Sacred Heart Schools
FROM THE HEAD &
INSIDE:
the Heart
Nat Wilburn, Head of Schools
Athletics program booming at SHS
Nat Wilburn
Head of Schools
FROM THE HEAD
and the Heart
SPRING 2011
‘Winning within the Five Goals…’
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SHS Athletics Sports provide an outstanding opportunity for students to improve their health and wellbeing and in turn enhance their ability to learn and lead more productive lives.
am very proud of the athletic program at Sacred Heart Schools. Student athletes here have the opportunity to learn and practice the skills required of a variety of sports, learn about the rules and regulations that govern sports, play as part of a team, learn the value of sportsmanlike competition and have fun. Ask our students, and you will hear them say that while winning is important, we at Sacred Heart only win when we “play” within the values of the Goals and Criteria. Athletics are important in an elementary school for many reasons. The Illinois State Educational Standards for physical development state, “Physical activity is a catalyst to problem solving. Students learn to recognize individual strengths, resolve differences and use teamwork as a necessary tool for working with others. Teamwork is also integral to many sports. Sports in turn teach the elements of teamwork in other fields. One overall goal of physical development is to give students the knowledge and skills necessary for working on teams to achieve specific objectives or a common goal.” Sports provide an outstanding opportunity for students to improve their health and well-being and in turn enhance their ability to learn and lead more productive lives. At Sacred Heart, our sports program provides yet another laboratory to learn to live the Goals. School teams have garnered championships for Hardey and the Academy, and yet nothing identifies our student athletes or our athletic program more than our mission that is lived with each game that is played. Congratulations to our students, coaches and athletic director for furthering the mission of Sacred Heart education through Sacred Heart sports.
Nat Wilburn, Head of Schools
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Focus on coaching with Ademola Popoola
SHS Tech specialist coaches for the ‘aha’ moment Q&A with Ademola Popoola, long time SHS coach and the Schools’ Technology Integration Specialist. His Academy 8 volleyball team won the Northwest Catholic Volleyball League and the Queen of Angels League Championships last fall. He was assisted by Dylan Barnes, pictured above right. How long have you been coaching at SHS? I started coaching Academy volleyball in 2003 and also coached Hardey basketball for two years. I have coached Hardey volleyball since its inception five years ago. Have you done any other coaching? I was co-coach of my college club volleyball team and have coached recreational volleyball here in Chicago. Did you play sports in school? I played volleyball in high school, where we won the New York City Public Schools Athletics League Championship. I thought I could play football, but realized my legs were too skinny... I played and coached club volleyball at Brandeis University, competing against schools in the Boston area. What do you enjoy most about coaching? This might sound cheesy, but I truly enjoy experiencing the process that helps a player “get it.” I love to see a player try, try, and try again. Then, all of a sudden, it clicks; and they can perform that seemingly impossible feat at will. I’ve witnessed this several times and it just about always brings tears to my eyes. It’s almost better than winning. Almost... To the recreational player, volleyball is just about waiting for the ball to come to you and getting it over the net. There is a LOT more in competitive volleyball. So, helping the players understand the strategy behind the game
is tremendous fun. We typically start off playing “playground ball.” By the end of season, we’re playing volleyball. What do you find the biggest challenge in coaching? PATIENCE... Coaching youth athletics is tough. We try to teach the kids so many things that they don’t see as critical. Sportsmanship is first and foremost. Never quitting is a close second. Lastly, the skills needed to play competitively. Helping the players understand that you have to build a fundamental skill-set before moving to more advanced tasks is always a challenge. Most of the time, the players would rather forge ahead. We have to help them realize ‘We start they can’t perform advanced skills until off playing they’ve ingrained the basics.
playground-
To what do you attribute the success of ball. by the the Academy 8 volleyball team? end of seaIt must be their ability to tolerate me and my occasional insanity. This is where son, we’re having an assistant coach comes in handy! playing Seriously, the girls practiced and played volleyball’ very hard. They were very coachable and eager to learn. They greatly exemplified what it means to never quit. A perfect example was in the league championship match against an excellent team that suffered only one loss during the regular season. In the first game, we lost by two points after being ahead by six. Any other team might have seen this as a hopeless situation. However, our team came back to win the next two games in decisive fashion to win the championship. I believe they had confidence in their abilities and each other. Without this level of trust in their teammates, they would not have persevered as they did.
