The new Southern Section commissioner sets out his vision
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Rob Wigod officially took over as the new commissioner of the Southern Section on Tuesday and sent out a letter to member schools of ‘who we are and who we are not.’ It’s a good start to understand where he’s coming from and how to grade his performance in the coming months and years.
From the ‘who we are’ file comes this: ‘We are an educational institution dedicated to teaching young people valuable lessons they can utilize to make them better students now and better people for the future. The high school student who participates in athletics at their school will learn so many important values that will translate into success later in life.
‘The ideals of sportsmanship, teamwork, commitment, discipline, responsibility, perseverance through adversity and goal setting are all examples of important concepts taught to our young people through the outstanding leadership provided by our principals, athletic directors and teacher/coaches. Together with these dedicated educators, we have an obligation to provide the best high school athletic experience to every young person who wishes to participate in their high school’s athletic programs.’
From the ‘who we are not’ file comes this: ‘We are not an organization whose primary purpose is to help facilitate getting college scholarships and professional contracts for our student-athletes. While we are certainly proud of those young people who have gone on from their high school experience to the highest levels of athletic success in our nation and around the world, they are a miniscule percentage of the total number of young men and young women who participate in our school-based programs.
‘We simply cannot allow those who wish to use the high school athletic experience to try and achieve monetary gain to succeed in drawing our focus and energy away from the large majority of student-athletes who we have an obligation to serve.’
-- Eric Sondheimer