News

What a Fall Season we should have this year in the CHL.  Seven Players of the Year return for another season.  Devlan Daniel, Indian Hill, returns as POY in Football.  Ellie Hartung, Madeira, was the POY and State Runner-Up in Girls Golf. Kylie Stutsman, Taylor, returns as reigning POY in Volleyball.  Allie McCauley, Indian Hill, and Addy Zawaly, Mariemont, were co-POY's and they both return for the Girls Soccer season.  Jake Lewis, Indian Hill, returns for his senior season on the links, POY in Boys Golf.  And finally, Emily Shea, Indian Hill, was named POY in Girls Cross Country as a freshman. She returns as a sophomore with one POY under her belt, looking for a possible four in a row!

Girls Soccer:  Madeira finished 18-4-1, won the Ohio State Title in their division, but finished in third place in the toughest soccer league in the state.  Indian Hill finished 17-2-3 and were CHL champs and in the state final four in '25.  Mariemont finished 16-4 and finished 2nd in the CHL.

Boys Soccer:  Wyoming was CHL champions and were in the Ohio State Final Four last year. They finished with an 18-2-4 final record.  Mariemont was 17-3-1 and 2nd in the CHL. The Warriors have 3 Junior first teamers back this fall.

Volleyball:  Taylor has won 3 straight CHL Volleyball titles in a row.  in '25 the Jackets were 14-0 (22-3 overall). They return another strong team this season led by Kylie Stutsman.

Football:  Indian Hill Braves were CHL champions and made it all the way to the State Final Four last year.  Led by QB Devlan Daniel they were 7-0 (13-1).  Wyoming will be a strong challenger to IH this year. They had six underclass first team all league performers last season.  Mark Friday, September 11th, on your calendar when Wyoming travels to Indian Hill in the biggest game of the Fall Season.

Cross Country:  Indian Hill's Boys won the CHL meet last year beating Madeira by only 4 points in a very close race. On the Girls side Madeira beat Mariemont by only 1 point.  Should be another close CHL meet for both the Boys and Girls runners.

Boys Golf:  Indian Hill returns the Player of the Year Jake Lewis. The Braves won the Preview and Post Season Tournament to win the CHL by only one point over Wyoming. The Cowboys should be strong again with the addition of freshman Austin Marty joining the squad this year.

Girls Golf:  Madeira has dominated the CHL the last two years.  Led by golf phenom Ellie Hartung, the Zons won the CHL with a 7-0 record (14-0 overall).  They won both the Preview and the Post Season Tournaments.  Hartung is a favorite to return to the State Meet and could possibly be the next CHL State Champion.

Madeira Takes Pre-Season Tournament Gold

Junior Ellie Hartung led Madeira by shooting a blistering 33-35=68 in the CHL Pre-Season Tournament at Reeves Golf Course.  The Zons took the title by shooting a 338.  Wyoming finished as runner-up shooting a team total of 361.  Mariemont was third and Taylor finished in fourth.

Hartung was the medalist.  Addi Koenig, Wyoming, finished second with an 80. Madeira’s Maggie Meyer shot an 86 for third.

High school athletic directors occupy one of the most demanding, and rewarding, leadership positions in education. On any given day, they’re expected to be administrators, event managers, marketers, fundraisers, compliance officers, transportation coordinators, counselors, conflict mediators, and public relations specialists.

Then, when the lights come on Friday night, they’re simply expected to make sure everything runs flawlessly. It’s a role that’s often misunderstood because the most important work happens behind the scenes. If everything goes according to plan, no one notices. If one small detail falls through the cracks, everyone does.

The hurdles are real. Athletic directors constantly balance limited budgets against growing expectations. Facilities need repairs. Equipment wears out. Officials are becoming harder to recruit. Transportation costs continue to rise. State association regulations evolve. Every year seems to bring more responsibility without additional resources. Then there are the people. Every coach wants more opportunities for their program. Every parent wants what’s best for their child. Every booster group has ideas. Every principal has priorities. Every student-athlete deserves an exceptional experience. The challenge isn’t deciding who is right. The challenge is finding a way to serve everyone while understanding that not every request can become reality.

Communication may be the single most valuable skill an athletic director possesses. One schedule change can affect multiple schools, officials, transportation departments, custodians, coaches, families, and hundreds of student-athletes. A weather delay can reshape an entire week. One misunderstood email can create unnecessary conflict that takes days to resolve. Great athletic directors understand that overcommunicating is almost always better than undercommunicating. Perhaps the greatest challenge is that athletic directors are often evaluated by outcomes they control the least. They don’t coach the games. They don’t make the shots. They don’t score the touchdowns. Yet when things go wrong, the athletic department is often the first place people look for answers.

Despite all of that, few careers offer the rewards this profession does. You watch nervous freshmen become confident seniors. You see struggling students find purpose through athletics. You hire coaches who influence lives far beyond the playing field. You build cultures and traditions that continue long after you’ve moved on. The best athletic directors know that banners eventually collect dust, trophies become decorations, and records are eventually broken. What lasts are the relationships. It’s the former athlete who returns years later to introduce you to their family. It’s the coach who tells you your support helped them through a difficult season. It’s the parent who thanks you not because their child won, but because their child grew. The hours are long. The criticism can be loud. The responsibility is constant. But somewhere in the middle of the chaos, athletic directors help shape students into better and/or more well rounded leaders, teammates, and people .

There are few callings more meaningful than that.

William Payne

The Value of Education-Based Athletics

Several years ago, I was asked to speak at a local fundraising banquet.  My high school football coach was in the audience.  At the end of my speech, I was able to thank my coach and discuss the way he influenced my life.  This was an opportunity I thought I would never have.  Most of the time, the impact a coach or teacher makes on young lives goes unnoticed.  Yet, these influential relationships are quite common—not only in my particular case, but in high schools throughout the state of Ohio.

Many have argued that club sports and AAU programs have diminished the importance of high school athletics.  Now that colleges recruit from select teams, there seems to be no reason to participate in the school-based alternatives.  I strongly disagree.  High school athletics are uniquely able to promote the relationships discussed above and their connection to the educational process makes them more likely to produce athletes who are well-rounded and complete individuals.

My daughter’s experience with high school athletics mirrors my own, despite the fact that she was a strong athlete who participated in premier club programs offered outside the school setting. The relationships she developed with her high school coaches were much stronger and longer lasting than those she developed with coaches of teams that met only three times a week and traveled to events separately.  Given these relationships, she loved her high school teams and always looked forward to “playing for her school.”  In fact, she invited her high school coach to her wedding.  She has not had any interaction with her premier coach.

While the goal of all teams is to be successful, high school sports programs offer much more.  Most of the coaches in the education-based setting have been trained to teach adolescents.  As a result, the high school athletic program is often an extension of the classroom.  Many of the values associated with academic discipline are transferred to the athletic field and vice versa.  This integration helps to develop a well rounded individual that will become a successful adult in our society.

I have worked in the field of education for thirty five years, twenty six of those as an  athletic director.  As an athletic director and coach in this great state, I have had the opportunity to build the same relationships with athletes that my own coach built with me.  Moreover, I have watched many young women and men grow into complete individuals by integrating academic and athletic discipline.  Though club sports provide certain advantages, they cannot compete with education-based athletics on these levels.  It is truly the best game in town!

Jim Barre

CHL/SID

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.