Excelling Still More / Athletics 2.0
By Head of School Michael Dewey
If you have been following this newsletter for some time, then you are already aware of our school’s commitment to continuous improvement. Last year’s accreditation visit from MSA was the culmination of several years of planning, where through an extensive process of review we identified our school’s strengths, as well as areas needing improvement. Teachers and staff have been meeting throughout the year working on these areas and implementing improvement plans approved by the accreditation team that visited our school last spring. We have also been working on improving school-wide communications, our writing and literature curriculum, PSAT test scores, and homework policies—all of which we have discussed in previous editions of the Eagle’s View. For us, it is a biblical mandate that we look for ways to “excel still more” as a school. Of course, as a school, academics will always get the lion’s share of this attention. However, we are not just an educational institution—we are a fully-orbed high school program offering a wide range of student experiences. With this in mind, we have turned our attention to how we can improve our athletic program, take it to the next level, and ensure that it’s fully aligned with our overall school mission.
The Athletic Department sent out a parent survey after the winter sports season, specifically asking for feedback and suggestions on how to improve our athletic program. The feedback received showed that our parent community wants to see the same commitment to faith and excellence in athletics that they see in academics. In other words, as a Christian school our families want to see Christian values reflected in all aspects of our program. Overwhelmingly, parents want to see our coaches not only building athletic skill in student-athletes but pouring spiritually into them. Winning is nice, but it should never come at the expense of our commitment to Christian faith, integrity, and character. While it is never easy to hear feedback that we are falling short in this area, it warms my heart that our parent community wants us to prioritize our faith-based mission over athletic excellence. Having said that, I believe that we can have both.
As Christians, we are called to do everything as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23), striving for excellence “in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness,” and in love (2 Corinthians 8:7). This is why we not only strive for excellence in our integration of the biblical worldview into every subject we teach, but we also strive for academic excellence itself—to provide an educational experience where students can be the best they can be according to the gifts God has given them. The same holds true for athletics. Not only will we strive to more overtly bring our faith onto the field, court, mat, course, and even into the pool, but we will also strive for athletic excellence—helping each student athlete grow in skill and competing to the best of our ability.
Athletics 2.0
Given this desire to excel still more in our athletic program, and particularly in light of the feedback received from parents, Evergreen’s leadership team has been working on a plan to bring our athletic program into alignment with our school’s overall mission. We have referred to this Mission Alignment Plan colloquially as Athletics 2.0—the new and improved version of what our program has been in the first stage of our school’s history. In the sovereignty of God, as we look to enter next year as fully approved members of VISAA and begin competing in statewide tournaments, we do so with a renewed commitment to our fundamental mission as a Christian school—partnering with Christian families to provide an academically rigorous high school education, fully committed to the application of God’s Word to all aspects of teaching, learning, and living with the goal of preparing leaders who will impact the world for Christ. As I have stated in previous issues of the Eagle’s View, we can do better, and we will do better.
To do this, we have adopted the following Athletic Department mission statement, along with five program priorities:
Mission Statement: The Evergreen Christian School Athletic Department seeks to support the school’s mission while promoting academic success, achieving athletic excellence, maintaining the highest standards of conduct, and leading every coach and athlete into a growing relationship with Christ.
Priority 1: Serving Northern Virginia Christian Families. Just as our school mission statement begins with “Evergreen Christian School partners with Christian families,” we will prioritize enrolling local students from Christian families. Because of the intensive nature of our curriculum and its focus on Christian leadership development, students are recruited to our program first, athletics second. Non-ECS students will no longer participate in practices and showcase events—these are reserved for ECS students. We will no longer be recruiting international students. This does not mean we will never have international students, simply that internationals will be the rare exception, not the rule. Additionally, serving our parents means maintaining the highest levels of communication and limiting last minute changes to practice and game schedules.
Priority 2: Facilitating Academic Success. Just as our school mission statement goes on to say that we “provide an academically rigorous high school education,” our athletic program must work to support student success in the classroom. At ECS, the student in student-athlete takes priority. This means implementing the number of games and practices per season and per week. For example, we will schedule no more than two games a week on school days. We will also not schedule games on blue Mondays to allow students to prepare for their Blue Tuesday classes. We will also be implementing the total number of early releases and release times in a season. For example, no more than five total in a season, evenly distributed among blue and white days. Facilitating academic success also includes facilitating team homework periods prior to late practices.
Priority 3: Athletic Excellence. Just as our school is committed to academic excellence, we will also be just as committed to athletic excellence. As Christians, we are called to do all things with excellence, as unto the Lord. This means preparing students to compete at the highest level of play, emphasizing skill development for all students (not just the ones that get playing time), implementing disciplinary actions for unsportsmanlike conduct (talking back to coaches, excessive technicals/penalties, etc.), and providing professional development for coaches, emphasizing best practices. A Coaches Council will be established to facilitate skills and coaching development. This development will prioritize positive coaching strategies.
Priority 4: Reinforcing Christian character and Leadership development. Just as our school mission statement concludes by saying that we are “fully committed to the application of God’s word to all aspects of teaching, learning, and living with the goal of preparing leaders who will impact the world for Christ,” we will only hire Christian coaches who are actively involved in a local church. We will also commit to providing regular spiritual mentorship and development for all coaches. The Coaches Council will coordinate spiritual mentorship opportunities. The goal is that our coaches will pour into our students spiritually, reinforcing Christian character on the field of play, instilling qualities that will benefit students in sport and in life, and teaching student-athletes to apply biblical principles in the competitive environment.
Priority 5: Supporting the School Community. We want our coaches and student-athletes to be fully integrated members of the community. This involves requiring all coaches to participate in “new hire” in-service training that connects them with the entire school community and familiarizes them with the school mission and program, not scheduling games and practices at times conflicting with key community building events, and actively cultivating an atmosphere where student-athletes are not a community unto themselves. We will also ensure that no coaches interact with students until they are fully onboarded with the appropriate criminal background checks. These priorities involve specific policies and practices that have already been communicated to all current coaches. They are designed to ensure ECS Athletics remains a Christ-centered, academically aligned, and character-focused program. As with any improvement plan, we will monitor, evaluate, and refine on a continual basis, so that we are always striving to excel still more.
To God be the glory!