Increasing Participation & Funding for Plain Local Midget Football

Increasing Participation & Funding for Plain Local Midget Football

Bill Burgess Master’s Professional Project Spring 2012

Table of Contents

Burgess

Executive Summary 3

Introduction 5

Literature Review 7 PR Campaign 17

PLMF Background & Analysis 18

Objective I 21

Objective II 22

Evaluation 24

Conclusion 26

End Notes 27

Appendix 28

References 32

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Executive Summary The aim of this public relations campaign is to increase participation and funding for Plain Local Midget Football (PLMF), a youth sports league in Canton, Ohio. The project also fulfills the requirement for my master’s professional project at Kent State University.

The image and success of PLMF is important to me. I played in the league as a child, and now I coach. My son, Aydan started playing football in 2007, and is currently on the sixth/seventh grade team. Over the last few years, I have noticed a decline in participation in the league. Since I have been affiliated with the league, PLMF has not held any fundraisers besides asking players/parents to sell candy bars. The league is not in any financial danger; however, money is needed to replace equipment, especially helmets.

In the beginning stages of the campaign, I began my research by attending monthly board meetings in the summer of 2011. I gleaned information from PLMF Board members and current and past coaches. From these meetings and conversations, I found two needs: 1. More players 2. Additional funding

What became increasingly obvious during the creation of this campaign was the need to utilize the success of the GlenOak High School football team, its up-­‐and-­‐coming coach, Burgess

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Scott Garcia, and its star and next Ohio State Buckeye, Brionte Dunn. The team finished the regular season 9-­‐2, won the school’s first-­‐ever playoff game and eventually lost to Wadsworth. I chose to use the school’s notoriety to gain the interest of elementary-­‐age students in the district.

Social media was also critical to the campaign. PLMF had no Facebook presence and I knew that I could attract parents of elementary-­‐age children to a page using photos and updated league information. Going forward, Facebook will be an essential communication tool for the league and the parents of its participants.

The league had never held an organized fundraiser. My immediate reaction was to hold a golf outing. Because this is a common means to raise money and this league involves as many moms as dads, I switched gears, created a committee and began coordination of “Kicking It 4 PLMF Kids,” an adult kickball tournament.

I set two objectives for the campaign:

1. To increase the number of football players by 25 percent 2. To raise $5,000 for new equipment

After completing the campaign, PLMF added a fourth B League team increasing overall player participation by more than 30 percent. A Facebook page now has more than 60 “likes,” and fundraising activities collected more than $4,000.

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Introduction Plain Local Midget Football (PLMF) is a youth football/cheerleading league that represents youth who attend the Plain Local Schools system in Canton, Ohio. Children in grades two-­‐seven are eligible for the league, which was established in 1975. Second and third graders play flag football and all of their games are played against other PLMF teams. The B League, grades 4-­‐5, and the A League, grades 6-­‐7 compete in the Northeast Ohio Youth Football Conference with programs from the city of North Canton and Perry Township. PLMF is a player and cheerleader pipeline for the GlenOak High School. GlenOak High School is located in Canton, Ohio and its students live in either Plain Township or the City of Canton.

Plain Local Schools is the second largest school system in Stark County. According to the Ohio Department of Education, 2011 fall enrollment for Plain Local was 6,063. Perry had fewer than 5,000 students and North Canton City Schools had over 4,700.1 Unfortunately, PLMF has not been able to capitalize on its size and struggles to compete with these schools in youth football because it lacks players. Although PLMF has a nice playing field, it does not have a working scoreboard. PLMF’s equipment, including helmets and pads, is reconditioned every year, but some of that equipment looks outdated, especially to youth who want to look like professional football players.

PLMF wants to boost its participation by 25 percent. Its board members and Scott Garcia, Head Coach, GlenOak High School, want to increase the number of players, Burgess

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cheerleaders, coaches and volunteers for its 2012 season. The league also needs to raise money for equipment and facilities.

