Sports - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

My apologies for the Clint Eastwood reference, but as we approach the beginning of the basketball season I think the analogy fits.  Athletics, at all levels, provides opportunities for good, bad and the downright ugly in both players and fans.

I wrote earlier that I love high school sports.  Watching young men and women giving themselves for the pure thrill of competition always excites me.  I know some of you will take issue with me on this but I rarely waste my time watching professional sports anymore.  I get very disgusted with the pure commericalism of most professional sports.  But, of course, that's just this guy's opinion.  I went down and watched our guys and girls from ACS play in the state soccer and volleyball tournaments last week and it did my heart good to watch great young men and women from several schools go at it full tilt with nothing more at stake than a few trophies and state bragging rights.  I coached high school and college basketball for over 15 years and high school golf for 7 years and high school sports is still the fuel that drives my love for athletics.

Now, basketball season is about to begin.  Basketball is, by nature, a very emotional sport.  I have stood in the Dean Dome watching the annual renewal of the Duke-UNC rivalry and I can tell you that basketball arouses emotions like no other sport I know.  This is often where the line between the good is crossed into the dark world of the bad and ugly. 

Over the years I have watched players and their parents lose sight of the true place sports should take in the life of the believer.  It is often viewed as the most important thing in the world for them.  As a result they come to games and lose control of themselves in ways that hurt the cause of Christ.  All the comments like "I pay my money, I'll scream at the refs if I want" or "It's sports.  This is normal behavior" cannot undo the damage that is done.  As we move into this emotional season I want to implore you not to be guilty of these things:

1.  Griping and complaining about the way an official calls a game.  They are human.  They are going to make mistakes.  I can tell you that I was an emotional coach who hated to lose but I can also tell you that I made more coaching mistakes than all three officials ever did in any game I coached.  I have been embarrassed as a coach and have seen my players embarrassed by a dad sitting up in the stand bellowing out about the officials so that everyone can hear his displeasure.  Just consider this please.  Many officials who call our games do not know Christ and your behavior, while it may not draw them TO Christ can certainly drive them away.

2.  Screaming criticisms at your own child or another player on the court.  Several years ago I watched a dad berate his own son for missing free throws until I wanted to go over and put a bag over his head.  I felt terrible for the kid, who came to the bench in tears.  This is often caused by parents who want to relive their lives through their children.  They were either high school stars (or they wanted to be) and their kids are their hope for glory.  So THEY are embarrassed because their sons or daughters can't live up to their expectations or fantasies. 

3.  Criticizing coaches publically.  A few years ago I sat in the stands and listened to a mother make it known to all around her that she thought the coach was an idiot, was not playing her son enough and that she was going to the AD about him.  You know, as parents, we are very protective of our kids but would it not be best to teach our children that life is not all about them and that life isn't fair.  We have spoiled a generation of children by not teaching them these important life lessons.

The ability to enjoy or participate in sports is a wonderful gift from God and as Christians we need to keep it in its rightful place.  The world will never be changed because we win or lose a game.  Athletic competition is about striving to overcome opposition, not beating an enemy.  It's about learning how to deal with adversity and become a better person because of it, not about strutting around screaming "we're number one"!   It's about doing our very best, competiting like champions, giving it our all and walking off the field or court knowing we honored our Savior by the way we competed and behaved in the heat of that competition. God help us to make sure ours is the GOOD, not the BAD or UGLY!

Grace to you all!

Where Does ACS Rank Academically?

One of the questions we are frequently asked in open houses, interviews, etc., is where we rank in the area of academics.  This is not an easy question to address in either a simple quantitative or qualitative way.  We have a few measures we can look at such as college acceptances, academic scholarship offers, GPA, SAT and ACT scores, etc.  In our academic world, however the most consistent and valid measure across the board seems to rest in the ranking of achievement test scores.

The most commonly used achievement test nationwide is the Stanford Achievement Test which is used by thousands of public, private, charter, Christian and home schools all across America.  The results of these tests are annually compiled and then ranked both on the state and national levels.  These rankings are done by the test publisher, Harcourt.  Our association, the North Carolina Christian School Association, publishes for our consideration a ranking of where our school stands individually as compared to other Christian schools in the state as well as where North Carolina Christian schools rank against all schools nationwide who take the Stanford test. I have recently received and read through the rankings from the 2012 Stanford Test taken by ACS students grades 1-11.  I am happy to make the following report:

1.  NCCSA schools ranked higher than all schools nationwide at every grade level.  The grade equivalency differences ranged anywhere from .75 grade levels higher all the way to 3.2 grade levels higher than the national average.

2.  The percentile rankings are even more revealing as NCCSA schools ranged from 13 to 44 percentage points higher than the national average.

3.  ACS ranks in the top 5% of Christian schools in North Carolina at 3 grade levels.
     ACS ranks in the top 10% of Christian schools in North Carolina at 5 grade levels.
     ACS ranks in the top 15% of Christian schools in North Carolina at 2 grade levels.

While this is only one of the measures we use to gauge academic success it is by far the most significant and should tell our parents they are getting a high quality academic product for the investment they are making in their children's Christian education.

This success is directly due to the faculty God has blessed us with at ACS.  They are the ones in the classroom everyday making sure the young people at ACS are achieving a high level.  Our faculty was paid a huge compliment at our regional educators convention in Myrtle Beach last week.  In a workshop of over 200 people one of the leading administrators in our state, a lady who was on the accreditation team that recently approved our re-accreditation said that ACS had one of the most talented and hard working faculties in the state.  This is borne out by the recent test results.

That said, we still have room to improve.  We need to work harder to catch up technologically.  We need to invest in cutting edge hardware that will keep our teachers on the front edge of academic progress.  To be standing still is to be moving backwards today. We need to be constantly re-evaluating ourselves and working to be the very best that we can be.  We are seeing good results but we are not ready to rest yet.  Providing quality Christian education is a commitment and as a faculty and staff we need to re-commit to that daily.  By God's grace we will.