It's time!

Time to reclaim that time with your family, time to relax and enjoy whatever the summer holds for you, time to simply recharge the batteries from what was I hope a positive 2010-11 school year.

I can assure you that the FIAAA Board of Directors is doing the exact same thing. We had the great opportunity to not only run our 33rd Florida Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Conference, but also the honor and privilege to be the host committee for the National Athletic Directors Conference here in Orlando in December. If you were able to attend either or both of these events, I am sure that you found them to be worthwhile of the time you invested in them. Nothing compares to networking with colleagues from around the state or country to gain new insight on the issues that surround our profession, and how to use that collaboration to become more effective on a daily basis.

My goal as the FIAAA President is to keep the momentum of those opportunities going. As an organization, we will continue to be proactive in addressing concerns of the organization about current issues. Having the membership visit our website for updates and to read the newsletter when it is sent, are ways to be able to reach out and share those concerns. We are always looking for people to contribute to both of those collaborative areas. If you or your school has handled a unique situation in a positive way, we would like to have you communicate that to others.

Please let me know how FIAAA can help you for the upcoming 2011-12 school year. We will be sharing more information from the conference, including the discussions that occurred at both the round table session and also at the district breakfast, as well as working towards the dissemination of other points of interest that may have been communicated by our guest speakers. We will work towards improve our Mentoring Program, so that we can continue to cultivate outstanding athletic administrators throughout the state and provide “fuel” to make it through the challenges that we all face in our profession.

If I can answer any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at kevin.demer@ocps.net.

I wish all of you a great summer and will be speaking with you again in the Fall.

It is an honor to be elected as the President-Elect of the FIAAA. 2010-2011 was a successful year for the FIAAA. It is my desire that we continue to grow this organization by serving our members through professional growth opportunities. The Leadership Training Program continues to be successful. The FIAAA also began a Mentoring program this past year to provide guidance to new athletic directors or anyone who desires assistance. We had another outstanding conference in Orlando last May. Make sure to join us for the 2012 Conference.

Athletic administrators make a real difference in the lives of our students and communities; the need for strong programs in our schools has never been greater than it is today. We need to be the voice for athletics in our communities and throughout the state during these difficult times. As we all know, the positive benefits gained from participation in school based athletics is immeasurable to our student-athletes.

Remember that we set the tone for our athletic program. Let’s be leaders who promote the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play and accept nothing less. Feel free to contact me or one of our board members if there is anything we can assist you with. The FIAAA is a service organization.

Have a great school year and I hope to see you all in May in Orlando.

As I look back on the five years as your executive director, I find many positive changes in our organization. The majority of them deal with an increased amount of professionalism within our organization and our membership. A five year strategic plan has been developed and at this time we have completed most of our goals and are preparing to begin on another five year plan. The number of members taking LTC classes have increased each year,along with an increased number of athletic administrators becoming certified. Our leadership has brought a great deal of professional topics to our annual conference, and have given our membership a reason to attend. Using our web site and the online magazine has enabled us to reach our membership with ideas and information that should help you become a more informed athletic administrator. FHSAA has allowed our district directors to serve on the athletic advisory committee, which gives our organization a direct impact on policy making. All of these things have made the FIAAA a stronger and more visible organization than we were five years ago, yet as most things there is still room for improvement. It bothers me that only about 200 members have attended an annual conference, that means about 500 members have missed out on a great learning experience. I am not sure how many of us have visited our web site or read the online news magazine. How many of you know your district director and have made contact with them? We have only 125 members of the NIAAA, your professional national organization. How many of you have ever visited the NIAAA web site? All of these are designed for you to make your job easier and to enhance your professionalism, why not take advantage of these benefits? I believe our board and leadership will encourage us to grow in the next five years, why not be an active part of this growth?