Around NEPSAC

TREASURER’S REPORT Online Payments and Bank Transfers

by Jim Smucker, Berwick Academy, NEPSAC Treasurer

THANK YOU for your efforts and patience during this challenging year. I am hopeful that with transparency and communication we will continue to improve the payment process for NEPSAC, and support our sport treasurers and member school’s athletic directors.

Reminders

For sports that collected Coaches Association dues for the 2020–2021 school year and did not have a season, these dues will be applied to the 2021–2022 season.

Dues collected for 2020–2021: » For the fall, XC/Track and Football collected dues. » For the winter and spring, all sports collected dues. » Online payments can be made here: https://nepsac.cr3. rschooltoday.com/public/home

Online Payment Account

For efficiency and to help with our record keeping, we ask that you only create one online account per school.

Coaches’ Associations Banking Transfers

Now Completed: Football, Girls Soccer, Volleyball, Boys Ice Hockey, Girls Ice Hockey, Alpine Skiing, Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball and XC/Track.

If you have any questions or need any assistance please reach out to Jim Smucker.

To Be Completed: Field Hockey, Boys Soccer, Wrestling, Swimming/Diving, and Boys Tennis. NEPSAC anticipates moving forward with transferring these accounts to TD Bank during the 2021–2022 season so that these Associations can comply with NEPSAC’s 501(c)(3) status and making transfer of money easier for all involved.

Jim Smucker will be in touch with those Treasurers and President to begin the process.

COMMUNICATIONS NOTE The NEPSAC AD email list is updated throughout the year. Please remember to check for the most recent version before sending an email blast. You will find it in the Athletic Directors section of the NEPSAC website.

NEPSAC Calendar

Note: All meetings are subject to change based on COVID-19 regulations and may be held via Zoom.

APRIL

1 | Middle Schools Fay School (10:00 a.m.) 15 | Remote Business Meeting (10:00 a.m.) 20 | District III TBD (11:00 a.m.) 29 | District II TBD (9:00 a.m.)

MAY

4 | Executive Board at TBD (8:00 a.m.) 18 | District I Hebron Academy (10:00 a.m.)

2020 NEPSAC Buyers Guide

We are proud to present the first-ever NEPSAC Buyers Guide featuring vendors that support NEPSAC and typically attend our Annual Meeting each year. We hope you will consider using the vendors that supported this effort when making your purchases throughout the year. Thank you!

From the Archives The Frederick Gunn School

In 2020 The Gunnery changed its name. You can read about it on their website; meanwhile here is a little bit about their founder and namesake, Frederick Gunn.

Frederick Gunn was an early proponent of athletics and physical exercise as an essential component of a successful educational curriculum and character development. Every Gunnery scholar had to belong to a baseball “nine,” as the teams were called. Students played an early form of hockey, called “shinney,” and a form of football that more closely resembled rugby. Mr. Gunn particularly enjoyed baseball and Clarence Deming, Class of 1866, who went on to become a sportswriter of some note, reflected on his athletic ability in “The Master of The Gunnery,” writing: “He played thrower and catcher with equal facility, and he was famous for the unerring precision with which at long distances he hit the base-runner.”

Gunn Scholar Mark Rhoads ’04 brought to light how important baseball was to The Gunnery through his research on the first photograph of a baseball game in progress, now held in the Paula and George Krimsky ’60 Archives and Special Collections. Mr. Gunn appears in the photograph (right), which was taken on August 4, 1869, during the first Gunnery alumni reunion and was featured as the frontispiece of Ken Burns’ book on baseball.

The first team of nine was established even earlier, in the 1850s. They played on the village green.

Also playing for Gunnery in that “grand” match in 1869: John Brinsmade, an alumnus who was at that time in college but would later marry Fred and Abigail’s daughter, and become the school’s second headmaster. Writing in the Stray Shot in June 1908, Brinsmade said: “Baseball, the national game, was played here as early as in any place, outside of a few large cities … The Gunnery was playing the national game with out-of-town clubs before Yale and Harvard had begun their matches.” The Gunnery was among the first of the Yankee villages to adopt the “New York” game governed by the Knickerbocker rules due to the school’s connection with the Van Cott family. Judge William H. Van Cott was President of the National Association of Baseball Players and played professionally for the New York Mutuals from Mount Vernon. His three boys, Daniel, William Jr. and Leonard, were students at The Gunnery in the late 1850s. All three played baseball and Daniel started as a shortstop in the first alumni weekend game versus New Milford, depicted in the 1869 photograph (top).