The PLMF Board consists of Scott Knoch, President; Dave Contrucci, Vice President; Kelly Stanojevic , Secretary; Mark Otani, Treasurer; Michelle Stahleker, Director of Parent Reps; Pat Ryter, Concessions; and Cecelia Ponder, Directing of Cheerleading.

PLMF does not have an active Facebook page or Twitter account.

Aydan Burgess is one of the league’s premier offensive & defensive lineman.

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Literature Review Kick Off The paper examines theories that can be used to engage youth, parents, coaches and communities. It identifies effective strategies for not only communication, but for retention.

On the Field The opportunity to participate in organized exercise and competition are just two of the benefits youth receive from participation in a youth sports program. Studies have shown that involved youth may excel in other facets of development. “High-­‐quality organized sports are a gateway to academic achievement, better grades, improved chances of attending college, and success in the labor market— and these benefits are especially important for low-­‐income youth” (Rosewater, 2009).

Parents play a major role in encouraging their children to participate in a sport. It is oftentimes the parents who decides in what sport their child will excel. “Children are motivated to achieve and display competence. Parents and coaches have the ability to alter a youth’s perception of his or her competence” (Daniels, 2007). Children are inspired to participate in a sport when parents and coaches use “achievement motivation,” which is a theory where youth are encouraged to accomplish incremental athletic thresholds. Participation in youth sports can give children a sense of belonging and in many cases it can be a confidence builder. “This is important because a young athlete who does not perceive himself or herself as competent may lack persistence and Burgess

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play with less skill. This is true even if the child is a talented athlete. In addition, a young athlete who feels competent within a sport but is not the best player will most likely want to play. The child or youth’s perception about his or her skill is more important than actual skill” (Daniels, 2007).

Once a youth decides to participate in a sport, many factors may prevent him or her from continuing after that first season. “Clearly, people are concerned about what’s happening to youth sports in many communities, whether its unsportsmanlike players, overzealous fans, parents who criticize coaches for on-­‐field decisions, or coaches who put winning above all else (Cobb & Albanese, 2005).” In a discussion with board members, I found that there were a number of complaints after Plain Local Midget Football’s (PLMF) 2011 season. Many of the coaches were perceived as win-­‐at-­‐all cost coaches and there were more than a few cases of youth or parents choosing to pull their children from the team during the season.

Cobb and Albanese cite the following seven core principles of Sports Done Right: (1) Philosophy, value and sportsmanship; (2) Sports and learning; (3) Parents and community; (4) Quality of coaching; (5) Opportunity to play; (6) Health and fitness; and (7) Leadership, quality and organization (Cobb & Albanese, 2005). Parents, coaches and the community are an essential core value for any successful youth sports league. Many parents drop off their kids and leave them with the coach, who then becomes a babysitter. Coaches can enrich or destroy the benefits the youth gain from participation.

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Cobb and Albanese polled 300 student athletes during their study and identified a few issues that would prevent youth from participating in a sport. Quality or inequality of coaching and poor communication among athletes, parents and coaches were major points of concern. “The students also called for stronger communication among athletes, coaches, and parents; positive sports learning environments; quality coaching education, including the importance of teaching life skills; more fun and enjoyment in sports, with winning kept in perspective; and consistent and fair treatment of athletes of all abilities” (Cobb & Albanese, 2005).

Involved youth place their trust in the coach and league to offer a fair arena for competition. “Sports offer many of the things 10-­‐year-­‐olds crave. Teams are clubs; victories and defeats are real, not made-­‐up; and rules are presumably applied evenly.

