Jack Hayes, John Wooden among sports leader to launch national

campaign to reform sports

State CIF Executive Director Jack Hayes was a speaker at a

conference launching a national campaign to implement sweeping reforms in

nonprofessional sports. Hayes was among more than 600 coaches,

administrators and youth sports leaders who will convene at the

conference slated for Thursday at California State University Long Beach.

Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden will be joined by an array of

sports luminaries representing the interscholastic federations from

Arizona, California, Texas, the USOC Coaching Division, the American

Football Coaches Association, the National Association of Sports

Officials and the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition in the first of a series of

national conferences to implement the widely-adopted 16 principles of the

Arizona Sports Summit Accord. The CIF has adapted and adopted these

principles as the operating principles of the organization.

Participants will learn about specific commitments and implementation

strategies by the CIF, the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, and a

special CHARACTER COUNTS! partnership formed by the Los Angeles City

Department of Recreation and Parks, the Los Angeles Unified School

District and the CIF. Actions announced will include coaching training,

new codes of conduct for athletes, coaches, and parents, and a massive

educational campaign featuring posters, banners, videos and other media.

The conference, originally planned for 300-400 attendees, had to be

expanded when demand for tickets far exceeded expectations. The audience

includes representatives from 13 universities, 66 schools, 42 city and

county parks and recreation agencies and 43 youth sports organizations.

Michael Josephson, Founder and President of the CHARACTER COUNTS!

Coalition, the organizing partner of the “Pursuing Victory with Honor”

campaign, said, “The extraordinary response shows the huge amount of

energy out there to address problems in sports. People have had enough

and they want to restore the reputation and reality of sports as an

activity where character is both developed and displayed.”

Besides Hayes, other speakers and panelists included NCAA Vice President

Ron Statten, U.S. Olympians President John Naber, CSU Long Beach

President Dr. Robert Maxson, former U.S. Olympic Committee Director of

Coaching Dr. Tom Crawford, and Josephson.

This event is the first in a series that will be offered throughout the

nation including upcoming programs to be hosted by Stanford, Arizona,

Arizona State and Northern Arizona universities.