COLORADO COACH- FALL 2017 FROM THE SPORT PRESIDENTS FOOTBALL President Harrison Chisum Hello Coaches, Hope everyone is doing well and staying as healthy as possible! Regular season is approaching soon. We will be at the end of the year league meetings before we know it! All State selection is right around the corner. Couple reminders for nominations: • Only a member coach can nominate players • Make sure the player that is nominated is in good standing with academics and citizenship • Try to get a feel if the player is interested in playing in the CHSCA All State Game Please contact me with any questions or concerns about this. Also, let me know the feelings on the weekly reminders that we get from CHSAA. Do we like this or not? Thanks again for all you do! Good luck the rest of the season! GIRLS’ BASKETBALL President Erik Melgoza I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself: My name is Erik W. Melgoza and I will be serving as your CHSCA girls’ basketball president for the next couple of years. I am currently the head boy’s XC coach, head girls basketball and assistant boys’ basketball coach as well as an assistant track coach in Lamar, Colorado (Lamar High School). I am very eager to work with other CHSCA board members in order to promote you, our great member coaches, as well as all coaches in our fine state. As I look at the condition of girls’ basketball in Colorado, I am very excited. I feel like fundamental skills are being taught at all levels and at even younger ages, coaching educational opportunities are at an all-time high, and athlete participation is up. This leads to stronger basketball programs and well-rounded student athletes. I do have a couple of concerns – the mercy rule and lack of officials. When I think of a mercy rule, I believe (as do a majority of coaches) that this is not a green light to beat a team by a certain number of points (35). It is an opportunity to teach the game at a higher level, whether you are on the winning or losing end of this experience. I encourage coaches to have a plan when faced with this dilemma, or at least have an idea and be proactive in dealing with this situation. I do not want to tell anyone how to run their program, but here in Lamar it starts with our administration (AD and Principal). I have to be accountable to our AD/principal as to what I did to keep the score respectable. So as basketball season approaches, please start thinking how you as the head coach will handle the mercy rule. My second concern is officials or lack of officials; what can we do as heads of our program to be part of a solution? In my program my kids cannot question an official, they cannot be that “hands up player”. As a coach, I have to abide by those same rules and my athletes will hold me accountable. I have to do a lot of coaching with my hands clasped behind my back or in my pockets, because as a head coach I have to set the tone of my team’s conduct towards an official. The second part of this is to help recruit officials- former athletes that are in college, non-athletes that just love the game and community members that have a great eye for the game. We need to speak highly of the officiating profession and treat officials with respect. Some who know me are probably asking “who is this guy and what have you done with coach Melgoza”? My change of heart came when my son became a basketball SOFTBALL COACHES~ Good Luck at STATE!!! Please go online to nominate players for ALL STATE~