There's an elegance to sports that makes sense to a 10-­‐year-­‐old." (Wolff, A. & Menez, G., 2003)

Sports participation can meet different needs for parents. “When its 2001 report called youth sports "a hotbed of chaos, violence and mean-­‐spiritedness," the National Summit on Raising Community Standards in Children's Sports wasn't referring to some Lord of the Flies scenario in which kids are running amok without adult supervision. Nor are children responsible for the athletic landscape in South Florida, where youth football programs have become feeders for the high school powerhouses and a promising seven-­‐ Burgess

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year-­‐old will be scouted and "signed" to practice but not play on what one disgusted parent calls "prepubescent taxi squads." Says Thompson, "If a child has specialized in one sport or played on select teams, she has seen a lot of adult behavior that clearly demonstrates that this isn't 'just for fun,' as adults have been saying. The unguarded reactions of parents on the sidelines, the criticism of performance, the shouting at refs-­‐-­‐ it all tells kids that this is serious stuff. No child misses the message" (Wolff, A. & Menez, G., 2003).

According to the National Sporting Goods Association, youth participation in sports has declined from years 2000-­‐2009. “A number of factors are causing the decline, according to sports officials. Kids have more options now than ever before, with lots of other temptations for their attention. In a bad economy, some families can't afford the fees and the equipment their kids need to play. And some, working long or odd hours or multiple jobs, just don't have the time to transport their kids to practices and games” (Brown, C., 2011)

PLMF has a hard-­‐working and dedicated board. Boards are critical to the success of an organization. Boards must possess “a range and mix of skills including a ‘hybrid’ board composition; big picture or long-­‐term thinking; a board that is detached and beholden to no particular faction; experience in relevant areas especially knowledge of the sport; and being focused on the work at hand, for example, relate to the capability of people

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sitting around the board room table to be able to undertake these functions” (Ferkins, L. & Shilbury, D., 2011).

Theories Relating to Increasing Participation & Funding After remedying some of the ills of the organization, the game plan must be created.

“Strategic management is extremely important to excellent public relations because it describes how public relations should be practiced if it is to contribute the most to the success of an organization” (Grunig, J. & Grunig L., 2000). Grunig finds strategic communication to stakeholders is essential in any public relations campaign. “In the development of a strategic communication plan, an organization can identify a campaign communicates with its publics, both external and internal. The plan recognizes the greatest threats to and opportunities for the organization” (Grunig, 1990). Publics are the people or organizations that can influence the success of your program. Cutlip, Center and Broom identify four publics: non-­‐publics; latent publics; aware publics; and active publics. When creating a plan, it is critical to identify these publics. The key to a successful public relations campaign is to motivate latent and aware publics to become an active public. “Useful definitions describe program publics on the basis of how people are involved in or affected by the problem situation or issue, who they are, where they live, what relevant organizations they belong to, what they do that is relevant to the situation, and so forth” (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom, G., 2006).

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Latent and aware publics can include parents with younger children or with children who are not active in sports. Local politicians, business leaders, community members and school district teachers, administrators and staff can also be included.

The decade-­‐long public relations “Excellence Study” (J. E. Grunig, 1992; J. E. Grunig, Ed., 1992; L. A. Grunig, J. E. Grunig, & Dozier, 2002) emphasized the importance of relationships and empirically concluded that public relations practitioners “develop programs at the functional level of public relations to build long-­‐term relationships with these strategic publics” (J. E. Grunig, 1992, p. 13). Within the last decade, public relationship models, relationship theory, and empirical research on relationship indicators have emerged. The two-­‐step-­‐flow of influence model encourages the message receiver to disseminate the information to others (Croteau & Hoynes, 2000).

Utilizing this model, parents of current players could help disseminate the key messages about the benefits of the PLMF program.

Public relations campaigns help organizations improve and establish reputations. They can also build relationships, resolve conflict and change attitudes and behaviors (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom, G., 2006).

