Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association serves 365 schools

By Allison Hickey

Massachusetts, home of the American Revolution and numerous famous scholars including Henry David Thoreau, is filled with history.

Embracing that longtime historical perspective and active involvement with secondary education, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) works hard to provide high school students well-rounded educations and participation opportunities that will help prepare them for the future.

Prior to 1977, the principals association administered the state's high school activities programs, but the increasing demands of interscholastic athletics proved to be too great for the association to handle.

In order to better serve the needs of interscholastic athletics across the state's 365 public and private high schools, the MIAA was formed in 1977, along with the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators Association (MSSAA).

Since 1979, both associations have worked together under the direction of Executive Director Dick Neal.

Administrative Staff

Under Neal's guidance, the MIAA has grown in size and scope since its inception in 1977. At that time, there were only five full- and part-time staff members. Currently, there are 18 staff members, including seven administrators.

Neal, who was an instructor, athletic director, guidance counselor and acting assistant principal and acting principal during his 11 years at Everett (Massachusetts) High School, joined the MIAA in 1977, and was named associate executive director of the MIAA and the MSSAA in 1978. The following year, he was named executive director, the position he has held the past 28 years.

Among his accomplishments, Neal increased the association's membership, and he developed a plan that placed all interscholastic athletic tournaments under the direct management of the association. In an effort to better serve the membership, Neal oversaw the relocation of the MIAA offices three times, the most recent one being from Ashland to Franklin in 2000. This move was ideal because it is roughly the population center of the state. Under Neal's vision, a $2.6 million office was built there for the ever-expanding MIAA and MSSAA.

In addition, Neal increased the staff size and the association's budget. At the national level, Neal served on the NFHS Board of Directors from 1989 to 1992.

Bill Gaine, who joined the MIAA in 1979, currently is the association's deputy director. Since joining MIAA, he has administered student eligibility, has been liaison to both the MIAA Sports Medicine Committee and the Sportsmanship Committee. Proficient at conducting local and statewide workshops, Gaine is equally adept at the national level, where he served as chairman of both the NFHS TARGET Committee and the NFHS Citizenship Committee, and served on the NFHS Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Committee; the NFHS Coaches Education Task Force; and on the NFHS Ice Hockey Rules Committee.

Virginia Anderson, who has been in secondary education in Massachusetts since 1976, joined the MIAA as associate executive director in 1994. Among her current responsibilities at the MIAA, Anderson administers the sports of basketball and volleyball, and formerly oversaw softball and the MIAA's Girls and Women in Sports activities. She received an NIAAA Distinguished Service Award in 2002 and was inducted into the New Agenda: Northeast Women's Hall of Fame in 1998.

Sherry Bryant, who is an assistant director of the MIAA, joined the organization in 1991 as assistant comptroller and was promoted into her current position three years later. Among her responsibilities, Bryant is the financial comptroller, administers media relations, and is the Girls and Women in Sports liaison. A member of the tournament management committee, Bryant is the MIAA sports liaison for field hockey, and is a member of the NFHS Field Hockey Rules Committee. She formerly administered the sports of gymnastics, skiing and tennis, currently administers softball and is transitioning to basketball.

An educator, coach and athletic administrator for 40 years, Dick Baker joined the MIAA in 2004 as an assistant director. In that capacity, Baker administers the sports of cross country, lacrosse, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field, and oversees eligibility. Baker has been secretary/treasurer of the Cape Ann League since 1970, has been secretary/treasurer of the Northeastern Conference since 1993, and has served on the Massachusetts Secondary School Athletic Directors Association since 1997.

Bill McGuirk, who earned his bachelor's degree in 1968 at Boston College and his master's degree seven years later at Northeastern (Massachusetts) College, started his career as a mathematics instructor and basketball coach at Belmont (Massachusetts) High School. He moved to Maryland for a year before returning for a nine-year stint at Belmont. He then became an assistant principal and subsequently a principal at three different high schools.

