Raider Athletics 2016 Year in Review Part 1

This morning, a 3rd grade classmate of mine posted our class picture from 1971 on Facebook and besides being a great remembrance of our class and that year, I also recalled that that was the year I could not stop smiling. I smiled all the time even when I got in trouble. I still remember our 3rd grade teacher saying "Patrick stop smiling. You are in trouble!" Which made me think that was 45 years ago, and it's still so vivid today for me. What are the memories of 2016 going to be for our students in 2061?

To begin this review, in a year where we seem to be bombarded by the fake and at the very least surreal, I am thankful I work in schools where everything is very real. People have real feelings. They have real cares and real events happen every day that no matter how trivial will impact our students for the rest of their lives like I remember from 1971.

I will write this year in review up over a couple of days. Here is Part 1.

This week I was interviewed by one local paper and one local paper asked me to write up my thoughts on the year.  Here is a summary of what I said.

The Pioneer Press asked me some very specific questions and asked me to single out some events and people -- which in lots of ways is so un-North Shore. When you are talking about a whole year, singling out a couple of people is not what we are about and not particularly fair. So know ahead of time there are lots of people and events I could have singled out. Because I was boxed into a corner, I did pick people who I thought in some way were symbolic of lessons we are trying to teach our student athletes. So don't be offended if I did not pick you. I was thinking of everyone in my choices.

What was your best memory of 2016 in North Shore athletics?
I am sure people expect an athletic director to choose a championship that a team won and there are a few that I could pick from. None more significant than our Field Hockey team making it to the state championships this fall. But as I get older, I see these events as being built on decisions, practices, habits of individual kids, athletes and coaches over many many months and even years. In fact I often think when a team has a big break through about all the kids and coaches who came before who in some way contributed to building the culture that led to the break through moment. Certainly, that was a great moment at New Trier this fall that led to our field hockey team making it to State. But to me it will always be about the individual transformations that we see our kids make over the years.

Last June the class of 2016 graduated with 9 of its members going on to play college sports. That's not a moment, but that is an achievement I will put up against any high school in America. Nearly 20% of our schools graduating class went on to play college sports. Some of those students we probably knew as freshman at North Shore were going on to be college athletes. But some discovered their abilities and passions as they went through high school. I love to tell the story of how Brendan Doyle became a high jumper! I won't post it here but its a great story of personal transformation and I think indicative of what we are about as a school.

With the loss of this great class the question always arises, how are we going to bounce back. Well we bounced back quite well so far this year with record seasons not only in field hockey, but also in Volleyball,  our 10th league title in golf, the top individuals ever in boys and girls cross country, and our best start ever in girls basketball -- not to mention very solid soccer, football, girls tennis seasons -- leading to a huge number of fall all-conference designees.

So my memories as you can tell are all over the place. I will get even more specific in part 2 of Raider Athletics 2016 Year in Review tomorrow!