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Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission
Wednesday July 17, 2013
Members Present: Vicki Wilkins (Chairwoman), Steve Meyer, Tracy Kurtz, Stephanie
Mulinos, Sharon Todd, Jeff Humphrey
Members Absent: JoEllen Bailey
Town Recreation Staff: Melissa Bianconi (Recreation Director) and Andrew Pierce
(Recreation Coordinator)
Town Board Liaisons: Steve Stelick and Linda Lavine (not present)
DCDS Liaison: position open
County Youth Services Representative: Kris Bennett
Guests: none
1. Reading of the Commission Meeting Minutes:
S. Meyer moved to approve the minutes from the May 22, 2013 and the June 26, 2013
meetings as amended. The motion was seconded by T. Kurtz and unanimously
approved. J. Humphrey abstained.
2. Introduction of Guests: None present
Sandy Sherwood had hoped to attend the meeting but was unable. She expressed that
she hoped Brian Ford might be able to come. He is a teacher at DCDS with a special
assignment overseeing athletics.
3. Additions/Alterations to the Agenda: None
J. Humphrey asked if anyone had reached out to Brian Ford about becoming the
liaison for the School. No one has yet talked to him. He has recently finished his
internship to become an administrator and was offered the special position. He is
doing more than just athletics for the school.
Travis Crocker was also interested in a position on the Commission after he finished
his triathlon.
V. Wilkins is going to follow up with both gentlemen to see if they are interested.
4. Report from the Town Board Liaison: Not present
5. Dryden Youth Report: Dave Hall
Attached
6. Dryden OURS Report: Nicki Nease
Attached
7. Dryden Youth football program update: Andrew Pierce
Player Safety Coach – Heads Up Football
A. Pierce recently attended a training seminar. The Dryden Football program w ill be
joining the USA Football program including their “Heads Up Tackle Program”. Their
goal is safety. The number of participants has dropped in this area and A. Pierce is
hoping that increased safety and concussion awareness will bring the numbers back
up.
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At the conference he attended, most participants were coaches although there were a
few Recreation Coordinators there. The program is geared to having a non-coaching
person to be the Player Safety Coach because it provides some distance.
For Dryden football, he is going to be the Safety Coach. He is not representing any
group other than Dryden Football although he has and will continue to make
recommendations to the Youth Football League which is a local league . M. Bianconi
described “the League” which includes 16 Towns, 3 counties and 24 Teams (between
junior and senior teams). There isn’t any consistency and it is a league in the very
loosest terms. These are the teams that Dryden plays against and they only meet once
a year due to the diversity of programs leaders. Some programs are being run by
Recreation Departments, some by volunteers, and some by Youth Commissions which
makes it very difficult to have League-wide consistency. The Dryden Recreation
department decided they needed to do something for our players and thus they are
going with the Heads Up Football program.
There are 3 pillars for the program:
equipment fitting
concussion awareness
heads up tackling
The program has everything done for us. All of our coaches will be level one certifie d,
part of that is an on-line seminar with videos and then you take a test.
S. Meyer asked if there is a concussion policy for the League and if the DCDS policy
can be applied? M. Bianconi responded that we cannot apply the policy to the entire
league but we can for the Dryden program. J. Humphrey thought that somewhere
there is a policy but M. Bianconi said it isn’t an actual, adopted policy. A. Pierce stated
that with the Dryden youth, a player could not play again without medical clearance.
S. Meyer asked if all a player had to have was a doctor saying it was ok to play again?
A. Pierce stated that even with a doctor’s release, the youth was still monitored. They
would not be permitted to just play again, they would have to work up to full contact.
S. Mulinos asked about the progression (a worksheet that identifies the player’s
condition through a series of doctor’s visits). A. Pierce stated that the League does not
have a policy. M. Bianconi said that we are going to be joining the USA football
program and all of their policies will become ours, so although we don’t have an
official policy, the program will be guided by the Heads Up program.
V. Wilkins asked how something would become League wide? They have a set of rules
that were created by committee.
