited to come back and work with some of these things you’ve already established?

    Blanford Green: I’m not afraid to have the conversations or bring forth ideas on behalf of the membership and our student programs to keep us relevant. Revising the mission statement, or creating slogans like “We Are CHSAA,” and equity programs that illustrate our message and goals, is what we do.

    I try not to be a change person just to change. And to know that those ideas and platforms are still prominent and promoting our brand, says to me that our vision is aligned! That’s exciting!

    Q: What are some of the challenges you think we’re facing down the line?

    Blanford-Green: We will always need to be in front of safety and risk issues that keep our student athletes safe which protect our membership and coaches. Recruitment, retention and education of quality officials, is a national conversation. Communicating our purpose in the midst of academic changes, club sports, out-of-building coaches, decreased revenue streams, and unrealistic parental expectations will always be a challenge.

    The positives are that 50 other state associations face these challenges. I won’t be shy about conversations with their Commissioners and/or national organizations to tap into their best practices and ideas.

  • Q&A: Board president Eddie Hartnett talks hiring CHSAA’s new commissioner

    AURORA — Since 1921, the Colorado High School Activities Association has had eight Secretaries or Commissioners, tasked with leading the Association.

    In late April, CHSAA will find out who the ninth will be. The man tasked with leading the group who is making that hire is Eddie Hartnett, the athletic director at Boulder High School who is the president of CHSAA’s Board of Directors.

    Shift Why initiative Paul Angelico
    Paul Angelico. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Current commissioner Paul Angelico is set to retire this summer after 40 years in education, including 26 at CHSAA and six as commissioner.

    The Board will ultimately announce Angelico’s replacement to member schools at the Legislative Council meeting on April 20. But they’ve been zeroing in on this process for more than a year.

    The application period closed on Feb. 14. And on Wednesday, the Board reviewed applicants for the Commissioner position.

    Just before that happened, we caught up with Hartnett to talk about the process for hiring such a prominent position in Colorado high school activities.

    [divider]

    Question: Oh man, where to start? What was the application process like? Were you happy with the quality of the applicants?

    Eddie Hartnett: Yes. We thought the application process, being that we held it open for six weeks, gave people enough time to really think about and really put thought into portfolios and resumes — and we received many of those.

    Going from first of January to the middle of February, that was a good amount of time as far as allowing people to figure out if they wanted to apply and also have enough time to do it properly.

    We do have plenty of qualified applicants that the Board has already reviewed, and on Wednesday, we’ll be talking about where we go from here.

    We’re looking at middle of March for the interviews, and we’ll have the interviews here at CHSAA. We will have three different interview committees: the Board of Directors, the administrative assistants, and also the assistant commissioners that haven’t applied or are retiring.

    Q: What qualities is the Board looking for in a Commissioner?

    Eddie Hartnett. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Hartnett: It’s clear from the Board of Directors that the Board wants to continue the mission and vision that CHSAA stands for, one that Paul Angelico really emphasized over the years that he was Commissioner. They would like to have somebody that cares as much as Paul has for the schools and all the student-athletes, and all the students that are involved in activities across the board in Colorado.

    That is what we’re looking for: A person that is compassionate and understands students’ needs, but also the schools’ needs.

    Q: To be clear, though, I think many don’t understand that this isn’t just you guys as a group going, “Oh, this is what we’re going to do.” You have spent basically a year getting input from the membership and what they’re looking for.

    Hartnett: Right, exactly. We went out for the first time and we decided over a year ago that we wanted to go and personally visit each league.

    As a Board, each of the Board members represents an association or three different leagues. I gave the direction to each of the Board members to go to the different leagues around the state of Colorado that they represent and personally hear from each of the schools that participate and are members of that league to create basically the different characteristics (of the position) that each of the leagues wanted.

    So each of the schools were heard directly through their leagues at various league meetings.

    Q: As a group, the Board has worked very hard to make this whole process transparent throughout.

    Hartnett: That’s one of the things that made this process so different than many other hiring processes. For the first time, the CHSAA Board really, really emphasized the need to be transparent to the state, from when we were originally talking about the beginning of the process, to going out to different areas and leagues, taking questions from the leagues and league presidents, and at the All-School Summit.

