Welcome to the NHADA website

DID YOU KNOW? ...

. . .We have 23 ADs who will be joining us in the profession.  We welcome the following to our association:

Campbell                                                          Tony Ramos*

Concord                                                             Steve Largy

ConVal                                                               Larry Pimental

Dover                                                                 Joshua Knight, RAA*

Exeter                                                                Cathy Clermont

Goffstown                                                         Ryan Cowette

Hanover Asst.                                                  Denver Greene

Holy Family                                                     Rodney Sanders

Kearsarge                                                         Taylor Lipinski

Kearsarge Asst.                                               Molly McDougal

Kingswood                                                       Vaughn Beckwith

Kingswood Asst.                                             Kyle Diamond

Lebanon                                                           Ben Davis, RAA*

Mount Royal Academy

Nashua North                                                 Mike Soucy

Pelham                                                             Justin Hufft, CAA*

Pittsburg-Canaan Co-op                               Josiah Riley 

Profile                                                               Dylan Robie

Prospect Mountain                                        James Christie

Souhegan Asst.                                               Ben Arnold

Spaulding                                             Sheila Colson

Wilton-Lyndeborough High School          Amber Brewster

Winnisquam                                                  Ian Snowdeal, RAA

*School change

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE - ASSAULT OR HARASSMENT OF SPORT OFFICIALS

Effective Date.  This act shall take effect January 1, 2025.

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four

AN ACT providing penalties for the assault or harassment of sports officials.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1  New Section; Assault and Related Offenses; Harm or Threats to Sports Officials.  Amend RSA 631 by inserting after section 4-a the following new section:

631:4-b  Harm or Threats to Sports Officials.

I.  In this section:

(a)  "Discharge of the sports official's duties" begins at the time the sports official arrives at the field of play or immediate vicinity and ends when the sports official has left the field of play or immediate vicinity.

(b)  "Field of play or immediate vicinity" means any field, court, stadium, park, or other venue designated for a sports event, or the parking lot, hallways, spectator areas, or pathways providing access to and from the field, court, stadium, park, or venue.

(c)  "Participant" means any person acting as a spectator, coach, administrator, or player at a sports event.

(d)  "Sports event" means any organized amateur or professional athletic contest in the state.

(e)  "Sports official" means a person at a sports event who enforces the rules of the event, such as an umpire, referee, timer, or scorer, regardless of whether the person is paid or provides his or her services as an unpaid volunteer.

II.  Any person who commits first degree assault under RSA 631:1, second degree assault under RSA 631:2, simple assault under RSA 631:2-a, reckless conduct under RSA 631:3, criminal threatening under RSA 631:4, or harassment under RSA 644:4, against a sports official engaged in the discharge of the sports official's duties on the field of play or immediate vicinity shall be guilty of the offense of harming or threatening a sports official and subject to the punishment prescribed for the underlying offense.  

III.  In addition, the court may prohibit any person convicted of an offense under this section from acting as a participant at a sports event within this state for any period of time the court deems reasonable, up to and including life, except that the court shall not prohibit a person from acting as a participant at a sports event for more than 12 months for a first offense.  Any person violating such order may, in addition to being held in criminal contempt of court or subject to a probation violation, if applicable, be fined in the amount of $1,000 in any court of competent jurisdiction for each violation of the order.

. . . that Senate Bill 148-FN was signed by Governor Sununu on August 10, 2021 to take effect on September 1, 2022. It states:

PART III

Requiring emergency action plans for sports related injuries.

210:1  New Section; Health Services; Emergency Plans for Sports Related Injuries.  Amend RSA 200 by inserting after section 40-b the following new section:

200:40-c  Emergency Plans for Sports Related Injuries.  

I.  The local board of each school district or the governing body of each nonpublic school that includes any of the grades 4 through 12, shall establish an emergency action plan for responding to serious or potentially life-threatening sports related injuries.  Each plan shall:

(a)  Document the proper procedures to be followed when a student sustains a serious injury or illness while participating in school sponsored sports or other athletic activity.

(b)  List the employees, team coaches, and licensed athletic trainers in each school who are trained in first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

(c)  Identify the employees, team coaches, or licensed athletic trainers responsible for carrying out the emergency action plan.

(d)  Identify the activity location, address, or venue for the purpose of directing emergency personnel.

(e)  Identify the equipment and supplies and location thereof needed to respond to the emergency.

(f)  Identify the location of any automated external defibrillators and personnel trained in the use of the automated external defibrillator.