The first known photograph of a baseball game in progress

Future headmaster William Hamilton Gibson, bottom right, played baseball for Gunnery in 1899. Baseball team, 1871

NEPSAC Announces Partnerships with Two Sports Organizations

The New England Preparatory School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) is proud to announce a partnership with TrueSport®, a youth sports values-based program powered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the country’s most trusted guardian of sport dedicated to preserving the integrity of competition at every level. The TrueSport mission is simple and bold: to change the culture of youth sport by providing powerful educational tools to equip young athletes with the resources to build life skills and core values for success – both on and off the field. With a vision that sport can enrich the lives of our young people, TrueSport partners with organizations across the country that are driven to change sports culture for the better. Founded on the three cornerstones of sportsmanship, character building and life skills, and clean and healthy performance in sport, the TrueSport mission closely aligns with NEPSAC’s basic principle that the lessons learned from fairly played athletics, whether interscholastic or not, and including games and practices, are of benefit to our students and our schools.

Through this partnership, NEPSAC will share TrueSport’s content and resources throughout the membership building upon TrueSport’s passion for inspiring the next generation to be great leaders and good sports, by learning valuable life lessons on and off the field.

“Partnering with TrueSport is extremely exciting for NEPSAC. Their ability to provide our membership with valuable program and professional development on a regular and on-going basis in support of NEPSAC’s fundamental values of sportsmanship and cooperative goodwill is something that I know will serve our membership incredibly well,” said George Tahan, NEPSAC President. “I know I speak for everyone at NEPSAC when I say, we can’t wait to get started!”

The TrueSport content program allows partners to expand their educational offerings to their membership on topics that are most relevant to them. “We work diligently to create informative content, backed by expert research, to address the issues that face youth sport today,” said Dr. Jennifer B. Royer, Senior Director of TrueSport and Awareness. “With lessons, coaching education, articles, and videos, we want to ensure that members of the sport community are able to foster positive youth sport experiences that empower their young athletes to make good choices on and off the field. We look forward to supporting NEPSAC and their member schools.” The New England Preparatory School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) is excited to announce a new partnership with the Bay State Games. NEPSAC and Bay State Games both hope this partnership will help share athletic and educational opportunities to every high school student-athlete in Massachusetts.

“We at NEPSAC are thrilled to be able to partner with the Bay State Games and help afford NEPSAC student-athletes with additional opportunities to participate in a number of sports and event offerings,” said George Tahan, NEPSAC President. “NEPSAC’s principle purpose aligns seamlessly with the Bay State Games mission of ‘promoting personal development, education, physical fitness, teamwork, and sportsmanship’ and we at NEPSAC look forward to long and rewarding relationship.” Offering opportunities to compete in Bay State Summer and Winter Games events, Future Leaders Scholarship Program, High School Ambassador Program, and Sportsmanship Program as well as coaching opportunities for high school coaches is the goal of this partnership.

“Ensuring that all high school student-athletes in Massachusetts are aware of and have access to all Bay State Games programs is an important goal of our organization,” said Executive Director, Kevin Cummings. “The collaboration with the NEPSAC will help us achieve this goal and highlight the outstanding athletes, coaches, and administrators from both organizations.”

Got news to share with other NEPSAC schools? Are congratulations in order for a student, coach or team?

Send the details to communications@nepsac.org and we’ll put it in the next issue.

In this winter of physical distancing, many NEPSAC schools returned to their hockey roots. Some built temporary outdoor rinks on green spaces and tennis courts; others took advantage of nearby ponds and lakes.

This page, clockwise from top right: Belmont Hill School, Fenn School, Fay School

Clockwise from top left: Eaglebrook School, Deerfield Academy, Cardigan Mountain School, Berkshire School

A private social platform designed for schools

Engaging students and families is a challenge at the best of times. When everyone is remote, the effort and creativity required are that much greater.

What if your students and families can contribute to capturing their experiences — whether it's Athletics, Drama, Makers Club or Home Schooling?

That's where Vidigami comes in.

Give your school the easiest way to capture student learning visually. Engage your community with a personalized experience for every teacher, student and family, year after year.

BOOK A DEMO

Exclusive Offer for NEPSAC Schools

Book a demo before September 1st and enter in a draw to win a drone for your school!

Email info@vidigami.com

More info about.vidigami.com

Phone +1 (604) 559-9755