    There were numerous venues that different Board members were able to hit, including CADA outreaches, to field questions and be transparent about the entire process.

    Q: Also just in informal settings, too, right? Games, and so forth?

    Hartnett: Oh, at games, different competitions. People were asking me questions even at the state wrestling tournament. It creates a comfort and a trust that we’re all in it together and we all want what is best for our athletes and students participating in all activities in Colorado.

    So it is a transparent process that is going very smoothly because it’s being so transparent for the first time.

    Q: You’re typically a fun, happy-go-lucky guy, but in the this process, I’ve seen your demeanor change. It’s very serious — as it should be. This is a serious thing. Do you feel pressure with this? This is a huge weight to choose the next Commissioner here.

    Eddie Hartnett All-School Summit
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Hartnett: It’s something that I take very seriously. I’m very honored to be the president, to represent all of the different schools, to represent all of the different leagues, and also this (CHSAA) office.

    We want to have somebody here that’s not going to miss a beat, that’s not going to take us backwards, but that will hear from the schools, collaborate with the schools, work with the schools, and lead the parents, communities and students of this state into the next decade.

    That’s something that’s not only an honor, but something that you have to take very seriously. Because when I’m not around doing the athletic director job any longer, I want to know that I made an impact, and my legacy could be this person, who’s going to lead maybe even my grandchildren into athletics and activities and have an impact on them.

    That’s the way I look at my role and responsibility of representing the state.

    Q: In terms of hiring, we’re looking at April?

    Hartnett: We’re going to announce at the Legislative Council the person who we have considered and recommended and also voted on as a Board to be approved for the Commissioner role. We will be announcing that formally, and that person will be there at the Legislative Council in April.

    Q: And the cool thing with that is they get a couple of months to spend with Paul in transition.

    Hartnett: They’ll be able to work closely and under Paul’s mentorship and he can help the new person kind of fit in and answer all of the questions they may have. The nice thing about Paul, too, is he has said he will be available even past that point to assist if that person ever needed it. And that’s really important.

  • Q&A: Grandview girls basketball coach Josh Ulitzky talks rankings and early-season schedule

    The Grandview Wolves fell short last year. They’ll be the first to say that they did not accomplish what they had hoped to do in 2016.

    So with the New (calendar) Year approaching, they’re refocused. They’re reenergized. And wins over Archbishop Mitty (Calif.) and St. Mary’s (Calif.), they’ve show that they can hang with the best teams in the country.

    The Wolves may not have won the Class 5A state championship last year, but the experience of losing and the tough early-season schedule have them hunting championship gold for 2017.

    [divider]

    Question: How tough is it to come into the season with expectations in the sense that you’re the No. 1 team in the CHSAANow polls, even though you didn’t capture a state title last year?

    Ulitzky: I don’t know about the expectation piece. I feel like our kids are pretty focused as a result of what happened last year and how things ended.

    I feel like they’ve come back pretty hungry to play well. So I don’t know as far as expectations, as far as that goes, but I know we are certainly getting everybody’s best shot. Which is what we want. So that I think has been more of a thing for our kids.

    There is no night off. It’s a great opportunity for us to come out and play consistently and play well, know we are going to get the best game we can get from everybody when we step on the floor.

    ThunderRidge Grandview girls basketball
    (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Q: You faced a couple of teams that are right there with you in the MaxPreps rankings, what does it mean for you guys to hold a couple of wins over them so early in the season?

    Ulitzky: I think it’s good for our kids to know that we’re playing a competitive schedule and to be able to pull out some wins against those teams is a big confidence boost for our girls.

    I would also say that they know that it makes a bigger target on our back. But I think it helps confidence-wise for the them and it reaffirms all the hard work they’ve put in over the summer and fall.

    To some degree, it’s validating for the girls, which I’m happy about. I’m happy for them. It also gives us an idea of what’s out there, which is kind of fun to see where you stack up.

    That’s why you come out and compete every day, to see where you stand.

    Q: You have some strong seniors with Michaela (Onyenwere) and a couple of the others, but you’re also getting very balanced production from her, Leilah Vigil and Alisha Davis, so how dangerous does that make you when there’s not just one player on a nationally ranked team that people have to focus on?

    Ulitzky: I think it helps out just to have balance. Those are the three that everyone knows for points, and you have to score, but also defensively there’s not just one kid you have to deal with.

