Thor Nilsen told a large crowd on hand last week for his presentation on Sports Done Right that the program, currrently under consideration by the Scarborough School Committee, “is about treating kids respectfully and appropriately. That’s it in a nutshell.”

Sports Done Right is a set of principles and practices devised to help foster healthy youth athletic programs. It was developed by the Maine Center for Sport and Coaching at the University of Maine’s College of Education and Human Development. Several schools have participated as pilots for the program, including School Administrative District 51 (Cumberland/North Yarmouth), and now Scarborough is considering entering the program, as well.

Nilsen, a Scarborough resident and former athletic director for South Portland, is one of six consultants for Sports Done Right.

He started off the presentation for the school board March 15 by asking a few open-ended questions to get the board and the audience to start think about the role athletics plays in academic settings.

“Why do we have so much passion about sports?” he asked. “Why do we need sports in school?” He asked his listeners to think about what the problems were in Scarborough sports, what the underlying causes could be and if, from the presentation, Sports Done Right seems as though it would be able to provide a solution.

Nilsen stressed the fact that school athletic departments need to be consciously incorporating educational aspects in sports. While varsity athletic teams undoubtedly play to win, at lower levels, Nilsen said, there should be greater concentration on developing skills and giving everyone a chance both to succeed and to fail.

But Sports Done Right does not only apply to school teams. Nilsen said that club sports and recreational teams need to be involved in the programs, as well, in order for it to work for the town. If Scarborough decides to implement the program, a leadership team from throughout the community would be developed to guide the process.

Nilsen outlined the seven core principles that comprise the program, but placed a particular emphasis on the role of parents and coaches.

“Parents have become too interested,” Nilsen said, “and coaching isn’t where it needs to be.”

Nilsen said one problem parents have is being so concerned with their own children that they “become oblivious” to the other players on the field. The difficulty of dealing with parents often drives coaches away from sports. With the high turnover of coaches comes a lack of quality and experience, which, in turn, brings on criticism from parents.

Nilsen fielded a few questions from the audience before the board went to executive session. Nilsen said if Scarborough decides to look more closely into Sports Done Right, “chances are you would find you’re doing sports right.” But, he said, the town would also discover things that need to be improved and a few things that really need to change.

Marty Brown, parent and volunteer coach for the club football team, said after the meeting, “I question whether or not Scarborough actually needs it. We’re very aware of our weaknesses, but there’s always room for improvement.”

Parent Denise Clavett thought the program could work, but only if everyone was committed to it.

“It will help only to the level that the entire community is ready to accept and endorse,” she said.

The next step will be to get Sports Done Right on the school board agenda, which, according to Chairwoman Annalee Rosenblatt, could be next meeting. There, the board will discuss whether it is something to pursue.

“I liked what I heard,” said Rosenblatt after the meeting. “I sense that there’s a consensus from several of the school board members on that.”

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