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Sports program booming
‘Fund a Need’ brings in $190K to renovate Campbe
W Annual ‘Love Match’
This 16-year-old Sacred Heart Valentine Day tradition pits the 8th grade girls against the 8th grade boys in furiously fought basketball and volleyball games. In front of a raucous partisan crowd of students and faculty, this year the boys came out the victors in both, although the volleyball game was a squeaker.
hen the final paddle was waved at Banner year for SHS sports L’Esprit de Sacré Coeur on Febru- So far this year, the Schools have already ary 12, an amazing $190,000 had fielded 35 teams under the supervision of been raised to help renovate the SHS gym- 71 coaches. Last year, with spring sports nasium. The “Fund-a-Need” feature of the added, there were a total of 43 different Live Auction, chaired by parents Ginny team with 90 coaches! Hiteshew and Mary Oelerich, asked for 2010-11 has been a banner year for contributions ranging from $5,000 down these SHS teams. In addition to the to $100. More than 184 guests signed on Academy 8 volleyball team which won to assist in this $300,000 project! The nearly 50-year old gym will ‘The parent support of the athletic progra be transformed with a new ceiling and full court retractable backboards and their children makes my job easier.’ (see below). A new, much needed Ron Schwartz, Athletic Dire sound system and state of the art lighting will also be installed. With the the league championship (see page 3), the 8,000 sq. feet of engineered maple floor Academy 7 team under parent coach Vicki put in last summer, the gym will be sportGinn also won First Place in its league ing a spiffy new look! (below). The Hardey 7 basketball team is currently undefeated in league play (see It’s not just a basketball court article at right) and the Hardey 4 has a firm The SHS Campbell Building gym, since hold on 2nd place. Our 145 Cross Counits opening in 1965, has worn many hats. try athletes in grades 3-8 brought home It serves as an all-community gathering an array of First Place medals and meet spot for liturgies, concerts, musicals and victories. events. It bursts at the seams for the city’s best Halloween Parade, it is filled with the savory smells of International Night cuisine and resounds with laughter and good cheer for L’Esprit du Vin. But at heart, it’s a gym. Today, 195 students on 19 basketball teams practice and compete there. In the fall, 95 girls on 10 volleyball teams practiced and competed there. Every day, as many as 15 physical ed classes are held on its double courts.
Ron Schwartz at the helm
All this happens under the watchful eye of Athletic Director Ron Schwartz. In his second full year at SHS, Schwartz has helped to grow the program and at the same time ease its growing pains. An experienced high school athletic director, most recently at Gordon Tech High School, Schwartz has found a great difference at SHS.
Architectural rendering shows new retractable, adjustable backboard and new ceiling.
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g at S HS
Hardey 7 team undefeated in league play at 18-0
ell gymnasium
“It’s the people,” he explains. “It is so nice to come to work with administration, faculty and staff that smile and are so nice and helpful.” He is also impressed with the involvement of the parents. “The parent support of the athletic program and their children makes my job easier,” he says. And of the coaches, he is emphatic, “The quality and dedication of our coaches is better that at most am high schools.” With all this going for it, the SHS sports program is ector still sizable in number of teams fielded and number of kids served. “A normal high school fields six basketball teams; at Sacred Heart we have 19 teams. In high school a normal cross country team has 40 -50 - runners; at Sacred Heart we have 140 runners,” notes Schwartz. While this volume and coordination are challenging, Schwartz is quick to credit the help he receives. “The Head of Schools, Head of Student Life and Division Heads are fantastic and very supportive of athletics.” Schwartz is thrilled with the huge amount of money raised for gym renovation. Among the many improvements it will make possible, he cites the new backboards as especially important. “They will enable our students to play, practice and develop their skills on a much larger basketball court.”
SHS parent Vicki Ginn and her championship Academy 7 team.
Teacher brings pro basketball creds to coaching
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ndefeated in league. Currently 18-0 in conference play. Who are these guys? The Hardey 7 Red Basketball team! Coached by 5th grade teacher Jack Lothian and assistant Jim Felton, the team is not only unbeaten in league play, but also won five straight games to take the Our Lady of Perpetual Help All Star Basketball Tournament on January 21. Their only loss came in a hard-fought contest in the St. Patrick High School Tournament. They are 25-1 going into the playoffs! No stranger to the game of hoops, Coach Lothian came to SHS five years ago via a seven-year stint playing professional basketball in Europe and South America. He played in France (Le Mans, Strasbourg), Hungary (Pecs), Portugal (Lisbon), Lithuania (Vilnius) and Uruguay (Montevideo). This followed a stellar four years playing for University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point as their “man in the middle” seven-foot center and as a high school player in his native Williams Bay, Wisconsin. Lothian imparts his love of the game to his players. “As I tell the kids at the beginning of the season, we play basketball because we enjoy the game. This Hardey team knows how to have fun, but they also know when to be serious and work hard.” His coaching strategy revolves around three things: play hard, play smart and play together. “Every player on this team is talented, but to go undefeated takes more than just talent,” notes Lothian. “The offenses and
defenses we run attempt to put players in position to best use that talent.” But he feels the most important attribute is his team’s unrelenting desire to be the best they can be. “I have had the opportunity to coach over 30 teams, and there has never been a group of young men that played this hard in every practice and game,” he says. As I tell the The most challenging aspect kids at the of coaching, acbeginning cording to Lothian, of the is playing time. “I wish we could season, put seven or eight we play players on the floor at once. I just try basketball to make the best because we decision at the enjoy the time and hope that at the end game. every player plays the time he has earned throughout the season.” On the other hand, he finds the most enjoyable thing about coaching is teaching the game. “Not just the skills, but the reasons behind the fundamentals,” explains Lothian. “Most players have a hard time buying into a system or working on the fundamentals if they don’t understand why we do things a certain way.” In addition to boys basketball, Lothian has coached Academy basketball, soccer, cross country and track and field.
