Jon Mitchell took the helm as Athletic Director last January after the district’s athletic program had reached a demoralizing low. Since then, Mitchell and other athletic officials have been working to turn this record around. And, so far, the district has exhibited steady—and sometimes remarkable—improvements in the 2009 fall season, despite continued set backs in its football program.

As of this week, the Boys Varsity Soccer Team has applied for district playoffs for the first time in at least ten years. In 2008, the team closed its season with a lackluster 5-11 record; today, they hold a record of 9-9.

As discussed in previous articles, the program is being enhanced on a number of levels, including a renewed emphasis on academic achievement, professional training for players and coaches, and an effort to strengthen the district’s elementary-level ‘feeder’ programs. More visibly, however, the district has also been investing in a number of physical improvements to strengthen its athletic functions.

McCaskey’s four-lane pool, used for swim team training purposes, was out of commission for most of last year, due to a need for upgrades: “Frequently,” Mitchell said, “the water quality would be poor enough that they would say, ‘well, we can’t practice today.’” Over the summer, the pool was brought up to usable standards. Also, Mitchell added, “In addition to replacing the pump/filter systems, the pool and surrounds were thoroughly cleaned [and] scrubbed, and parts of the pool deck were painted.”

The weight room at McCaskey has also been improved with new weights and equipment, Mitchell said. In addition to this, Mitchell also noted, “I am also working on upgrading the office space at McCaskey to include a waiting room and conference room. I think this will give a much more professional look and feel to our athletic department, in addition to making it more conducive to conducting business.”

Further down the road, however, Mitchell has a much larger project in view. Unused indoor space at the district’s stadium, Mitchell said, could, one day, make the perfect location for athletic offices and training facilities: “You’ve got this nice, big, brick stadium. We never use the concessions under there anymore. You’ve already got plumbing under there. It’s a great place.”

The position of this facility, Mitchell said, would help “break down the wall between McCaskey and McCaskey East. It would be equal access to both buildings.” But, most of all, Mitchell asserted, an expansion like this could serve as “a place to let people know that we are serious about being competitive”—a message that has already begun to ring true in the soccer fields of L-L League Section 1 this fall.

Jon Mitchell’s role as athletic director not only demands that he oversee all sports programs at McCaskey, it requires thoughtful coordination of every school-sponsored athletic program within the School District of Lancaster—from elementary school to high school, and from students to coaches. Although this may seem a daunting jurisdiction, Mitchell is confident that a holistic approach is the surest route to substantial reform.

In observing McCaskey’s poor performance in recent years, Mitchell looks to the health of the District’s programs in their earliest manifestations: “Why do we tend to be competitive at some of our younger ages and then we are not as competitive at the high school?,” Mitchell rhetorically asked, “Is it because we don’t have enough continuity throughout our whole program where…we don’t have feeders at all, and they need to be created?”

Mitchell cited the District’s swimming program as an example of the need for such “feeders,” or pre-high school programs and clubs that prepare young athletes for the varsity level. With few nearby swimming clubs and no middle school swimming team, Mitchell said, “We have kids coming out for our [high school] swim team that do not know how to swim.”

Mitchell is now seeking ways to introduce swimming to the physical education curriculum, perhaps even down to the elementary school level. Also, Mitchell said, the District may partner with the Lancaster Aquatics Club to provide middle and high school students with additional practice opportunities, as well as experience with the swimming club’s professional trainers. According to Mitchell, such out-of-school training is foundational to most successful swimming programs:

“Swimming is an interesting beast. I’m starting to find that many of the kids that swim on their high school teams really only train with their high school teams a couples times a week. And the rest of the time they’re training with their club teams.”

Mitchell has also been encouraging varsity-level coaches to more frequently visit and engage with their corresponding pre-high school programs. For head football coach David Given, this meant hosting a special football camp for middle school students. Investing in these relationships is actually written into the job description of every varsity coach, serving to introduce young students to later opportunities and to advise the coaches of these youth programs, who are usually nonprofessional volunteers.

The varsity coaches are now being provided with learning opportunities, as well. According to Mitchell, this summer’s professional One On One soccer camp “provided instruction for both our kids and our coaches.” Mitchell said that the football coaching staff has already expressed interest in supplemental training of this kind, reflecting an attitude that Mitchell is encouraging among all coaches: “The biggest thing to me is the…willingness to listen to someone else… You cannot gain the knowledge if have the belief that you already have all the knowledge.”

In the midst of striving to comprehensively improve SD of L’s athletics, Mitchell draws satisfaction from students’ recognition of his unwavering commitment to all facets of the program: “The thing that I’m probably most proud of so far—and the kids understand this as well—is that every sport is important to me, and I’ll never be an athletic director who only looks at football and basketball.”

According to Jon Mitchell, athletic director for the School District of Lancaster (SD of L), McCaskey High School’s athletic program is well on its way to becoming a competitive force in the region. Mitchell observed that school’s seven fall programs have already shown improved performance and morale.

Mitchell noted the following achievements in a recent NewsLanc interview:

• The boys’ soccer team currently holds a 5-1 record, a reversal of the team’s 2008 performance. Mitchell credits recent training programs by OneOnOne Soccer of Lancaster as well as the team’s general maturation for the jump in performance.
• The boys’ cross country team holds a 7-1 record, with their single loss owing to a razor-thin 28-27 defeat from Lancaster Mennonite.
• The girls’ field hockey team has tied one game and lost the other to Penn Manor High School, which, according to Mitchell, is known to be a dominant force statewide.

This month marks the beginning of Mitchell’s first full school year as the District’s athletic director. Since taking on the role in January, his most prominent task has been the search for a new head football coach. In May it was announced that David Given, formerly of Tuscan, Arizona, was hired to fill the role. According to Mitchell, the District was especially attracted to Given for his propensity toward “public image and understanding what we need to do to change some of the beliefs and attitudes of people about our program.”

Thus far, the football team has lost its first three games. The slow beginning owes partly to an unanticipated academic probation for nine athletes—at least four of whom, Mitchell said, were starting players. Yet bystanders have noted an improved spirit and greater discipline.

To promote better academic performance among all of the athletes, academic tutoring services are now available prior to the school day, rather than forcing students to choose between tutoring and after school practice. Also, Mitchell has been emphasizing excellence over mere eligibility:

“Eligibility is for losers who just want to know ‘how much can I fail?,” he asserted. “We need to change that attitude and the culture of who we are, so that we only do our best.”

Mitchell believes a stronger athletic program will only improve student life if that program instills the ethical values that life demands. Citing a national survey of 25,000 student athletes that showed a below-average ‘moral reasoning,’ Mitchell asserted, “We do not inherently learn those things from athletics. Rather, we learn those things from athletics when we have moral, ethical coaches who use that sport to teach it.”

Staff members, as well, have been held to higher expectations. “I am not afraid to hold people accountable,” Mitchell said in reference to the District’s athletic staff.  He also observed that these new standards may have partly contributed to an increased amount of staff turnover in the last year. “I think the other thing,” Mitchell qualified, “is that it’s just natural for an organization, when you see leadership change, to see a change in personnel.” Lately, a large portion of Mitchell’s time has been committed to recruiting new coaches and their assistants.

Considering Mitchell’s spirit of principled urgency and the jump in fall athletic performance, it seems clear that this changing of the guard has marked a new chapter for SD of L sports.