    You have Jaiden Galloway, who played an exceptional tournament down at the Tournament of Champions. Kennede (Brown) had a great tournament. Allyah (Marlett) really came on. So those kids really stepped up across the board and it’s nice to see them push each other.

    But certainly it’s nice that you have balance and you can go to multiple places to have options to score or options to defend. That’s a real luxury and it’s nice to be able to have that. It’s nice to have so many kids playing so well.

    Q: Do you find your girls paying attention to either the MaxPreps polls or the CHSAANow.com rankings just to see where they’re sitting and how do you keep them grounded if they are?

    Ulitzky: I’m guessing they do. We don’t talk about it a lot. I don’t know. In the social media world, I’m sure they’re aware of those things far sooner than I am.

    As far as keeping them grounded, they’ve taken more accountability in knowing this is all well and good, but we did not achieve the goal we were hoping for last year. We had quite a bit of that notoriety.

    It’s nice, but I think they are also so focused on the end result. Playing our best, playing consistently, particularly in March when pressure is turned up and all that stuff is involved, state championships, playoffs, all those things.

    Q: What did you tell your girls when they fell short last year?

    Ulitzky: I talked to them about how we wanted to use this to get better. To learn from it so that hopefully we don’t run into the same situation again.

    I told them first and foremost that I was going to get to work and I had to do a better job of getting them prepared and ready to play. That falls to me.

    Just with the kids I have, I know that they looked at themselves in the mirror and there were things that they wanted to do better and work better on. We really try to look at that as hopefully a learning opportunity and also an opportunity to keep us focused regardless of the situations or games lead up to that moving forward.

    Q: So did the way that last year ended serve as the biggest learning tool that this group of girls could’ve had coming into this season?

    Ulitzky: Yeah. The emotional experience that you go through is probably the best teacher and from what I’ve seen from my kids, they are driven to not have to go through that experience again.

    They want to take the steps to get to the final, to get to the championship that we weren’t able to do.

    I think in every facet of life, your experiences shape who you are and what you’re going to do moving forward. So I would certainly apply that to our team.

    Grandview Ralston Valley girls basketball
    (John Priest/CHSAANow.com)

    Q: You play in a league that’s never easy to win, regardless of what sport is being played, so how important was it to schedule Ralston Valley, to play those games out of state in preparation of getting through league and get into March playing the way you want to play?

    Ulitzky: I’m excited for the challenge. I told our girls that I tried to schedule the most difficult schedule I could possibly get for us for the next two-year cycle.

    I wanted to play Ralston on the road to open, I wanted to play every game on the road, but my AD at the time wouldn’t let me because the reverse-scheduling of next year I guess would make it hard.

    I think it’s really important. We want to be challenged at every opportunity. We are challenging ourselves in practice every day. We are trying everything we can to make as competitive as we can possibly get it. We try to simulate game situations to try and be in the pressure cooker and see how we handle those situations.

    Hopefully we handle them and learn from our mistakes not just from last year, but from this year as well.

    Q: What’s the biggest challenge for you when you’re in the situation of being at No. 1 team and having expectations that are so high?

    Ulitzky: I feel like it’s continuing to challenge my kids. Every day in practice, just continuing to push them and to try and get them to where I know they want to be. And then continuing to hold them accountable and those kinds of things.

    I don’t think I have to worry about them being complacent. I don’t feel like that’s an issue, but I also want them to be pushed at every opportunity so that at the end of the season, it was worth the energy that we put forward. The challenge that we had.

  • Q&A: Valor Chrisitan’s Dylan McCaffrey talks senior year, high expectations in college

    HIGHLANDS RANCH — If there hasn’t been a spotlight on Valor Christian quarterback Dylan McCaffrey yet, it will be shining directly on him in two weeks.

    The senior for the Eagles is ready to step to the forefront and try and lead his team to back-to-back Class 5A state championships.

    It’s been a heck of a year for the McCaffrey family between last year’s state title run and the national exposure that Dylan’s older brothers, Max and Christian, received for their football accolades.

    Having already committed to Michigan, McCaffrey took some time to talk about the expectations that might be on his shoulders, the jitters that come with playing on national TV and who was on what sides during family battles.