An effective campaign can increase participation in the organization and create a need and ultimately a desire to support it, both physically and financially. To initiate a change in behavior, the organization must do more than communicate to its publics. It must Burgess

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begin to build relationships with them. According to the Excellence Study, organizations must “develop programs at the functional level of public relations to build long-­‐term relationships with these strategic publics” (Grunig, J. & Grunig, L., 2002). In ROPES: A model of the fund-­‐raising process, K.S. Kelly took the theory one step further and applied it to non-­‐profits and fundraising. She identified a five-­‐step process called ROPES. It consists of research, objectives, programming, evaluation, and stewardship. The process describes how to use procedures and techniques to build and maintain long-­‐ term relationships with an important stakeholder—donors (O’Neil, J. 2008). Kelly “focused on nurturing the relationship between an organization and donor. Kelly posited that stewardship, “a step erroneously missing in public relations,” consists of these four elements: (a) reciprocity, appreciating and recognizing donors; (b) responsible gift use, using gifts from donors for which they were intended; (c) reporting, informing donors of how their gifts were used; and (d) relationship nurturing, encouraging donors to renew gifts” (O’Neil, J. 2008).

“Public relations practitioners are often charged with the task of telling the story of their nonprofit organization in a compelling and complete manner” (O’Neil, J. 2008). Parents want to know to whom they are entrusting their children. Look no further than the recent Penn State University scandal involving an older coach and young males.2 Stewards must be educated about the organization so they feel compelled to offer time, energy and money.

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Analysis After identifying publics and before creating an effective public relations campaign, the organization must identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. “A SWOT analysis is useful in supporting all the relationships of the organization, not just those developed with customers” (Wilson & Ogden, 2008). By analyzing internal and external factors that contribute or affect the problem situation, the organization gathers the information needed to complete the SWOT analysis (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom, G., 2006). This is called a situation analysis.

Objectives Once the situation and SWOT analysis are complete, the organization can develop its public relations campaign. Here, we have two objectives: 1. To increase the number of football players by 25 percent 2. To raise $5,000 for new equipment

Strategy

In public relations practice, strategy typically refers to the overall concept, approach or general plan for the program designed to achieve a goal (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom, G., 2006). The strategy dictates the direction the overarching goal of the organization.

According to Botan, strategies can be distinguished as “grand strategies” or “strategies.”

“Grand Strategy is the policy-­‐level decisions an organization makes about goals, alignments, ethics, and relationship with publics and forces in its environment” (Botan,

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2006). PLMF should incorporate a cooperative grand strategy. The strategy relies on two-­‐way communication and allows participants/publics to help shape the organization.

Campaign Objectives are identified. Now, the organization can focus on the actual communication, events and outreach, which can be used to achieve the objectives of the campaign.

These are tactics – the operational level: the actual events, media, and methods used to implement the strategy (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom, G., 2006). Preparing such a plan does not guarantee success; however, it greatly increases the chances that tactics will ultimately help the organization reach it goals (Cutlip, S., Center, H., & Broom, G., 2006).

Creating tactics is the next step.

The organization must put itself in its publics’ shoes to create effective tactics. What does the public want to hear and what messages will resonate with them? Cutlip, Center and Broom offer these tried and true rules to frame messages: 1. Use the media most closely identified with audience’s position 2. Use a communications source that enjoys high credibility for the audience on the topic of communication.

3. Play down the differences between the positions of the communicator and those of the audience.

4. Seek identification in vocabulary and anecdote with the audience in an area removed from the issue.

5. Establish the communicator’s position as being the majority opinion, defining the majority from the audience itself.

6. Bring audience’s group identifications into play when those identifications will help develop a [positive response.

7. Modify the message to fit the organization’s need.

Tactics must be measurable. According to O’Neil, too many public relations tactics are executed with little thought as to how they will correlate with the organizations Burgess

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overarching goals. “Thousands of public relations practitioners spend their days managing and executing routine, albeit essential, public relations activities such as writing, design, and project management…very rarely are the direct contributions measured and evaluated” (O’Neil, J., 2008).

Social Media “Community members using social media tools and features establish multifaceted relationships that are far richer than those in earlier-­‐generation online communities, such as discussion boards and LISTSERVs. These connections engender deep trust” (Kane, G., Fichman, R., Gallaugher, J. & Glaser, J., 2009).

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The Public Relations Campaign: Increasing Participation & Funding for Plain Local Midget Football In January 2012, when I am normally focused on youth basketball and the beginning of youth baseball, I will begin the campaign to increase participation and funding for Plain Local Midget Football (PLMF).