S. Mulinos – the YFL is the League that we participate in and there is a committee? M.
Bianconi said it is made up of representatives from the teams that participate and is
lead by Steve Colt from Lansing Recreation program. S. Mulinos questioned the fact
that there aren’t any operation guidelines and asked how receptive the other
participants would be to suggestions?
A. Pierce stated that Steve Colt is open to new ideas and that the League is run by
majority rules. Different Towns do things differently – some Towns have a weight
minimum, some have certified officials, some check to see who is available, etc., as
long as it doesn’t go against the League rules. Some towns have issues with time and
money. M. Bianconi thinks that with a program with the broad scope of Heads Up
Football, it would require a strong group of volunteers to implement. It would be very
hard to make this League wide.
A. Pierce said that some of the other teams in the League might be interested and now
he has more information. It won’t cost as much as a lot of communities think. This is
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a new method of tackling that he thinks the football leagues are moving toward but
folks tend to lose interest as the season approaches (they start to look at other issues
that come up with the start of a new season).
V. Wilkins mentioned that it might be hard to play against teams that are not using
this system. M. Bianconi said that they have thought of that but determined that
Heads Up Football will not only make the players safer but it might give u s an
advantage.
A. Pierce said that Heads Up Football changes the emphasis from the hit onto the
tackle. Sometimes the things that we say give kids the wrong idea, like “ear hole
them”.
S. Mulinos complimented the Recreation Department for looking out for our kids and
not waiting for someone else to take the lead.
The Heads Up Football website has all kinds of information, including videos to
demonstrate the procedures.
J. Humphrey said the theory of it is good. Football is going to look differently in the
future, we were taught to be the hammer not the nail but now you are going to be the
nail. They are not going to just hit but rather wrap up the opponent and take them
down. It might look at the Youth level, as though the defense is getting run over but as
they get bigger, they will have more power to move through the attacker.
S. Mulinos asked if this method is effective in terms of the play?
J. Humphrey said it would be but it isn’t as loud or aggressive. His concern down the
road is going to be education and change to the role of ball carriers. They have always
been taught to lower your head and shoulders to get extra yards.
S. Meyer pointed out that most of the new regulations have to do with preventions of
neck injuries. Concussions are still a problem, this new method won’t change that
hazard.
M. Bianconi expressed her concern that in the future the State may intervene and
local municipalities will not be able to have tackle football. There have been NFL
players saying they won’t let their kids play tackle football. This program will help the
coaches know what they are supposed to be teaching the players and provides
guidance. The Recreation Department isn’t asking coaches to change everything that
they know but they are going to require coaches to use this program. She said it is
important for the Dryden coaches to understand that if they are going to coach with
the Dryden Recreation Program, they will have to use the Heads Up Football approach.
A. Pierce is impressed with the Heads Up Football program. There is a lot of support
information for coaches to be on the same page and hopefully we can get it league
wide. If it is League wide then the officials can help, they see problems too and can
help with the safety of the game.
Another question A. Pierce had at the meeting was how to teach emotional gain
without rewarding kids for dangerous behavior? A good tackle usually gets the crowd
up and going and that is ok as long as it is safe.
S. Todd asked if there was a large fee for A. Pierce’s membership as the Dryden safety
coach?
M. Bianconi said the training program was free due to the fact that USA Football is
completely sponsored by the NFL so there is a significant amount of money backing
the program already. A. Pierce said the membership is free and there are additional
certifications through USA Football that will have fees. The training for parents and
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players is free. They will also send a promo code for coaches that are affiliated with a
member program.
M. Bianconi stated that parents are getting the promo code via email when they
register with the Dryden football program.
S. Todd brought up the SUNY Sports Institute which M. Bianconi said has completely
folded. Their website has a statement to the fact that the Institute is no longer avaible
due to financial problems. M. Bianconi is frustrated by the fact that the Sports
Institute didn’t notify any of the participating programs. What are institution supposed
to do now, a lot our programs have been modeled on their system.
K. Bennett asked what Lansing or Ithaca do for their certifications? M. Bianconi said
she isn’t sure what Lansing does but Ithaca uses NAYS (National Alliance for Youth
Sports) and that is a direction Dryden Recreation is considering.