    [divider]

    Question: Coming into this year, does it feel different than the start of your sophomore or junior season?

    McCaffrey: In a lot of ways, but in a lot ways it doesn’t as well. There’s no one above us now so we seniors have to take more of a leadership role on this team so that’s been very new.

    Other than that, we have the same standards going in every year at Valor and all the guys have the same views, so that’s stayed the same. It’s just the preparation and the anticipation of the season has all been the same as years past for sure.

    Q: What about you? You’ve committed to Michigan, you’re hitting camps everywhere, is there a point with you still being a kid in high school that it’s transitioned from being fun and a game to being a job?

    McCaffrey: There’s always that little aspect of it. I think even people going into high school will see that, just from youth league is so much different. I definitely feel that a little bit, but it’s one of those things where I wouldn’t want any other job in the world.

    A lot of these guys go out and have summer jobs and this just pretty much takes up all my time. I haven’t had time to get a job or do a lot those things, but I wouldn’t want it that way.

    I love football and as long as it’s a job, it’s the job I want to do for sure.

    Q: It’s been a solid 365 days for your family with you winning a state championship, Christian taking second in the Heisman race and Max signs with an NFL team. What’s that ride been like?

    McCaffrey: It’s been awesome. We’ve been really lucky this past year. It’s been amazing. It’s definitely been one for the books.

    Since we were little, we all had to fall in love with the game before we did this. Our parents never forced us to play football. My mom always wanted us to play soccer, actually. We all played soccer until we realized there was football out there and once we tried that, we were pretty much hooked.

    That’s where it all started, where we all decided that we wanted to take this game as far as we could take it.

    Q: Is there a point where your parents get tired of when the four of you are all together and all you talk about is football?

    McCaffrey: We like to mix up the conversations a little bit at dinner because there’s so much talk about it. It’s such a fantastic world we live in so I think we definitely mix it up.

    Probably for my mom (it gets old) a little bit. By Monday she’s so worn out with football that she never really watches Monday Night Football. The whole weekend, all she’s doing is watching football from Friday night through Saturday then Sunday.

    So she doesn’t watch (Monday) because she needs a little break every now and then.

    Q: You mentioned she wanted you to play soccer, was there every anything else for you guys? You and Christian play basketball, he ran track. At what point for each of you did you know that football was going to be it?

    McCaffrey: I’d say all my brothers — we all played basketball, that was a big thing. Luke is a big lacrosse player, I know for a while he said he wanted to play lacrosse in college, but I think throughout high school are when mine and his views started to change.

    In middle school I would’ve told you that I wanted to play basketball in college. But after high school started and I got a feel for high school football and I got a glimpse of what college football would be like, that’s when I knew I wanted to play football. So I put (basketball) on the side and started focusing on football more.

    I know my little brother has done the same, but he was big on lacrosse growing up. I know now he really wants football.

    Q: Have you talked to Max and Christian a lot about what big time college football is about or is that a conversation you’re waiting to have until after the season?

    McCaffrey: I think it definitely comes in little bits and pieces. The more they learn about it, the more they tell me. I know Max, the first time, he was the first of us to go through it so he would share bits and pieces every now and then, once stuff happened to him and as he learned more.

    Christian was the same way. He learned a lot from Max so he knew what to prepare for and he’s just the same way. He’s told us more as more has happened and that’s just how it works.

    Q: How surreal was it to see what Christian was able to do last year?

    Christian McCaffrey Heisman
    Christian McCaffrey. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    McCaffrey: Oh, it was fantastic. I think we all had that feeling like he would do it eventually, but I think it was sooner than even I thought, which was awesome. It was such a good feeling. I was so happy for him, he’s worked so hard for that success. He’s earned it more than anyone else out there has, I know that for a fact.

    Q: Does that make you nervous for any expectations that might be on your shoulders at Michigan?

    McCaffrey: A little bit, but also at the same time, not really. I know it’s my own story and like I said, I chose football. I was never forced into anything so I really don’t have to live up to him.

    He and I are so different anyway. We play completely different positions, we have different body types. So I mean, it really is almost a different life, just with some help from him.

    Q: When you guys were growing up, how did the family teams always shake out?

    McCaffrey: We would switch it up, it would usually be me and Christian and then Max and Luke. Sometimes it would be me and Max against Christian and Luke.

