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The Extra Point
Monthly News and Notes from Play It Smart
January 2009
Volume II | Issue V |
Student-athletes from Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, CA) take a break from some dirty work. |
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Mark Your Calendar:
February 10th
March 14th SAT
Registration Deadline
February 20th
February Play It Smart Student-Athlete of the Month Submissions Due
February 27th
April 4th ACT Registration Deadline
April 20-26th
Play It Smart National Service Week
Remember to submit ACT/SAT scores directly to the NCAA Eligibility Center using code"9999"
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Remember if you don't tell us, we don't know. So keep us in the loop of your events and the happenings at your campus. Do this by communicating and submitting information to your Program Officer. |
Play It Smart Annual Conference to Touch Down in Houston
From Wednesday July 29, 2009 to Sunday
August 2, 2009 the city of Houston
will play host to Play It Smart's 12th
Annual National Conference. The
conference will bring together hundreds of Academic Coaches and school administrators together under one roof with leading
professionals in youth development, secondary education and college academia.
Although the conference is in July it is not too early to begin making preparations. We would like to have each member school represented at this event. Registration information will be released in the coming days. We look forward to seeing you in July.
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| National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)
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Play It Smart Member Schools Tackle Recruiting
National Signing Day being around the corner (February 4th)
means that the recruiting season is in full effect. In this month's best practice section we will
be taking a look at how some of our veteran schools and academic coaches handle
the recruiting process. We have a range
of perspectives from smaller schools working to find opportunities at all
levels of play, to a program that has seen a marked increase in Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division 1-A) opportunities, and a well-established school with
large roster numbers and a proven history of producing top FBS
recruits.
As with all of our best practices, Play
It Smart recognizes that each individual member school can be
different. Our aim is to provide you multiple perspectives and tips from the
field so that you can look into what is working and what may work for you, your
school, and your student-athletes.
Please keep in m ind with any of your approaches with your
student-athletes, we strive to recognize those teachable moments, and take
advantage of those by empowering our student-athletes to take responsibility and ownership of their futures . . .
We would like to thank Academic Coach Dustin Butcher
(Wayne High School, IN), Academic Coach David Giles (West High School, TN), and
Head Coach Raul Lara (Long Beach Poly, CA), for taking the time to share some
of their experience with us. Please click here to continue reading the article: http://www.playitsmart.org/news.php?id=1806
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Investment Advice: Choosing a College
Many of our senior
student-athletes are getting ready to make one of the biggest decisions of
their young lives: where to attend college.
This decision may not be like others that our student-athletes have
faced in their lives, and can often be influenced by family, friends, coaches,
teachers and mentors. College is like an
investment that can pay large dividends for students in the future. Like most investments, deciding what is best
requires research and planning.
Play It
Smart has developed a tool that can assist your
student-athletes in their research and decision making. The activity, "Play It Smart with Your College Choice" is one of
the many resources that member schools have available through Play It Smart ORBIT.
We hope that your senior student-athletes can examine and use this
activity as they make their investment choice in an institution of higher
learning.
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Best Practices: For Academic Coaches by Academic Coaches
Smart Skills Challenge
Play It Smart recognizes the
value of the National Network of Member Schools and their Academic Coaches,
Head Coaches and Administrators. Access
to our member school network of resources continues to develop through Play It Smart ORBIT.
This month we focus on our Smart
Skills Activities and Workshop Lesson Plans. In addition to our ever growing Best
Practices, Training Resources and Conference Presentations, several of our
Member Schools from around the country have contacted us to share their ideas
regarding delivering workshops.
Academic Coaches are often challenged during the off-season to
maintain the program's momentum.
Creating activities, incentive and reward programs, community service
and service learning opportunities can be terrific ways to create a "buzz"
about your program outside of study hall.
Outlined in ORBIT are the Smart Skills
Platform ("Forms" - Training Resources) is a guide to Effective Workshop
Delivery. As we already know, creating
opportunities for student-athletes to learn about themselves in environments
outside of the playing field is one of the core components of the Play It Smart philosophy. Workshops and guest speakers can definitely
help student-athletes get exposed to information about their strengths and
developing skills.
 The additional Activities and Lesson Plans are designed to help
reinforce the foundation and consistent Smart
Skills language. They also provide Academic Coaches examples of activities that have been tested in the field.
The lesson plans and activities are designed to engage
student-athletes in "active learning". This allows them to learn about their Smart Skills, engage in activities where
those skills are put into action, and process their experience in meaningful
group discussion or reflection.
