Coaches Corner

Art Preuss

The 60th Year of the Arizona Coaches Association is shaping up nicely. We created a vision and input session on the goals of the ACA. The results given by the coaches were great and we are working on many components of the plan. Please continue to contact me with your thoughts, ideas and concerns as we make the ACA even better.

We are looking to honor the top 60 coaches in Arizona History at the Summer All Star games. Post your input at the website under current events. And plans are underway to relocate the Hall of Fame so that the public can learn about our great coaches. We also want to videotape coaches and save them for the website download as well, in order to preserve our past.

Showcasing our athletes

We have signed a deal with D1 athletes to help get our players recognized. Please take advantage of the $25 fee versus some of these companies that charge thousands. Furthermore, D1 works with the NJCAA so they are familiar with the program which we think will help our athletes get looked at more often.

One home for the All Stars

The City of Surprise Recreation Campus has really been a good partner, with facilities and welcoming our games to their City. We are looking to enlarge the games to a festival format in the coming years with all games and all athletes in one location. The website has a complete list of games, times, dates and checkin. Please visit it to get the information you need.

A stronger voice for coaches

We have worked with affiliates to make sure they are formed and are working together to be united under the ACA umbrella. We are working on the email blasts to make our communication better so that we have that “voice” and represent the COACHES. We want to be able to get responses for each sport when a concern about their sport is directed our way like a ball contract for the state. Use the website, use the bulletin boards and attend the meetings.

We have also created an Assistant Coach of the Year award during the All Star games to recognize these fine folks. They are voted at the selection meetings for each sport, along with the Coaches of the Year.

To be able to give more scholarships to our athletes, we have added our Touchstone Energy Scholarships and an All Star Scholarship. Please go to the website to download the forms for your athletes.

Junk food ban dead

An article in the Arizona Republic detailed the demise of a bill that would ban soft-drink and junk-food sales on Arizona’s high school campuses. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Mesa, said he has been unable to muster enough support for legislation that would give high schools money in exchange for getting rid of Twinkies and Coca-Cola.

The bill ran into heavy opposition from soft-drink companies, and even changing House Bill 2557 to make it voluntary wasn’t enough to move it through the House K-12 Education Committee.