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In twenty years, it won't matter if they were the best on the team, if they were the fastest on the field, or if they had the most impressive stats.

It won't matter if they were recognized for their accomplishments or if they ever received the title of "MVP".

It won't matter if their travel team was the best in the league, or if other coaches ever pointed them out and said, "Keep an eye on that kid."

It won't matter if they started every game or scored the game-winning run.

Don't get me wrong, I'm my kids' biggest fan.

I LOVE watching them in all of their activities. I'm proud and honored to get to do so. And yes, we're a family who likes to win (and I think that's okay!)

But sometimes, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that so much of this sports-parent season is temporary. We get caught up in the competitiveness of wanting our kid to be the best, when really it's kind of insignificant in the bigger picture of their lives.

In twenty years, the things that WILL matter are the other skills our kids are learning during their time playing youth sports.

The skills they'll only learn if we put our parent egos aside and have fewer conversations about stats and more conversations about things like—

Kindness.
Humility.
Hard work.
Being a team player.
Supporting their peers.
Being a good sport even when things don't go their way.

Right now, sports are such a big part of our world.

From the outside it seems like our kids are working on things like proper technique and fundamentals of the game—and that's part of it, sure.

But really, this is an even bigger chance for them to learn lessons about life.

And when they've hung up their cleats for the very last time, I hope to walk into the next season of life knowing we haven't just raised accomplished athletes, we've raised incredible humans.

Credit goes to respective owner.

The fall CHL season has been completed.  You can find all the awards and all league teams on the drop down menu above.  The Winter season is upon us.  The CHL sponsors Boys and Girls Basketball, Boys and Girls Swimming, Boys and Girls Bowling and Boys Wrestling; with a couple schools also offering Girls Wrestling.

In 2023-24 Wyoming won its second consecutive Boys Basketball CHL title.  The Cowboys finished the season 13-1 and 24-4 overall.  Indian Hill finished second with a 12-2 league record while Mariemont was 10-4.

Indian Hill and Taylor shared last year’s Girls Basketball CHL title.  The Braves were 11-3 and so were the Yellowjackets.  Madeira finished right behind with a 10-4 record.

Boys Wrestling League tournament champion was Madeira.  Reading finished a close second, 2 points behind while Indian Hill was third.  Finneytown and Taylor will offer Girls Wrestling as well.  

The CHL Swimming league meet saw Wyoming win the Boys championship and Indian Hill win the Girls title.  For the Boys Madeira came in 2nd and Indian Hill 3rd.  On the Girls side, Madeira was second and Wyoming third.

Bowling has also just started their season,  On the Boys side Reading was 10-0 (12-1j and your CHL champions last year.  Taylor finished in second place and Wyoming third.

For the Girls Taylor finished in first place with an undefeated league season 10-0      (13-3).  Reading finished in second place and Deer Park was third.

As parents, or even as coaches, you may sometimes ask "what does an Athletic Director do all day long?"

They don't teach class in most cases, they don't discipline kids like an assistant principal, they don't work with curriculum.  What do they do then?  They run your athletic department.  Most of the schools in the CHL have between 20-25 sports, counting both boys and girls sports.  They are in charge of the sports programs for grades 7-12.

I was an Athletic Director for 27 years.  Here is what that career meant to me.  I was responsible for hiring and evaluating all of the coaches, grades 7-12.  Sometimes that is 75-100 personnel.  I once told my principal that I had more coaches than he had teachers and also had a much higher turnover of personnel than he did.

Once you get the coaches hired you have to make sure they have all the equipment and balls that they need for practice and games.  For example, I purchased football, volleyballs, soccer balls, tennis balls, golf balls, basketballs, baseballs, softballs and lacrosse balls.  But it is not just the balls but also uniforms and equipment.  Sleds, basketball rims and nets, lacrosse and football helmets and shoulder pads, wrestling mats, volleyball standards and nets, soccer goals, high jump and pole vault pits.  This just scratches the surface but you get the idea.

Athletic Directors make sure the teams get to the away games.  They have to develop a bus schedule weekly and sometimes that isn't as easy as it sounds when the busses are busy with after school runs to get the students home from school.

For home events it is even busier.  If money is charged at an event, and most of the time it is,  the AD has to get the tickets, money boxes and change ready for every event, including weekend events.  Sometimes there are more than one event a night.  Another job is making sure the game will go on without any problems.  Officials have to be hired and you have to make sure that they show up and on time.  They have to also be paid and this is another procedure you are in charge of.  An AD has to also secure ticket sellers, ticket takers, announcers, scoreboard operators, etc. for every event, of which there are probably over 300 events in a single school year.

Another big part of an Athletic Director's job is making up schedules 7-12 for each sport.  That is scheduling probably over 1000 events throughout the year.

Overall, you are in charge of a very big budget and must stay within that budget on a yearly basis.  You have to also attend monthly AD meetings for the CHL where decisions are made about things like all conferences teams and awards, league tournaments, and league expansion, among other things.

You also have to take and handle complaints about facilities, coaches, won-loss records, playing time, uniforms that do not fit, and anything else that may come up throughout the year.  I once got a complaint from a parent about a sport tryout where cuts were going to be made, before the tryout ever happened.

It is a time consuming job with long hours and weekends included and sometimes you feel like it is a no-win situation.  However, the benefits of seeing kids grow and mature and become better athletes in their sport outweighs all the negatives.

In closing, I feel the most important part of the job is to try your hardest to make sure all the kids have a positive experience in the sport in which  they chose to participate. When you see your Athletic Director at your CHL school tell them you appreciate all that they do for your school's athletic program.

Indian Hill Braves finished a strong season, losing to Taft 30-14.

Taylor Yellowjackets had a strong season but they too went down to defeat to Alter 37-13.