National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

The state of high school sports has never been better. Participation at every level in every sport is higher than ever and growing. While much attention has been focused on the obesity of our nation's youth, the experts fail to take into account the millions of kids playing basketball, field hockey, baseball, etc. The largest sport in the nation in terms of participation is running. Both cross-country and track and field are currently at their highest levels and growing.

It's always easier to concentrate on the negative and play down the positive. Just look at your local newspaper and/or television news coverage. The story of those who volunteer to help serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless is buried, if mentioned at all, in the back pages while the thug who committed a crime is front page news. TV commentators never fail to mention this sordid type story. Unfortunately, this presents an unfair picture of the nation's young people.

We at the National Scholastic Sports Foundation see our youth in an entirely different light, and with good reason. Since its inception in 1991 the NSSF, more than any other organization, has lead the way to create more opportunities for both participation and the pursuit of excellence.

But a name synonymous with the NSSF is NIKE. Without their support, much of our progress would never have happened. Consider, prior to our involvement with NIKE the support the NSSF could give to athletes was severely limited. We relied on the generosity of the airline industry and our own ability to provide funding to a small group of athletes. We simply lacked the financial resources to do more. NIKE recognized the work that we do and asked if they could help. Thus, this partnership was born.

The greatest pre-NSSF accomplishment was the creation of the first major indoor championship competition. The brainchild of NSSF CEO Jim Spier and brought, now the NIKE IKNDOOR NATIONALS opened the eyes of the nation's high school athletes to compete for a national title. Far more importantly, it inspired thousands upon thousands of other athletes to strive for a chance to compete at the highest level. 99% of those athletes knew they had little or no chance of becoming the nation's best but that wasn't the point. Perhaps they never knew the quote or the name of the man who wrote it, but every one of those kids recognized 'a man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a heaven for?' For your edification, the quote is from Robert Browning's poem, Andrea del Sarto. However, for far too many of those athletes the financial backing to get to the nationals wasn't there. The NSSF tried but we could provide for only a few of those athletes. An organization, no matter how well intended, no matter how dedicated its leaders, no matter how much effort is put in, no organization can grow without support. Then came NIKE.

A moment of explanation is called for. To have a TRUE national-class competition, there must be national representation. That means place tickets, mileage expense, housing, officials, facility rental — and dozens of other expenses that go into putting on a top-quality event, financial support is necessary. Thus, a deserving girl in Washington state? Sorry, no funding. A terrific athlete in Arizona? Sorry, …Enter NIKE.

Today the NSSF spends well over a hundred thousand dollars on athlete support. NIKE enables us to do so. The NSSF also assists 40 Elite athletes to the USATF Junior Championships, something we could not do without NIKE. Uniforms for those athletes are provided by…NIKE. The NSSF has made major contributions as well. In 2002, the 4x100mR team representing this country established a new WORLD Junior record, 38.92 breaking the old mark that was set in 1983. Had it not been for NSSF Board member, Joy Kamani, three of the members of that team would not have been able to get to the USATF championships, the qualifying meet for our international teams. The Foundation came up with the funding for those air tickets and history was made.

Whatever the sport, one will find the fingerprint of NIKE. According to NIKE spokesperson Jacie Bieto, "We (NIKE) are pretty well-saturated within high school sports. We put on clinics for basketball, football, soccer and NIKE athletes such as Kobe Bryant, Labron James, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey not only take part in some of those events but also give back to their former high schools in many ways."

In virtually every sport offered within the high school framework, you will find some involvement by NIKE. Of course, other companies can also take credit for what they do at this level but the leader, by far…NIKE. It is fair and accurate to state this nation's Olympic accomplishments would be far less had there been no NIKE to offer assistance and the NSSF to offer the competitive opportunities.

Together we have done something spectacular, we have changed the face of track and field in our nation.