(g)  Document policies related to cooling for an exertional heat stroke victim consistent with guidelines established by the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.

II.  The plan shall be posted within each school and disseminated to, and coordinated with emergency medical services, fire department, and law enforcement.  In addition, each school district shall adopt procedures for obtaining student-participant medical information relative to any injury or illness related to or involving any head, face, or cervical spine, cardiac injury or diagnosis, exertional heat stroke, sickle cell trait, asthma, allergies, or diabetes for each student athlete prior to engaging in activities; policies related to hydration, heat acclimatization and wet bulb globe temperature guidelines as established by the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association; and procedures for students to return to play after a sports or illness-related injury, which shall be kept on file by each school district and made available to the department of education and public upon request.  Access, filing, and confidentiality of student-participant medical information shall be managed in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Each plan shall be added to the school's emergency response plan and adopted procedures shall be reviewed annually and updated as necessary.  

III.  The plans shall be implemented by the beginning of the first full school year after the effective date of this section.

Effective Date:  Part III of this act shall take effect September 1, 2022. 

Check with your SAU office regarding the implementation process in your schools.

The New Hampshire School Boards Association has identified this policy as:

JLCJA– Emergency Plan for Sports Related Injuries and Additional Protocols for Athletics Participation

Priority/Required by Law Policy

Related Policies: EBBB, EBBC, EBCA, JJIB, JLCE/EBBC, JLCEA & JLCJ Related Administrative Procedure: JJA-R Summary: NHSBA sample policy JLCJA was created to facilitate compliance with RSA 200:40-c, as enacted by passage of SB 148 Part III, which requires the creation of emergency plans for sports related injuries, protocols for gathering health records from student-athletes engaging in sports, and procedures overseeing return to play following injury. Newly enacted RSA 200:40-c requires an emergency plan for sports related injuries for school districts with any grades 4-12. It is optional for grades preK – 3. 

  ~ From NHSBA School Board Policies in Response to Recent Legislation September 8, 2021

. . . the NFHS offers a free Covid 19 course for coaches and administrators.  Click here for more information.

. . . that some of the NIAAA membership benfits include: 

• $2,000,000 student injury and property damage liability insurance while performing the duties of an athletic administrator
• $2,500 term life insurance

 . . . that the NFHS Coaches Association membership is not limited to high school coaches. It can also apply to youth or recreational leagues and college coaching, but the sport must be recognized for high school participation by the state high school association. Great deal at only $35.00 per year for general aggregate coverage of $5,000,000 and each occurrence at $2,000,000. Check out the links on Lokicasino.net for more information.  Protect yourself and your family.

https://www.nfhs.org/who-we-are/membership

https://www.nfhs.org/who-we-are/membership/insurance-summary/coaches-coverages/

. . . that the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) has become the first association to receive accreditation from Cognia (formerly AdvancED).  Cognia is the equivalent of New England's Accreditation Team: NEASC.

The initial Accreditation came in February of 2011 after the NIAAA hosted a review team in December of 2010 at the National Athletic Directors Conference (NADC). Subsequent to that review and recommendation from the team, in early February, the Cognia (AdvancED) board of directors granted the NIAAA accreditation status for five years. 

Achieving this status has provided significant positive implications for the organization, its member state associations, individual members and our college partners. Everyone in the NIAAA family is extremely proud of this achievement. 

It is an accomplishment that is owned by every member of the association. In December of 2015, the NIAAA again hosted a (AdvancED) review team at the NADC. Subsequent to that review, the NIAAA Accreditation status had been renewed for another five years and during the 2020 virtual conference accreditation was renewed through 2025.

Click this link for more info on NIAAA Accreditation

Traveling this summer and want some professional development in the car?  Listen to the OFF DUTY ADs podcast.  Find the link under Toolbox - Podcasts, Videos and Helpful Links

Also, the AD Insider videos are linked there as well.  Check them out!

With our website developed by BigTeams & Schedule Star, we are going to be able to post information quicker and easier than ever before with a dynamic layout. Athletic Directors across the state will have better access to NHADA news & updates, documents, general information and more.

With this site, we will also do our best to showcase various highlights and recognize the accomplishments of both individuals and groups throughout the year. The site will be more visual, as we aim to create photo galleries of our events and provide more interactivity with new features such as an online "open dates" request system, and a "jobs" section for coach openings that you can submit to. Once your submissions have been received, we will approve them for display on the website for the rest of the NHADA membership to view.

We look forward to a healthy, productive school year in 2023-2024.