Continuing our discussion, let's dive a little deeper into the NFHS. If you missed last week's article about the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), you may be a bit behind, but hopefully, you can gather enough information from this article to catch up, or you can go check out their website yourself and read about what they do and their history.
I would like to discuss the campaigns they support and the NFHS Network in this week's article.
They have eight campaigns that they talk about and hope others will get involved with.
1. Becoming an official: High school officials protect the integrity of the games our kids love to play by demonstrating qualities like honesty, objectivity, consistency, courage, and common sense.
2. Bench Bad Behavior: Bad behavior at high school athletic events has to stop. Enough is enough. Let's restore civility in our schools and clarify that bad behavior will not be tolerated. It should be about respect—respect for each other and respect for the officials.
3. National High School Activities Month: During October, the high school community promotes the value of high school athletics and activities such as speech, debate, music, and theater. This special time is called National High School Activities Month, which was created to increase the public's awareness of the values and needs of interscholastic activity programs.
4. Play, perform, compete, and compete together! High school sports and performing arts create an environment where students learn that we become better for our schools, our communities, and one another when we play, perform, and compete together!
5. This Is High School Football: Over the last 10 years, participation in high school football has declined by about 10%. That's why the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), in partnership with the NFL, promotes the lasting benefits that high school football has on students for the rest of their lives. They have three goals to share: 1: Promote the value of participating in football in middle and high school. 2. Improve the perception of football at the middle and high school levels. 3. Restore confidence that the sport focuses more on player protection than ever.
6. Title IX: Over 3.4 million girls participate in High School Athletics annually, fueled by the flagship legislation for girls' involvement, Title IX. The NFHS has developed this Title IX course to help interscholastic professionals understand the history and impact of Title IX and the responsibilities of a school and staff regarding girls' athletic programs.
7. We See You: Let's be honest; high school can be cruel. Let's combat that! How? Speak kindly to each other, accept, and include one another. Empathy is everything. Everyone needs to feel seen and supported.
8. PSA Campaign: Support school sports and performing arts. School sports and performing arts need our support now more than ever. That’s why our not-for-profit organizations—the NFHS and the NIAAA—have produced new radio PSAs that will help. They cover the most significant topics surrounding school sports and performing arts that your community needs to hear—fan behavior at athletic events, student mental wellness, the value of participation, recruiting high school officials, and showing appreciation for athletic administrators.
So, let’s talk about the NFHS Network. What is it? When you go to their web page, this is how they describe themselves:
“The NFHS Network is the leader in streaming Live and On Demand high school sports. The NFHS Network covers 27 different regular season and postseason sports, as well as other high school activities, celebrating the accomplishments of student-athletes, student-broadcasters, and high schools across the country. Partnered with the National Federation of State High School Associations, 44+ high school state athletic/activities, and PlayOn! Sports, the NFHS Network is a joint venture created to allow fans to stream high school sports on any device from wherever they are. All NFHS events are available to watch online at http://www.NFHSnetwork.com and through the NFHS Network Mobile Apps for iOS and our TV apps for ROKU, Amazon Fire, Google TV, and Apple TV."
My experience with NFHS Network has been wonderful because I have watched all my grandkids play sports and other extracurricular activities. But, I have heard that because of this network, some have said that it takes away from bringing money to the schools because people stay home and watch the games instead of coming to the games. This is a challenging situation because I can see all aspects of it. I understand why some might want to stay home to watch games. Times are hard, and it can save money. I wouldn't say I like driving at night, so I also enjoy watching them from home. But I mostly love it because I can watch games from every state anytime. I support our local sports, and more people need to attend the games; a small community is all about supporting each other.