S. Todd pointed out that people went to the SUNY Sports Institute because they were
unhappy with NAYS.
M. Bianconi said that at least for football, the coaches will have certification through
USA Football. As they move forward, the Recreation Department will look at other
sports.
J. Humphrey asked about the cheerleading coaches, are they certified through the
Sports Institute?
M. Bianconi said that Deanna Madigan (Cheerleading coach) is certified. It is at the
flag level of cheerleading that the Department is having difficulties.
J. Humphrey asked what Sertoma does for certification. M. Bianconi said she didn’t
know what Sertoma or Kwanis does. She added that until A. Pierce started working at
Dryden, we didn’t have certification programs either and that we were one of the first
towns requiring background checks for our coaches.
S. Mulinos offered a motion to support the Dryden Recreation Football Program’s
involvement in the USA Football Heads Up Tackling program. The motion was
seconded by S. Todd and unanimously approved.
M. Bianconi said another issue the Recreation Department has been dealing with is in
terms of coaches. She said they are facing a problem with finding coaches that meet
the expectations without antagonizing half of Dryden. What is our process, what are
we looking for in coaches?
Last year we had too many kids, so we split them into two teams but then they had to
determine how to assign coaches to the teams and it got really confusing.
This year they have a strict program maximum of 25 kids per team. The community is
apparently having a hard time accepting that but once the maximum of 25 is met, a
waiting list will be generated and if they come up with enough kids, they will create a
separate team. The minimum that Dryden is accepting is 17 kids per team, however,
an ideal number is 23 – 25.
S. Mulinos asked about whether the Recreation Department will balance the teams
once they have enough kids for more than one team?
M. Bianconi said that no, they would not shuffle the kids once the team was created.
Some wiggle room can be found in the 3rd graders, they can either play flag or tackle.
The 3rd grader will probably get recommended to the flag level if a 4th or 5th grader
wants to play tackle. That makes it possible for both kids to play. It is not an easy
position to be in because it is hard to convince the parents sometimes. The Rec
Department has also put together a job description for coaches; they are hoping to
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eliminate parents as coaches for a couple of reasons including the longevity issue
(having coaches that change every year is a challenge).
M. Bianconi said that they (she and Andrew Pierce) came to the DRYC to ask for their
support in making coaching decisions and other Rec Department’s decisions.
S. Mulinos said that having been on the Hockey Association Board while her kids were
playing, she understands the position that the Recreation Department is in (in terms
of coaches) and feels comfortable with whatever decision they make. The Recreation
Department has done good research and they have a good grip on what is going on.
K. Bennett asked if one of the considerations for coaches was whether they are on
board with the USA football program? M. Bianconi said that yes, they have to agree if
they want to coach for Dryden.
S. Mulinos asked Dryden Rec did coach evaluations? M. Bianconi said they do
program evaluations in which coaches are evaluated.
J. Humphrey said that he has never been evaluated, as far as he knows. He believes
that any kind of evaluation should be shared with the coaches so they can le arn from
them.
V. Wilkins added that the new policies (Heads Up Football), it is more important that
evaluations be done with the coaches. A. Pierce said that monitoring the coaches
would be one of the requirements of the Safety Coach. M. Bianconi asked if the
Commission thought it should be the parents or the Recreation Department? Right
now, a survey monkey is sent out to the parents of the participants. J. Humphrey said
never got one as a parent of children in the program. M. Bianconi said he should have
received one to fill out but that as a coach, he would not have seen the final
information. J. Humphrey thinks that the coaches should know what was said to help
them change, modify or decide it is not for them.
K. Bennett pointed out that the evaluation will be different if the parents do it versus
the Recreation Department. The Commission agreed that perhaps having both kinds of
evaluation (both parental and via the Recreation Department) will be helpful.
S. Mulinos added that since most of the coaches are volunteers we don’t want to scare
them off by the background check and evaluation. Keep the evaluation mellow.
