Attendees at the first MPSSAA Coaches Conference entitled “Coaches Promoting Education-Based Athletics" on Saturday, 6/18 at Paint Branch High School gave highly positive reviews of their sessions.  The conference featured nationally recognized motivational speakers including Associate Athletic Director at North Carolina State Dereck Whittenburg, Director of Health and Fitness Jimmy Page, and former Baltimore County Coordinator of Athletics Ron Belinko.  In addition, state-wide high school and college coaches facilitated workshops for those high school coaches in attendance.  Marlow Sports and BSN Sports donated materials to help offset conference costs and we thank them heartily.  DavCo and Wendy's did their usual superb job of providing a delicious and healthy lunch where no one went away hungry, so our hat is off to them as well.

     The MPSSAA would like to thank the Coaches' Conference Committee for their work in bringing the vision of this first conference to fruition.  A special thank you to Earl Hawkins for his leadership and continuing to maintain a focus on providing meaningful professional growth in education-based athletics for coaches.  We would also like to thank Paint Branch HS for hosting our event in their gorgeous facilities and a special shout out to Paint Branch Athletic Director Heather Podosek and her staff for taking on the endeavor of hosting this event.  Along with a stronghold of other MCPS Athletic Directors, many hands made light work and we appreciate all who gave up a Saturday to be there and help out!  We look forward to reviewing all of the evaluations so that we can make positive changes and improvements for next year's conference.