Client Since 1975, Plain Local Midget Football has enabled thousands of children to learn the rudimentary skills of football and cheerleading. PLMF is a youth football/cheerleading league that represents youth who attend the Plain Local Schools system in Canton, Ohio.

Older youth in the league compete against teams from North Canton City and Perry Local school districts.

Opportunity PLMF’s board wants to increase participation by players because the Northeast Ohio Youth Football Conference requires each participating league to have four B League (4th-­‐ 5th grade teams. The board also wants to raise funds to purchase equipment and possibly fix the scoreboard.

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SWOT Analysis Strengths • •

•

PLMF has been around for more than 35 years.

The league has a strong/active board. Members contribute countless hours during the season to manage games and the concession stand.

Plain Local is the second largest school system in Stark County.

Weaknesses • • • • • •

•

Parent complaints about coaches have increased over the last two years.

The organization’s board members volunteer countless hours throughout the season and use the off-­‐season as a time to relax.

PLMF does not have a relations/communications board position The only major fundraiser is a candy bar sale during the season. The sale nets less than $10,000.

The league has little to no money for advertising.

The equipment meets minimum safety standards; however, much of it could be updated to appeal to youth and parents. Football helmets are constantly evolving and some of the newer models are better known for preventing head injuries.

PLMF does not use any social media channels.

Opportunities • • •

•

Under the leadership of head coach Scott Garcia, GlenOak football has more playoff wins than any previous regime.

Over the last ten years, GlenOak football has produced more than 20 Division-­‐I football athletes.

In February, 2010: All-­‐Ohio Associated Press Division I First Team running back, Brionte Dunn will commit to either Ohio State or Michigan. Dunn is arguably the biggest talent to ever play for the Golden Eagles.

Bob Cummings Field, the home of GlenOak football, was built in 2005 and continues to improve.

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Threats • • • •

Disgruntled parents Inadequate funding Current negative coaching issues Competition with other fall sports, e.g., soccer, baseball

Audience Key Publics

• • • • •

Elementary/Middle School-­‐Aged Children Parents of Elementary/Middle School-­‐Aged Children Citizens of Plain Township & Canton City Local Opinion Leaders Local Business Leaders

Internal Stakeholders • • • • •

Board Youth Athletes Parents Coaches High School Coaches

External Stakeholders

• • • •

Northeast Ohio Youth Football Conference Perry Youth Football North Canton Youth Football Canton City and Plain Township Media

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Media Analysis •

Print and Online o Canton Repository (Daily) o Plain Pride newspaper (Monthly) o Canton’s About Magazine (Monthly) o North Neighbor News (Monthly)

•

Radio o WHBC -­‐ 1480 WHBC is Canton’s talk radio station. o WHBC -­‐ 94.1 FM

•

Social Media o E-­‐mails • Eagle Update (Online Newsletter) o Facebook • GlenOak Football -­‐ Official Fan Site • GlenOak High School • GlenOak Football Stadium • Plain Local Fund • Plain Local Baseball & Softball Association • Holly Hills Baseball Little League o Twitter • @sammmyb16, Sam Bourquin, WHBC On-­‐Air Sports Personality • @ToddPorter,Todd Porter, Canton Repository Sport Reporter and WHBC On-­‐Air Sports Personality @ToddPorter • @CantonRepSports, Canton Repository • @1480whbc, 1480 WHBC

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Objectives 1.) To increase player participation in the 2012 PLMF by 25 percent.

2.) To raise $5,000 to purchase new equipment and possibly fix the scoreboard.

Key Media Message “Who’s Next?” – Capitalizing on the recent success of the GlenOak High School football team, I will use notable players and coaches to talk to elementary-­‐age youth in their classrooms and at their sporting events. Coaches and players will talk about the thrill of playing football for GlenOak, the hard work and practice it takes to play at that level, and the opportunities and experience PLMF provided them.

Objective I To increase player participation in the 2012 PLMF by 25 percent.