A. Pierce said that a lot of his evaluation is one-on-one via a conversation. M. Bianconi
said that at the end of the season, a survey is sent out asking very basic questions,
such as “was the coach respectful to your child, did your child become more physically
fit, did your child learn team work”, etc. instead of did the coach communicate
effectively. Once year, the Recreation Department did share the information with the
coaches but it came back to them as “we are going to respond to this, figure out who
wrote this and tell them not to come back”. That is part of the reason that she was
working with the Cornell students to come up with a logical way to evaluate the
programs as a whole. But if the group wants the Recreation Department to do
individual evaluations that the parents or the kids fill out and a separate evaluation
that A. Pierce fills out, then they can do that although it does put A. Pierce in a rather
uncomfortable position.
J. Humphrey explained his position; if the evaluations are out there, then the coaches
should be able to see them. Are they doing what the parents think they should be
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doing (he is comfortable that he is doing a good job) but some parents may have
different ideas. He is looking at it in the sense of how to make things better rather
than it being personally critical.
V. Wilkins suggested letting the coaches know exactly what they are going to be
evaluated on, then they will know.
S. Mulinos added that there is nothing worse than getting negative feedback when you
didn’t know the expectations.
V. Wilkins summed up the discussion by saying that the group is encouraging the
evaluation and the coaches’ adherence to the new program; even though it will
probably put a lot more work on the Recreation Department.
8. Overview to 2012 Tompkins County Youth Development survey: Kris Bennett
The County provides staff support for the group called the Community Coalition for
Healthy Youth. The Coalition is working on the issue of youth substance use in
Tompkins County. They got a ten year federal grant, “The Drug Free Communities
grant”, and they are in the 9th year. One of the things they have to do is to survey kids
every other year and then provide that data to the Federal Government. The Office of
National Drug Control Policy includes data from Tompkins County.
They have had 7 drug collections events including one in Dryden and there is a drop
box on the TC3 campus. They have collect 3.5 tons of medicine in those collection
areas. They are taken for incineration in Oswego.
The Survey is a grant requirement but it includes a lot of good information for schools,
for the County, for the Planning Department, the Youth Services department, etc. In
the County, 6 schools (grades 6-12), nearly 4700 students, were surveyed.
See attached reports.
“Current use” indicates within the past 30 days.
“Shoulder tap” is asking an older person to buy alcohol by tapping the person on the
shoulder
According to K. Bennett, most young folks drink for the purpose of getting drunk,
unlike an adult who might have one or two drinks. By twelfth grade almost 1out of 4
students are current users of Marijuana but since 2008, the rates have dropped.
Cigarette use is below the national level.
Dryden students have said it is easier to get marijuana than alcohol or cigarettes.
Parental disapproval has an impact on potential use.
Extracurricular activities, sports, clubs, etc. – students involved in extracurricular
activities are more engaged in school, they enjoy school more, they do their best work
more often and they are less likely to be sad or depressed.
The study is a nationally used survey that has some built in inconsistencies to verify
the information. One question will ask if you have used in the past 30 days and
another will ask if you have ever used; differing answers will trigger the survey being
pulled from the rest.
S. Mulinos asked if this survey was a good jumping off point for the Youth Needs
Assessment? K. Bennett responded that yes, the information she provided should be a
good source for the Needs Assessment.
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S. Mulinos stated that there are definitely trends that can be identified. She has
concerns about the fact that the Dryden Middle school has a higher drug and alcohol
use than the County level.
S. Mulinos and M. Bianconi both feel that the villages are fairly safe although the
perception is different.
V. Wilkins asked if we can pick up in August with the Youth Needs Assessment?
K. Bennett stated that in August, the DRYC needs to review the Youth Development
Funding Requests. They are due to K. Bennett by August 12th and then she will get
hard copies sent for discussion August 28th.
9. Community Grant Key Dates for summer activities.
V. Wilkins had a list of dates and the programs that were funded by the DRYC. She
asked members to be aware of the dates and if they can, stop by (to see and be seen).
10. Old Business:
Dryden Lake Festival is letting the Middle School and the High School use the
dunking booth for the purpose of raising money.
V. Wilkins said that it looks like the Festival is ready to go and it appears enough
volunteers are available.
There being no further business, S. Mulinos motioned to adjourn the meeting. S.
Meyer seconded the motion and the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Erin A. Bieber
Deputy Town Clerk