    Christian and Luke are kind of the most similar so they would always end up together. There’d be those unfair times where Max and Christian would be on a team when me and Luke were pretty young so we’d always get killed by them. That was never any fun.

    Q: So if a brotherly scuffle breaks out in the house, do you always side with a particular one of them?

    McCaffrey: I think I would side with Max. He’s wily. I think he might win in a fight because he would start pulling out some dirty moves. I’d have to side with him somehow.

    Q: It seems with the three oldest, you have a wide receiver, a running back and a quarterback. Why didn’t you all gravitate toward the same position?

    McCaffrey: I think we were naturally built into where we landed. Max looks like a receiver. Christian didn’t get some of the height, but he got more speed than some of the other brothers got so he was a perfect fit for a running back.

    I got the tall, lanky genes so I’m a little bit slower and I have to sit back in the pocket.

    I think it also ended up that when we played in the back yard, we had all the positions there. That could be a big factor. Max had first say, he was the oldest, so he would take receiver. Christian just liked running so he took that and I was the quarterback.

    Luke would take defense, offense, whatever. Luke would go wherever he wanted.

    Q: After you guys fell short to Cherry Creek two years ago in the state championship, what was the feeling like last year, coming away with that title?

    Valor Christian Pomona football
    (Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)

    McCaffrey: It was great. Last year was one of my favorite seasons I’ve ever played in my life, it was just so much fun. I thought out team stuck together the entire season and it showed with the way we finished that game.

    I know there were definitely parts during that last game where I thought, “Oh no, it’s happening again. We might be the second to team to lose (the state title game) at Valor.”

    But the team stuck together and I know no matter what that season would’ve been much more successful than (2014) because we bought in as a team. That’s a big reason why we didn’t lose.

    Q: You guys get some national TV exposure early, how does that feel? Is it fun? Is it stressful? Is there still the kid in you that’s pumped about being on ESPN?

    McCaffrey: There’s a little bit of that, but it’s all fun. It’s such a cool opportunity. Once you set aside the nerves and realize that there’s not a lot of people in the country that get to do that, it really is something special.

    You really try and enjoy it.

    It’s just a regular football game so you have to play football and enjoy the moment.

    I’m also looking for some redemption. My freshman year we had an ESPN game and I had one of the worst throws of my life. My only throw. Wow that was tough. I have to redeem myself.

    Q: How do you redeem yourself? You have two chances so what do you do to redeem yourself on national TV?

    McCaffrey: Just come play like we’ve been practicing recently. That’s a big part of it is not letting TV get to us. Just come out knowing that it’s a regular game. We’re playing a good team and we’re going to have to play well to hang in there and beat them.

    The biggest part is not worrying that it’s a TV game and come out like it’s an everyday conference game.

    Q: Do you need to finish this year before you can look back and figure out what your best times were here at Valor or is there already something that sticks out right now?

    McCaffrey: I think I’ll have to finish this year to get the whole grand scheme of things, but there are definitely things that I can look back on and if I was done now, I’d probably say those are the best times.

    There have been a few of those.

    Q: Care to share any of them?

    McCaffrey: Probably the biggest one is when I was introduced to Valor football my freshman year. I just got moved up to the varsity team. We had a practice then we went on a retreat.

    That was the first time I met a lot of the guys. My brother was there and I already knew a lot of his friends, but I remember a few guys, Ben Waters and Joe Bear (Ortiz), a couple of old players of ours.

    They kind of took me under their wing. I just remember sitting by the fire all night and just talking and enjoying life. And that meant so much to me. That’s when I bought into this program and realized this is a special place and I love it here.

    Valor Christian Pomona football
    Dylan McCaffrey. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)

  • Q&A: Buena Vista grad Mason Finley on qualifying for the Olympics

    Mason Finley has come a long way from Jeffco Stadium and the Class 3A track and field championships. After failing to qualify for the 2012 Olympics, the Buena Vista grad won the discus at the U.S. Olympic Trials earlier this month with an impressive toss of 63.42 meters.

    Now he’s off to Rio de Janeiro.

    He’s one of just several Colorado high school athletes looking to bring home gold medals. He took some time to chat about coming out of Buena Vista and what is mindset is with the games quickly approaching.

