Jack Hayes, John Wooden among sports leader to launch national
campaign to reform sports
State CIF Executive Director Jack Hayes will be a speaker at a
conference launching a national campaign to implement sweeping reforms in
nonprofessional sports. Hayes is among more than 600 coaches,
administrators and youth sports leaders who will convene at the
conference slated for Thursday, May 18 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 will include 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.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.