In 2003, McGuirk joined the MIAA, where he is responsible for administration of the sports of soccer, wrestling and tennis, and is the liaison to the Game Officials Committee. A former soccer official and baseball umpire, McGuirk is a member of IAABO Board #95.

Brian Halloran earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees at Westfield (Massachusetts) College. He began his career in education as a sixth-grade teacher in Chicopee, Massachusetts, in 1958. After teaching stints in Japan and Morocco, he returned to the United States to teach before going on to become a principal at a Westfield middle school. Since 1974 he has been a superintendent of schools in both Westfield and Wilbraham, Massachusetts.

Halloran joined the MIAA staff in 2006 and is responsible the administration for coaches education, golf and tennis, with a shared responsibility in both basketball and soccer. As a retired superintendent, he served at the past president of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and currently serves on its executive committee.

Governance

The MIAA serves more than 200,000 students in 33 sports and approximately 100,000 annual competitions. With almost two-thirds of the Massachusetts high school student population (65 percent) participating in MIAA interscholastic athletic programs, the Association works year-round to make sure it is doing the best possible job to provide the educational values interscholastic activities have to offer.

Mission

The mission of the MIAA is to supplement and enrich each student's educational experience through leadership and support. The MIAA promotes interschool athletics that provide students with lifelong and life-quality learning experiences. By attracting as many participants as possible, the MIAA hopes to teach the students the values associated with teamwork, discipline and performance under stress.

"We have many meetings where the unique mission of educational athletics is presented," Neal said. "We are committed to finding resources that will benefit the 200,000 students who participate in high school athletics and activities."

The MIAA works hard to get students involved within their respective high schools, and its Student Services Program was formed to help accomplish that objective. The association provides its "Five Pillars of Achievement" program to help emphasize the qualities it wants to promote through athletics and activities. The five pillars are Sportsmanship, Community Service, Student Leadership, Wellness and Coaches Education. Each of these pillars provides different ideas and programs aimed at students and staff.

For example, the MIAA conducts a sportsmanship essay competition each year, and also conducts the Student Ambassador Program, which is a unique way to reward responsible students who are active in interscholastic sports or other activities. The latter program lets each school choose one senior and one junior who are committed to each of the five pillars to act as liaisons among their school, peers, administration and the MIAA. They receive a newsletter via e-mail, "The MIAA Ambassador Alert," every couple of weeks, which provides them with many opportunities to provide feedback to the MIAA, and also gives them community service ideas and other ideas that may improve their schools' participation in events that promote the five pillars. In addition, the program gives the ambassadors the option to participate on student panels during MIAA events.

According to Peter Smith of MIAA Student Services, six student ambassadors attended the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) National Student Leadership Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, in July, and they are going to help the MIAA create the Student Ambassador Web page.

"Our Student Ambassador Program is a relatively new initiative, and we are convinced it will be an exciting experience," Neal said. "We are equally convinced it will provide us with clear thinking into what will make us serve students better, as the ambassadors provide us with information and feedback."

Championship Competition

The MIAA hosts many state championships every year for girls and boys. Among the MIAA-sponsored championships for boys are baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, indoor track, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, swimming, tennis, outdoor track, volleyball and wrestling.

On the girls side are state title opportunities in the sports of basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, indoor track, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, outdoor track and volleyball.

Within each sport, multiple state championship tournaments are held because of the various enrollment classifications. For example, there are 28 regional championships and eight state championships in basketball alone.

Issues

One of the current issues confronting the MIAA is the rapid retirement rate among the state's high school principals and athletic directors. These unprecedented numbers of retiring administrators have created some new problems for the MIAA, as many of the succeeding employees are relatively unfamiliar with the Association and the Mission of Educational Athletics.

In order to better prepare new staff members, the MIAA conducts workshops to help familiarize them with the Association's policies.

"We are working to respond to this by reaching out to the new principals and athletic directors to acquaint them with the MIAA and its mission," Neal said. "This will only benefit our association and high school activities in the future."

Hickey was a summer intern in the areas of publications, marketing and coaches education. She graduated from Indiana University in May with a degree in journalism and a second concentration in apparel merchandising.