An open letter to Jim Norton and high school athletic directors

Superintendent of Schools Jim Norton and high school athletic directors, this newspaper seeks your guidance.

In our mind every child participating in scholastic sports in our county deserves some recognition, if only for the sacrifice and discipline required to compete.

Superintendent Norton; that has been a theme for you since entering office this summer.

Wins or losses don’t, and should not matter, what matters is the discipline and sacrifice of young athletes in what reams of research shows is one of the last true bastions of discipline in high school.

There are a lot of teams, a lot of games and this paper has, alas, a small staff. A sports staff of one.

Mr. Norton and athletic directors, we need your help in ensuring coaches or parents or somebody involved with the sports programs in the high schools provide the boost these athletes deserve.

After all, coaches receive taxpayer money in the form of a stipend; part of that pay should involve providing results and recognition for young athletes in the local newspaper; at least that is the opinion from this corner.

Consider it this way: the coach with the most impressive resume, the finest background of success at the professional and college levels serves as the finest example in this county of providing detailed information on his team’s and athlete’s success, and yes, even failures.

On time, every week, without fail.

Coaches and athletic directors are urged to contact The Star will all the scores and results from your team’s games. The deadline for all information is 8 a.m. ET on Tuesday. Call 227-7827 or e-mail to tcroft@starfl.com, providing scores, individual totals and anything remarkable or which stands out from the day’s or week’s competition.

It takes just a few minutes.

Photos are always welcome and can be sent via e-mail as an attached jpeg file.

Coaches and athletic directors, parents and athletes, principals and School Board, Superintendent Norton, these are the athletes’ pages. They should be brimming. Please help us fill make that happen.