Strategy Increase awareness about PLMF to students and parents using one-­‐ and two-­‐way communications to trigger action and engagement.

Tactics 1. Distribute flyers to Plain Local elementary, intermediate and middle schools before the end of the school year. (Appendix A)

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2. Schedule “meet and greet” where current players and coaches tour elementary, intermediate and middle schools before the end of the school year. Coaches and players will be given time to talk to youth males during gym classes (we did have one female offensive lineman in PLMF last year, but that is not the norm).

3. Create PLMF Facebook Page and drive traffic to the page. o Notify the PLMF Board and ask them to “like” PLMF page. o Send invites to my friends who live in Stark County. o Hand out “Like Our Facebook Page” flyers to parents registering their children for youth baseball and softball. o Add and tag pictures of last year’s PLMF players and parents.

4. Create media packet with: o Information/History of the league o Feature story pitches about former and current o Feature story pitches about local businesses that support PLMF 5. Secure free placement of the Brionte Dunn ad in Plain Pride (Appendix B)

Objective II To raise $5,000 to purchase new equipment and possibly fix the scoreboard.

Strategy Create events that will appeal to PLMF parents, local businesses and the community.

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Tactics 1. Hold a guest bartending event – July 19 – at the Conestoga Bar and Grill in downtown Canton.

o Secure GlenOak Head Football Coach, Scott Garcia, WHBC personality, Sam Bourquin and Canton Repository sports reporter Todd Porter to volunteer for the event. Market the event to baseball and football parents and to the community. o Create an “Event” on PLMF Facebook page and send invites to friends and urge current people who “like” the PLMF page and PLMF Board members and coaches to post the event to their page. o Post a picture of the flyer on the PLMF Facebook page and my page and encourage others, including the three guest bartenders, to share. o Secure a spot on guest bartender, Sam Bourquin’s, afternoon radio show to talk about the event.

2. Hold a “Kicking It 4 PLMF Kids” Kickball Tournament and Dinner on Saturday, July 28, 2012

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o Secure Holly Hills baseball fields o Secure free dinners from Rafters bar o Create a parent committee that can help sell tickets and field sponsorships and solicits donations. o Market the event to parents of current players, baseball and football, local politicians, especially those running for office in the general election, and local business leaders. o Hand out flyers to players of the Canton Recreation and North Canton Recreation adult kickball leagues. o Create an “Event” on PLMF Facebook page and send invites to friends and urge current people who “like” the PLMF page and PLMF Board members and coaches to post the event to their page. o Post a picture of the flyer on the PLMF Facebook page and my page and encourage others to share. o Post the flyer on local kickball league Facebook page. o Secure a spot on, Sam Bourquin’s, afternoon radio show to talk about the event.

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Evaluation Objective I: To increase player participation in the 2012 PLMF by 25 percent.

Player Participation – At the completion of this campaign, we do not have final numbers; however, PLMF was able to add a fourth B League team. The A League teams increased from 30 to 38 players. Flag football participation numbers cannot be evaluated until the middle of August.

Objective II: To raise $5,000 to purchase new equipment Increase in Funding – Any increase in funding for this organization will be a success. As of July 31, 2012, the Kickball event has raised more than $4,000. I anticipate another $1-­‐2,000 from field sponsor sales. As the committee sold field sponsorships for the kickball tournament, we realized we could put a package together where local businesses and politicians could hang their signs at the PLMF fields, which are separate from the Holly Hills Fields. We can hang these banners for two and a half months instead of just one day. We are still selling these sponsorships. We had participation from more than 70 people for this year’s kickball tournament.

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Social Media Impact As of July 31, 2012, the PLMF Facebook page has 66 likes. I tried to compare this number with North Canton and Perry youth football leagues; however, they do not have Facebook pages. Based on where we are as an organization and how new this page is for PLMF, I feel this significant and creates a baseline for future measurement. It has actually climbed by 20 people over the last week. Our most successful posts were those that included flyers for our event. I feel our likes increased because of the kickball event photos taken and posted. I am currently taking pictures of all the participating youth at practice and posting those to the page. Twitter has not been explored at this time because PLMF would have to make a true commitment to this channel and I do not feel the league is there yet. I am also not sure it would make an impact like Facebook. When I informally sampled PLMF parents, most were on Facebook – very few used Twitter.

