As the father of two children, I know keeping children constructively busy, while helping them make good choices is a challenge.

As my grandfather was a high school basketball coach in the state of Illinois for 40 years; my father worked in professional and intercollegiate sports for all of his career; and I worked in the NBA for 12 years and in intercollegiate sports for another dozen, the preferred choice to keep our children active was through sports.

Truth be told, my wife Sharon is a better athlete than I am, so the sports option was not a tough sell at our house. Our daughter Kristen (CHS ’99) graduated with a total of nine varsity letters in three sports and played basketball at the college level for 2 years. Our son Michael (CHS ’02) lettered for 4 years in tennis and 2 in basketball and continued his tennis career at San Diego City College last year.

Kids are faced with challenges these days that my generation didn’t have. Drugs and childhood obesity are both running rampant in our culture and the number of kids impacted is staggering. Children need structure. Sports at the youth level, at middle school and at the high school level helps provide the structure that kids need.

The Islander Sports Foundation is the new name for what was the Coronado High School All Sports Booster Club. Founded in 1994, and the recipient of 501-c-3 non-profit status from the Internal Revenue Service in 1996, the ISF’s mission statement is ‘Helping All Children Become Champions Through Sports."

It was my good fortune to join the ISF as executive director 2 years ago on a part time basis. Last month the ISF’s Board of Directors provided me with the opportunity to join the organization on a full-time basis as the group’s chief executive officer, which I gratefully accepted.

Two of my predecessors, Vicki Beaubien and Lynn Smallwood, did incredible jobs with the CHSASBC. Vicki was the founding executive director and from the organization’s files it’s obvious that she brought great creativity and execution to the group. Lynn Smallwood put in countless hours in both Coronado Little League and with the CHSASBC. Not coincidentally, both women had two children who were star athletes at CHS over the years.

My job is a simple one – raise money and awareness of sports at both Coronado High School and Coronado Middle School. The good news is that participation in sports at both institutions is at record levels. A total of 383 youngsters played at least one sport at CHS this year. Our record keeping format at CMS is a little different, but 452 positions were filled on a total of 11 sports. Roughly half of the combined enrollment of both schools is participating in sports, which is phenomenal.

The challenge, as you might guess, is money. Over the past 13 years, the funding supplied to athletics at CHS for sports-specific equipment (balls, bats, uniforms, etc.) has remained at the same level, while the number of sports sharing the funding has increased. Under the leadership of CHS Athletic Director Sandy Ferguson, the school now sponsors 25 sports teams. When frosh/soph and Junior Varsity teams are included, there are 47 different teams at CHS.

With the new additions of Girls Golf, Boys Lacrosse and Girls Lacrosse in recent years, the funding ‘pie’ which has not grown, is smaller by the time it gets to each coach. Factor in inflation and you soon realize that there’s not much money there. The varsity baseball budget as an example is roughly large enough to buy one good aluminum bat and 12 dozen baseballs. Without parental help, fundraising and a lot of work, there would be no money to line the field, purchase uniforms, enter tournaments, or get through more than half the 30 plus games played at the varsity level.

Due to mandated funding cutbacks at the state level, last year funding for CMS sports was dropped. The Islander Sports Foundation, acting in conjunction with a committed CMS parent group, Ferguson, Principal Nancy Girvin and Assistant Principal Jay Marquand, helped save sports at the middle school level. The fee per child, per sport is $80, but in our first year of operation under the new system, no child has been turned away who wants to participate in a sport, due to financial considerations.

To raise money for the teams, the ISF participates in a variety of activities. The most noted is the July 4 15K Run/5K Run-Walk. This is our biggest event of the year and we encourage you to participate. This event generates funds for both the ISF and for our member teams. The volunteers needed to run the event earn money for their sports teams.

The ISF also operates the snack bar at CHS home football and basketball games. It’s a rite of passage for a parent in Coronado to work in the snack bar. Being behind the counter at a homecoming football game is an experience not to be missed.

Our biggest undertaking to date is a $3 million capital funding drive to raise money for an artificial turf surface at Niedermeyer Field, a new running track, and artificial turf at Green Field and at CMS. With the participation levels in outdoor sports, coupled with the requirements of the CHS and CMS physical education departments, the once-beautiful turf at the football stadium is reduced to dirt by the end of the fall.

Artificial turf is the only long-term answer to the problem and our capital program is underway. The track surrounding Niedermeyer Field must be replaced so that the dirt from the track doesn’t ruin the turf. It is our vision that the facilities at Niedermeyer Field will be made available to the general public through joint-use agreements.

Entering the 2004-05 school year, we have a particularly strong executive committee that will serve the Islander Sports Foundation. They include: President Susan Schelkun, Immediate Past President Dave Hammel, Vice President Tim Cusick, Secretary Sue Howe and Treasurer Vic Todaro. Several of the officers have been involved for a number of years with the organization and I would like to thank them for their past and future contributions to the success of the ISF.

I am also pleased to announce that the Coronado Aquatics Resource and Education Foundation President Tom Sullivan and I have had discussions regarding merging the two groups into one umbrella organization that would represent all athletics. CARE is committed to building an on-campus swimming complex. The ISF Board of Directors voted unanimously to work with CARE as their expressed goal meshes directly with our mission statement of assisting all students through sports.

Essentially, if the concept involves students and sports, we’re for it.

The ISF also has some projects smaller in scope that directly benefit the high school sports programs. They include: