Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and safe Thanksgiving!

In this edition of the NYSPHSAA Captains Club, presented by NYSCOPBA, Omari Pearson of Passion to Purpose talks to you about being a leader.

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Thank you the men and women who have served selflessly! #USA

The latest …

Nice work by the student-athletes in the varsity club at Port Jefferson High School.

They organized a drive-thru trick or treat event with more than 200 cars showing for families eager to share in safe Halloween festivities.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has announced additional parent-centered content on the NFHS Learning Center, along with the NFHS National Parent Credential certification for those who complete the designated course offerings.

“We are pleased to be able to offer more tools and resources for parents to utilize with their students,” said Dan Schuster, NFHS director of educational services. “The NFHS National Parent Credential provides a new professional development pathway for parents.”

Supporting the NFHS Learning Center’s continued efforts to correct negative parent behavior at events, the curriculum for the National Parent Credential is comprised of two free courses – “The Parent Seat” and “Positive Parenting Within School Programs.” Parents who achieve the National Parent Credential receive a certificate and a badge to be displayed on their Learning Center dashboard.

A promotional video for the NFHS National Parent Credential can be viewed here: https://nfhslearn.com/library/videos/nfhs-national-parent-credential.

The all-new “The Parent Seat” course, which bears the same title as the Learning Center’s first parent video resource, blends together key takeaways from its namesake, as well as elements from “Beyond the Scoreboard” – the second video in the series – and “A Lasting Relationship,” another brand-new arrival to the Learning Center.

The third and final video in the trilogy, “A Lasting Relationship” reviews 10 tips for building and maintaining a meaningful parent-child bond through the highs and lows of high school activities participation. Among the topics addressed are the importance of ‘being a good listener,’ ‘supporting the child’s goals’ and understanding the correct approach for ‘the ride home’ after an event with the child.

By incorporating themes from all three videos in the series, “The Parent Seat” course is designed as the first half of a blueprint for parents to make their student-athletes’ high school experiences as memorable as possible.

“The goal is to reach as many parents as we can with the mission and purpose of interscholastic sports and activities,” Schuster said. “We hope parents can experience the ‘(The) Parent Seat’ video series or the course; it will provide them with valuable information that will help them and their students have a great interscholastic experience.”

The three videos in “The Parent Seat” collection may still be downloaded from the NFHS Learning Center website and are available here: https://nfhslearn.com/library/videos?sports_ids=17&video_id=652.

For more information on “The Parent Seat” course, please visit: https://nfhslearn.com/courses/the-parent-seat.

“Positive Parenting within School Programs” features revised material from a previous course known as “Positive Sport Parenting,” along with supplemental content intended to assist parents of high school performing arts and other non-sporting activities participants. The course emphasizes values similar to those found in “The Parent Seat,” while stressing additional aspects including the educational perspective parents should use to evaluate activities programs and the appropriate methods for communicating with coaches and officials.

More details on “Positive Parenting within School Programs” can be found here: https://nfhslearn.com/courses/positive-sport-parenting.

“Parents have a tremendous impact on the competitive environment and it’s imperative we reinforce the ways they can do that in a positive manner,” said Dr. Karissa Niehoff, NFHS Executive Director. “Providing resources like ‘The Parent Seat’ and ‘Positive Parenting within School Programs,’ and issuing a challenge in the form of the National Parent Credential are excellent initiatives for accomplishing that mission.”

After starting with two courses – “Fundamentals of Coaching” and “First Aid, Health and Safety” – in 2007 through the former NFHS Coach Education Program, the NFHS Learning Center now offers 78 online courses – 52 of which are free. More than 12 million courses have been taken since the inception of the program, and courses are now available to students, coaches, parents, administrators, officials and performing arts/educators.

The West Babylon Varsity Cheerleaders recently ran a very successful fundraiser in support of breast cancer.

Twenty-four cheerleaders participated in flocking the West Babylon community.  Each night, flamingos were moved to houses within the town where community members donated money in support of our team and breast cancer.

Due to overwhelming community support, a $5,000 donation was made to the Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition.

They were recently recognized by Team Up 4 Community for their efforts.

Deb Ferry and Todd Gulluscio representing Section XI at the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee meeting.