In addition to the Smart Skills
Scouting Report (the foundational activity for building self-awareness), please
check out "Future Bidding", "The Swamp", and the "Play
It Smart with your College Choice" activity which is
highlighted in this month's e-letter.
There is a student-friendly evaluation form that can be used and kept on
file for any and all workshops your student-athletes attend, whether it's hearing a
guest speaker or a workshop run by Academic Coaches. Don't forget about the Smart Skills Poster now available to post in your offices or to use
as a hand-out. All of these resources
can be easily found under ORBIT "Forms".
Currently several Academic Coaches, administrators, and teachers from
around the nation are helping to further build out the workshop ideas. Over the next week, look in ORBIT for the latest
additions to the Activities and Lesson Plans.
Play It Smart encourages all
of our member schools to keep up the good work in reinforcing the Smart Skills Platform, developing
self-awareness through consistent language and the Smart Skills Scouting report.
Please continue to engage student-athletes in meaningful workshops and
expose them to guest speakers. Continue
to create service leaning opportunities, where student-athletes can serve,
reflect, and discuss.
By equipping your students with the Smart Skills you are helping them gain
vital knowledge about themselves and the world around them, this knowledge will
prove to be valuable to your students in the years to come.
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End of the Road: Play It
Smart Schools Vie for Championships
When the winter weather rolled in
and teams where reflecting on the season that was, several Play
It Smart schools took the field for the right to be called
state champion. Six schools played for their state championship with four of
the six being crowned champion.
In the New Jersey Central Group
1, Asbury Park (Asbury Park, NJ)
took down Metuchen 42-14 to win their second consecutive state title. In the Pennsylvania Class 4A championship
contest, Liberty (Bethlehem,
PA) defeated Bethel
Park 28-21in overtime. Down in Florida, Pahokee (Pahokee,
FL) won the Class 2B championship
with a 21-17 victory over Trinity Catholic.
In the Big Apple, Port  Richmond (Staten Island,
NY) claimed the New York PSAL with a 33-21 win
over Fort Hamilton to cap an undefeated season.
Long Beach Polytechnic (Long Beach, CA)
claimed the runner-up title in the CIF Open Division. Carvers
Bay also claimed the
runner-up title in the South Carolina Class 1A Division 1.
Congrats to each of the teams for
there many successes on the field.
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Party Time
On December 19th a Sickle Cell Christmas
party was held at Brookdale hospital. Eight student-athletes from Canarsie HS (Brooklyn, NY)
participated and staffed the annual event.
They helped decorate the room with balloons, brought down loads of gifts
for the kids, served the food and helped clean up.
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Tennessee Play It Smart Schools Represent
Several players (and one coach) from Play It Smart schools were selected to participate
in the TN/KY "Battle of the Border Bowl". The game was played on January 17th at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky.
The Tennessee squad was led by former
Farragut coach Dan Bland, now the head coach at Humboldt High in West Tennessee. His
staff included Austin East Head Coach Kwayu Graham, a former Academic Coach.
A full list of Play It Smart
participants and coaches is below:
COACH
Kwayu Graham
(AUSTIN EAST-Knoxville, TN)
PLAYERS
Lincoin Anderson (Austin-East)
Rodney Billings
(Austin-East)
Terrance Cobb (Fulton-Knoxville, TN)
Courtland Styles (Fulton)
Mark Montgomery
(Austin-East)
Richard Stokes (Fulton)
Kenneth
Tyson (Fulton)
Allen Whaley (Knoxville-West) | |
Hawaiian Vacation
Robin Heredia of Jeff Davis HS (Houston, TX) was invited to play in the Club USA
National Softball Championship Tournament in Hawaii.
Robin was the starting catcher on the first place squad.
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Go Team Takes Off
Worthing HS (Houston, TX)
Go Center Team hosted a mini scholarship workshop during lunch time. The
Go Center Team is comprised of Play It Smart
student-athletes and several other student organizations. Students and student-athletes received
helpful and essential tools on how to complete their scholarship applications
as well as one on one consultation on how to make their application stand out
from others.
Athletes at Worthing
also donated over 30 blankets to the Star of Hope Shelter. The Star of
Hope Shelter distributes needed items to homeless families and
individuals.
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Our mission is to help student-athletes take responsibility for their futures through lessons learned on the playing field, in the classroom and in service to others.
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If you're going to play...Play It Smart
Sincerely,
Play It Smart Staff
1-800-486-1865 | |
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