    [divider]

    Question: They don’t breed them small out in Buena Vista. The last two notable athletes to come out of the school are you and New England Patriots left tackle Nate Solder. What is it about living in that area that the big guys are the ones who are succeeding?

    Finley: Oh, I’m not sure really. I think it kind of shows how many athletes come out of there and it’s just a testament to the support that our coaches and teachers there have given us.

    It’s just the work ethic that we’ve learned again from our coaches and teachers out there.

    Q: At what point of your throwing career did you think that the Olympics was a legitimate possibility?

    Finley: I felt like after having success in my high school career, probably my junior and senior year, that it could be a possibility.

    Trying to achieve it for the 2012 Olympics, I had some speed bumps during that area of my training. It just pushed me even further and I guess it didn’t become a reality again until this season.

    Q: You said you hit some speed bumps. What did you learn from that experience in failing to make it?

    Finley: I think I just had a different vision of what it took to be a good thrower during those times.

    I was trying to get really big, really strong just seeing what some of these guys looked like when I was younger. I was going about things in the wrong way. I got really heavy and started having back injuries and stuff like that.

    I learned that everyone’s body is different and you have to adjust to your gifts. Each person has their own talents that they need to let shine and not work on what someone else is doing.

    (Courtesy of Mason Finley)
    (Courtesy of Mason Finley)

    Q: What’s the biggest difference between competing up at the state meet at Jeffco Stadium as opposed to an Olympic qualifier?

    Finley: It’s definitely more mental than anything. It’s tougher competition for sure. Physically, you do need to change some stuff. I changed a lot of my technical aspects to my throw. I changed my body for more muscle and less fat, kind of doing appropriate body composition there.

    But I’d say the biggest change is becoming mentally ready to handle that big of a venue.

    Q: Since you qualified, have you seen people come out of the woodwork, whether it’s someone from high school or friends from college wanting to congratulate you?

    Finley: Yeah, definitely. As soon as I got done, after meeting with drug testing and media stuff, I didn’t have a chance to check my phone.

    As soon as I was able to, Facebook blew up, so many people were texting me it was crazy to see all the people I hadn’t heard from in a while.

    Q: Is it reassuring to see all that and to know that you have that support from people you haven’t seen or talked to in a long time?

    Finley: I think so. It’s great to reconnect with people and just to have the knowledge and to know that you have such a big support base from back home.

    Q: Speaking of support bases, I understand you’re doing a lot to get your family to Rio. What does that involve?

    Finley: We’re doing a couple of things. First, we set up a GoFundMe page to try and get my mom and sisters out there. We’re also going to do a fundraiser in Lawrence (Kan.) and I’m going to come up to Colorado, Salida and Buena Vista, and do a couple of things up there, too.

    I learned really quickly that as soon as I was done with college, family is by far your biggest support group that you have and just all of the love, when I was down they were picking me up. All the help that my mom has given me. They definitely deserve to go.

    Q: Are you feeling more pressure with this than actually getting qualified to go to Rio yourself?

    Finley: It was definitely a lot of pressure at the Trials thinking about everything. It’s a make or break situation.

    This stuff isn’t too much pressure, I’m not feeling too much pressure. It’s just another goal.

    Q: When it comes to the vision of the Olympic athlete, at least here in Colorado, you have Missy Franklin and Adeline Gray from the Denver area, do you kind break the stereotype as a kid who comes from a town of maybe a couple thousand people and school of 300 or so students?

    Finley: When you just have those facts, yeah you break the stereotype. But at the same time, when you have a Nate Solder, when you have a Matt Hemingway from the same school who took second at the 2004 Olympics in the high jump.

    It’s kind of interesting that for some reason, out of that area it’s not uncommon.

    (Courtesy of Mason Finley)
    (Courtesy of Mason Finley)

    Q: When you think back to your time competing for Buena Vista, what sticks out the most?

    Finley: I think the thing I remember the most is how hard working and loving my coaches were. It’s definitely a family. It goes kind of a step further than, I don’t really know what to compare it to, I can only imagine going to a bigger school things are separated a little bit more.

    In a small town like that, things were just a lot closer because of the size of the population.

    Q: Other than actually competing, what are you looking forward to the most about the trip to Rio?