We will continue to promote the site and expect a 100-­‐200 percent increase by the middle of the season because we will be posting scores and game photos.

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Conclusion After four years in the Kent State University Public Relations graduate program, I am thrilled to complete this project. Since I started the program in 2008, I juggled classes while working full-­‐time, being a husband and father, tending to my father who passed away in late-­‐2011 from cancer, graduating from Leadership Stark County and coaching baseball and football. Like my father, I find certain spirituality in coaching youth. This is one of the reasons this campaign/project became so special to me. My coaching contributions have come to an end, as my son is too old for me to coach. This project gives me reason to stay involved with youth sports.

PLMF Board Secretary and Parent Representative, Michelle Stahleker, was pleased with the outcomes. “We never considered reaching out to the community, she said. “Now I feel like we have people and institutions that care about the league and want to help.”

Coach Scott Garcia appreciated the increase in players. “PLMF is our pipeline. We are competing and winning now. Imagine if we can build this league to where we want it.”

My committee has already begun planning a guest bartender tailgate event for one of GlenOak’s home games. We are meeting soon to discuss “Kicking It 4 PLMF Kids 2013.”

Every one of the participants from this year’s kickball event said they would return next year.

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I want to thank all of my professors, especially Professor Bill Sledzik, from whom I realized I better work on my writing craft. Thank you to my wife, Terre, and kids, Maddie and Aydan, for putting up with my absence. Thank you to PLMF for giving me the keys to the car – of course there was no gas in it. Thank you to PLMF Board member Michelle Stahleker making sure not one detail was forgotten. Thank you to my mom and finally, my dad for making sure I was a sports nut, a hard worker, a great husband, father and coach.

End Notes 1 2

www.ode.state.oh.us/gd/gd.aspx?page=2&TopicRelationID=3

www.huffingtonpost.com/news/penn-­‐state-­‐scandal/

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Appendix (A)

8.5 x 11 flier passed out to all students grades 1-­‐7

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4 Column Ad for Plain Pride

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References Botan, C. and Hazelton, V., (2006). Public Relations Theory 2: Public Relations Theory Two, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Brown, Curt. (2011). Participation in youth sports on the decline Retrieved from http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110522/NEWS/105220 327

Cobb, R & Albanese, J.D. (2005). Doing Sports Right Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=19&hid=108&sid=ea902b6 1-­‐0f1d-­‐4d30-­‐9e68-­‐d852e0161b1a%40sessionmgr113

Cutlip, S., Center, A., & Broom, M. (2006) Effective Public Relations Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

Daniels, A.M. (2007). Cooperation versus competition: Is there really such an issue?

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Ferkins, L. & Shilbury, D. (2011). Good Boards are Strategic: What Does that Mean for Sport Governance? Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1567754f-­‐702e-­‐4da9-­‐96a9-­‐ 42c10638e2be%40sessionmgr4&vid=5&hid=17

Grunig, J. (1990) Theory and Practice of Interactive Media Relations. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1567754f-­‐702e-­‐4da9-­‐96a9-­‐ 42c10638e2be%40sessionmgr4&vid=6&hid=17

Grunig, J. & Grunig L. (2000). Public Relations in Strategic Management and Strategic Management of Public Relations: theory and evidence from the IABC Excellence project.

Grunig, L. A., Grunig, J. E., & Dozier, D. M. (2002). Excellent public relations and effective organizations: A study of communication management in three countries. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Kane, G., Fichman, R., Gallaugher, J. & Glaser, J. (2009) Community Relations 2.0. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=12&sid=301004cc-­‐edb6-­‐41f9-­‐a0eb-­‐ 41dda6575723%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh &AN=44751765

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