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Athletic Advisory Committee assists with SHS sports program
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he Parent Athletic Advisory Committee (PAAC) was formed seven years ago to assist the Athletic Director with “policy development, program improvement and management of the Sacred Heart Schools Athletic program.” That’s a mouthful, but PAAC Chair, parent John Lawrence, sees it in simpler terms. “We serve as a resource and forum for the athletic director and administration to bounce off ideas from a parent’s perspective,” he explains. “We also act as a liaison to the parent body with respect to athletics.” The growth of the Schools has created a few challenges for the athletic program. For example, there is a high level of participation in a number of sports, most notably basketball. The committee has worked closely with the administration to encourage more teams per grade at the lower grade levels to maximize playing opportunities for all children involved. “These growing numbers have also ‘The PAAC impacted playing time policies,” Lawrence has helped noted. “The committee worked closely with the administration to revise the Ath- SHS transition letic Handbook to better align the policies from being with the growth in the program, such as an excellent team makeup, size and playing time.”
Winning within the Five Goals
school with an athletic program to being an excellent school with an excellent athletic program.’
A key element to that revised handbook is the slogan: “Sacred Heart Athletics: Winning within the Five Goals.” To Lawrence, this is key. “It embodies what Sacred Heart sports should be all about.” Susie Braman, a PAAC committee member, concurs. “Our goal is to help provide athletic opportunities for the students that allow them to be competitive and successful while adhering to the five goals.” She also feels strongly that students of all athletic abilities have a chance to participate in the programs.
The PAAC contribution “Each and every parent that has served on the PAAC has been committed to finding ways to strengthen the program, without compromising the five goals,” Braman explains. “The strength of the program is in the number of participants, and the life lessons that they are learning on the playing fields and courts each week.” The PAAC has assisted over the years with finding coaches, planning the year-end Sports Banquet and helping with the complexities around providing practice time to a growing number of teams. A major contribution has been their advocating membership in the Positive Coaching Alliance.
“I believe this Alliance has been a good resource to the school, administration and par- The Athletic Advisory Committee at a recent ent and student meeting in the school library. Back from l: bodies,” said John Lawrence, Chair, Chris Butler, Rob Lawrence. Rugai, Ron Schwartz, AD, Scott Kaniewski The unprec- Front from l: Christine Elliott, Sally Sharp, Molly Shutt, Karen Leone. Not pictured: edented growth Susie Braman, Aric Cleland, Dan Tiemann. and success of SHS athletics can be credited to many factors, according to Lawrence. “Over the past five to six years, SHS has transformed into a relatively dominant athletic presence, in large part due to the growth in student numbers, but also much credit should be given to the administration and Board, who recognized that an athletic director position was critical. Also, their support in hiring the number of coaches necessary to accommodate reasonably sized teams provides our kids with a tremendous opportunity to have a high quality athletic experience. Smaller teams at the lower grade levels have been a key driver in the success of the athletic program.” Committee member Karen Leone notes that this tremendous growth in the program requires a significant commitment to policy development and organization. She points out that there is still is much work to be done, as every year presents new challenges, many of which require that policies and procedures be reevaluated and refined. But, bottom line, she asserts, “I think the PAAC has helped facilitate Sacred Heart’s transition from being an excellent school with an athletic program to being an excellent school with an excellent athletic FROM THE HEAD & the Heart program.” Nat Wilburn, Head of Schools
Call out to parents The parent community is encouraged to reach out to a PAAC representative with any questions or concerns about the athletic program. “We want to hear from parents on ideas and suggestions on how to continuously improve SHS athletics,” said Lawrence.
This publication is emailed and posted online, saving trees and following Goal 3, Criteria 5: The school teaches respect for creation and prepares students to be stewards of the earth’s resources. Editor:
Diane Fallon
6250 N. Sheridan Rd, Chicago, IL www.shschicago.org
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