Looking forward to serving the NSAF
In introducing myself to this organization and this great community of those participating in and supporting athletics, I can’t help but recall a day more than 13 years ago. It was June 16, 2000, and I had walked from my parked car to the upper level entrance of Paul Derr Track at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., into the covered outdoor press area, and was gazing for the first time at a National Scholastic Athletics Foundation national championship event. Of course it was the NSSF back then, the meet had yet to move to Greensboro, and the sponsor for 
the outdoor championships was Foot Locker, not New Balance. I had written my first stories for the national high school track and XC site, DyeStat.com, the “Return of the Distance Gods” series, and now John Dye had invited me to cover my first nationals.
John introduced me to meet directors Jim Spier and Mike Byrnes, as well as Joy Kamani and others, and I went on to witness their first class production over the next two days. Similarly, several months later in March of 2001, I attended for the first time what was then Nike Indoor Nationals at the PG Sportsplex in Landover – another fantastic event – and continued to get to know these folks who were doing so much for our sport.
And so it continued, year in and year out, as I eventually became a full-time editor for DyeStat and the site evolved under John Dye. The NSSF and now NSAF events such as these, the Great American XC Festival, and others have always been highlights of every season. There was the continued opportunity to get to know Jim and Joy and the rest of the Foundation’s staff and crew and, even as I loved what I was doing with DyeStat, it occurred to me what a bounty it would be to serve professionally with these folks who seemed to be at the epicenter of high school track and field and XC on a national level.
In 2012, ESPN discontinued its support of DyeStat and most of its high school coverage (we’d been with ESPN since 2008) and later in the fall, when John Dye retired, it seemed like DyeStat was dead – only to be resurrected by Ross Krempley and Runnerspace.com. And so it was a little more than a month ago, while working with this new incarnation of DyeStat, that I received an unexpected offer. The Foundation wanted someone working in the area of media and public relations. Would I be interested in being that person?
Leaving DyeStat, where I’d been serving part- and then full-time for 13 years – and admittedly had become a huge part of my identity – was a hard decision. But in this case I cannot help but invoke this cliche: It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
I am extremely grateful to have this opportunity with the Foundation, as the new Director of Media and Public Relations. On the one hand, it’s a chance to continue to cover as a journalist the same sport I grew up in, and continue to love and want to be involved with. On the other hand, it means doing new and different things to promote and support athletics, and doing so from a different place, or “foundation,” if you will. It will be an exciting mix of the new and familiar, and I look forward to sharing the mission and stories of the NSAF through every kind of media available and to both our athletics community and the world at large.
I think those of us involved with this organization, and all of us who love athletics in general, have these things on our mind and in our hearts: One, we know what participation in the sports of track and field and cross-country can do for young people in their lives, whether it’s with many of the outstanding prep programs across this nation or with many of the fine clubs that work with youth and junior athletes. Two, we also feel that if we can provide and enhance athletics opportunities for these young people, not only will their lives be touched, but our national and international teams will be strengthened all the way through to the senior and Olympic levels.
The NSAF’s stated mission is to “inspire youth to live active, healthy lifestyles, and to prepare them for future success.” I’m proud to be part of an organization with this mission and look forward to adding to it my energy, experience, and ideas. In the end, it’s all about serving all of you out there: The athletes, families, coaches and everyone who loves and is involved with our sport. What I do, what we all do, is for you.