    Finley: I guess I haven’t thought too much about it. I guess I want to go see some of the monuments there, kind of the touristy things.

    Besides competing, definitely watching some of the other events if I have time. I would really like to watch some of the other world class athletes duke it out.

    Q: What’s the ultimate goal for you and what’s an acceptable result at the Olympics?

    Finley: The Ultimate goal is to get on the medal stand. Whether it be gold or bronze.

    It would be acceptable to make the finals. I understand that this is my first time in this venue, competing at this level internationally, but I am still very confident that I can go in there and get in the finals if I can just keep my head.

    Past that, if I’m on like I was in the prelims in Eugene, I should be in the running.

  • Q&A: Pomona grad Joel Klatt preaches importance of multi-sport participation

    Joel Klatt is perhaps most remembered as a three-year starting quarterback at the University of Colorado. But he was also quite the three-sport athlete at Pomona before he began his athletic career as a professional baseball player.

    Klatt was drafted in the 11th round of the 2000 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres. After two years in the minor leagues, he opted to try his hand at a college football career.

    In his second year as a walk-on at the University of Colorado, Klatt earned the starting quarterback job and never looked back.

    Now the lead college football game analyst for Fox Sports 1, Klatt knows that his time at CU may not have been possible without options. His desire to play three sports made him what every athlete aims to be, a true competitor.

    He took some time to discuss the state of youth and high school sports today and how important it is for kids to involved in as many sports as possible.

    [divider]

    Question: When you were in high school, did you know that you could potentially have a future in both football and baseball?

    Klatt: It’s hard to say. I knew that I would have at least the option potentially, but nothing guaranteed by any stretch. Going through it, I thought I had a much better chance having a post-high school career in baseball than anything else.

    Q: Did it help when you were playing at a high level in both sports that you felt like you would have options at some point?

    Klatt: I never viewed it that way to be honest with you. For me, I obviously wanted to play something in college but it was always more about competing. I love playing each of the sports.

    It was never anything strategic along the lines of post-high school career.

    Q: You played basketball as well, was that more for fun just so you can do something in the winter?

    Klatt: Yeah, I played it my whole life. I loved playing it. More than anything, I thought the best attribute that a lot of great athletes have is the ability to compete.

    What’s better to learn how to compete than doing it?

    Regardless of what you’re competing at, whether it’s checkers or ping pong or basketball or football. Having an opportunity to go out there and play all the time, I thought was the most beneficial. And I played with some of my buddies and I wasn’t going to let them down and not go out and play basketball and hurt the team just because I was better at other sports.

    Q: So looking at it now as far removed as you are from high school, how happy are you that you were able to consistently play three sports during your high school career?

    Klatt: As I look back, I’m incredibly proud that I stuck with it, played three sports and it actually makes me really sad that other guys don’t that nowadays. I think they do themselves a great disservice by not competing.

    Q: That’s my next question, when you see people trying to specialize and stick to one sport when they’re young, what’s your reaction?

    Klatt: I think it hurts. I have a lot of different feelings about it.

    One, I get really upset with these coaches claiming that they have to have these kids specialize because of a special league that they have to be in out of season. I hate it. I think those coaches have no idea what they’re doing.

    It’s selfish and they’re hurting a lot of kids.

    I had a guy, who I’m actually really good friends with, and he has a son that I think is 11 or 12 and he’s really good soccer player. He’s fast, good hand, feet, eye coordination; that type of deal. He’s also really good at golf. He’s also really good at basketball. And he loves doing all three.

    And this bozo soccer coach of his basically said that he had to be at all these different events or else he can’t be on the team. (The kid) is 11 or 12. What are you doing?

    Again, I think what we’ve lost is the ability to compete. There’s only so much you can teach from a skills perspective and the technical perspective at a young age, even within high school.

    And these coaches that are making kids specialize at an early age are doing a huge disservice, a monumental disservice to the development of the whole athlete and the whole person. Specializing, just point blank, doesn’t help anybody.

    I’m one of the reasons that you can point to that it’s true.

    It makes me really frustrated.

    Q: It seems like a lot of NCAA coaches are putting it out there that they love seeing multi-sport athletes, why doesn’t that message get trickled down?

    Klatt: I have no idea. I think it’s born out of insecurity and selfishness from some of those coaches.

