It has been said that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.  To some extent that is certainly true when you talk about being an athletic director.

Unfortunately, life is meant to supply us with balance, and no one gets away with total happiness.  Our business is a serious one that requires constant vigilance when dealing with the health and safety of children.  Not a day goes by that we find ourselves walking a field or gym, taking note of conditions that may lead to an unsafe condition.

Additionally, we host 100-plus contests a year and are required to staff and secure the areas for the protection of players, coaches, officials, and especially the spectators that either live in the district or travel to see their children play a game.  We are our own division of Homeland Security.

We have to anticipate receiving a crowd of over 1,000 and properly staff it, know how close a lightning storm is, check the THI, ensure that each team has secured and checked their AEDs, check the operation of clocks and scoreboards, outfit student-athletes with the best equipment to keep them free of injury, and making it a point to have coaches keep their individual emergency plans up to date.

Truth be told, we never really WATCH a game.  We observe, head on a swivel, eyes wide open, hand on the walkie-talkie, hoping that this game goes off without a hitch.

Of course, when the game has ended and the gym is empty we can share an anecdote with the custodians as they clean up the mess left by everyone.  We sit in a side office for some time reflecting on what we just observed and ponder the subsequent email that gets sent out either congratulating or consoling your coach.  If we are lucky, no one else receives notice. If an incident occurred, no matter how minor, we must share it and before the next game begins, we adjust, adapt, and reassess our strategy, like any good soldier.

The best compliment we can expect to receive is that everyone had a good time, win, lose or draw.  Yet we relish the opportunity to do these things.  We want our schools to be in the spotlight.  We want to show off what we have built.  So many of us step up to help when help is needed to the point of never having to worry because that is what we in Section XI are programmed to do, not because we have to, but because we have all been there and will continue to be there.

Yes, this may seem a bit dramatic, but if we follow the philosophy of putting KIDS FIRST, this makes you love your job and therefore WORK is removed from your vocabulary as long as you carry the title of AD.

Jim Wright, Ed.D., CMAA, Supervisor of Physical Education, Health, Athletics and Recreation, Huntington UFSD