INDIANAPOLIS, IN (January 23, 2020) — The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has released “Beyond The Scoreboard,” the second installment of its new video series centered on correcting negative adult fan behavior at high school events.

Competitive high school events can be a highly emotional experience for the parents of participants and other invested adults, especially during the intense moments when winning and losing hangs in the balance. “Beyond The Scoreboard,” which follows “The Parent Seat” as the second non-course production housed on the NFHS Learning Center website (www.NFHSLearn.com), utilizes a list of 10 “life lessons” fostered by athletics and activities participation that are often forgotten by adult fans during the heated battle for victory.

“There are times when the scoreboard may indicate a loss, but there is actually a whole lot of winning going on,” said NFHS Director of Educational Services Dan Schuster. “As cliché as that sounds, we’re trying to spread the word that this is what our programs are supposed to be about – putting the ‘education’ in education-based athletics and activities programs.”

The participation benefits described in “Beyond The Scoreboard,” which include work ethic, respect, confidence, adaptability and others, are but a small portion of the actual list of invaluable traits developed through high school athletics and activities. For this reason, Schuster feels the most impactful element of the video is the clear, concise descriptions accompanying each term.

 “Some people may use different words for the same thing or believe in a different set of 10 life lessons or a different number of them – whatever they choose,” he said. “But they’re going to agree and nod their heads at the descriptions and understand that we need our kids developing these skills through participation.”

A major part of the success of “The Parent Seat” was its shareable nature as a downloadable video. Once taken from the website, the video could be shared on social media and/or used by coaches and administrators at contests and preseason parents meetings. With the same concept applied to the fresh content found in “Beyond The Scoreboard,” Schuster is excited by a new set of possibilities.      

“We wanted to come up with a way that we could easily disseminate information to parents and ‘The Parent Seat’ has proven that this model works,” he said. “This is another topic we want to get in front of parents and we’re really looking forward to schools receiving it and using it; and it gives them something new instead of the same video over and over.”

The NFHS is planning a third parent-centric video in the near future, but Schuster said he would also like to expand video offerings to target additional audiences within the NFHS’ membership.

“We want to take this momentum and carry it on to other constituents,” he said. “We want to create some bite-size video pieces for students in the future, perhaps a couple of intro pieces for coaches, even administrators. Our goal is to just keep getting our message out – who we are, what we do and why it’s important – and continue to pump out resources that ultimately serve our students and schools as best we can.”

To watch the full “Beyond The Scoreboard” video, visit: https://nfhslearn.com/library/videos/beyond-the-scoreboard.

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About the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)

The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts activities. Since 1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based interscholastic sports and performing arts activities that help students succeed in their lives. The NFHS sets direction for the future by building awareness and support, improving the participation experience, establishing consistent standards and rules for competition, and helping those who oversee high school sports and activities. The NFHS writes playing rules for 16 sports for boys and girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state associations and the District of Columbia, the NFHS reaches more than 19,500 high schools and 12 million participants in high school activity programs, including almost eight million in high school sports. As the recognized national authority on interscholastic activity programs, the NFHS conducts national meetings; sanctions interstate events; offers online publications and services for high school coaches and officials; sponsors professional organizations for high school coaches, officials, speech and debate coaches, and music adjudicators; serves as the national source for interscholastic coach training; and serves as a national information resource of interscholastic athletics and activities. For more information, visit the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Bruce Howard, 317-972-6900
Director of Publications and Communications
National Federation of State High School Associations
bhoward@nfhs.org

Chris Boone, 317-972-6900
Assistant Director of Publications and Communications
National Federation of State High School Associations
cboone@nfhs.org