    I think it’s even more of a problem that we are starting to see it in the youth levels as well like we were just talking about. One of the things that has been lost on this generation of athlete is the knowledge of how to just flat compete.

    There’s only so much you can do to “skill level” your way to success, I guess is a way to put it. Whereas if you have the knowledge to compete — look at Jim Furyk. He’s competing with Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy because he understands how to compete and he understands how to grind.

    You see it all levels. Matthew Dellavedova. You see it on the football field in particular. You see guys of all different skill levels and all different sizes and shapes succeed. A lot of that is the ability to understand how to compete and find success in certain spots.

    I don’t understand why that message doesn’t trickle down.

    Again, I’ll go back to this. It’s born out of two things: selfishness and insecurity.

    Pomona football Joel Klatt
    (Photo courtesy of CU Athletics)

    Q: You’re still very much in tune with what’s going on with CU. With Coach (Mike) MacIntyre and Coach (Darrin) Chiaverini, how much emphasis are they putting on recruiting multi-sport athletes?

    Klatt: I think it’s everybody. I think it’s the type of player that you’re bringing in. You’re getting someone that wants to compete and wants to be a part of a team, that understands how to be unselfish.

    I think Coach Mike MacIntyre has done a good job at bringing in kids like that and I think coaches around the country have done that as well.

    I hope they continue to do that so the message becomes loud and clear for everybody out there that specializing is not what you need to do.

    Q: Coach MacIntyre already has a couple of in-state guys for next year’s recruiting class. How important is for programs at CU, CSU, CSU-Pueblo, Northern Colorado to keep the guys who go to school here in state?

    Klatt: At one point, Coach (Bill) McCartney knew that he had to keep all the best kids in state. He got guys like Jon Embree and those type of guys to stay in state and help the resurgence of Colorado get to where it was and then they could go out and get the best kids from Houston and L.A.

    What I think is lost on what Colorado does now, and even CSU to a larger extent, is that they think they’re going to go out and get great kids from other places without a whole lot of recent success in their rearview mirror.

    I think that’s very difficult to do without building some sort of foundation, which you have to do locally.

    Now I’m under no type of spell that thinks you can just go out there and win with Colorado athletes, because you can’t. Plain and simple, Colorado high school football is not good enough to win on the Division I level with just local recruits. You have to get strong recruits from other areas.

    Now at the lower levels, that’s what has killed Northern Colorado is that they stopped recruiting the state and the CSU-Pueblos of the world started to do so.

    John Wristen got some amazing kids from this state and ended up winning a national championship because of it.

    Q: How much do you stay in tune with the high school sports landscape here in Colorado?

    Klatt: I’d say enough. I follow it. My brother is the head coach at Mead High School and my brother-in-law was a coach at Mountain Vista and I grew up here and I’m always interested in what teams are doing well and I keep up with the Pomona Panthers, of course.

    I think Jay Madden has done an amazing job.

    Q: I hate to ask, but were you heartbroken over what happened in the (Class 5A) state title game?

    Klatt: Oh I was heartbroken. My dad explained it to me and then I went and watched the end of it and, ugh, I’m still sick to my stomach over it.

    That fumble at the end was heartbreaking because it was born out of effort. It was a tough one. They had Valor dead to rights there. They had that state championship won.

    Q: Was it nice to see your school get back to that level?

    Klatt: Oh yeah. I think Jay has done a tremendous job. He’s had a lot more success than I certainly did at my four years at Pomona.

    We had one pocket of success and they had a great history of success from about 1982 until about 1996 or so. It’s been great to see them get back to that level where year-in and year-out they’re competing really at the highest level.

    He’s done a remarkable job, he really has.

    Q: Last one for you, if you had the ability to address a group of eighth grade athletes heading into their freshman year of high school, what’s the message you want to instill to them?

    Klatt: My major points would be twofold. My first point would be don’t get pressured into specializing, even in high school. And I would talk about the benefits in learning and understanding how to compete.

    And my second one would be that you have to understand from that day how important your academics are because of NCAA standards and how kids are recruited and how they set themselves up so well just by having their academics in line and how prepared to be to go to school after high school and go to college and really flourish because they’re ready academically.

    Those are the two things that I think are the upmost important.