Position: Athletic Director

Well, our board had it's first meeting of the year, even with several feet of snow on the ground!  Which is a good time to think about team responsibilities.  Let's talk about the athletic director....

They are the primary interface between the coach and the rest of the world.  Their position allows the coach to focus more on coaching.

Post the week's schedule: at the start, things are pretty consistent - practice M, T, Th, Fri from 4:30 to 6:30.  But later when games start getting added, it's important to give everyone a heads up on what's happening that week.  We use a Facebook group and people really appreciate that schedule for the week.

Verify Games: they call the other team's AD to make sure the game is still on, confirm time and location. This is very important!  Are there any tricks to finding the place?  Clarify who will verify that the referees will be at home games.  It may be the scheduler, may be the AD, or someone else.

Equipment assessment: usually our equipment manager takes care of all things equipment, but there are special cases where the AD will review special situations.  For example, review the goalie equipment: does each goalie have their own gloves, what condition are they in, have they grown and need new pants, are there extra pants floating around, etc.

Scheduling Games: We usually have someone to do scheduling for the team, but we did have a situation where we needed to have JV games scheduled and the scheduler couldn't do that, so the AD did.

Attend League Meetings: The league will usually have a couple meetings per year and it's good to have another set of eyes and ears present.

Schmooze:  It's good for the AD to get to know other AD's in the league.  This smooths the way for any future issues that will come up.

Who does the AD coordinate with?

Coach: Probably the most important working relationship.

Scheduler: Will want to be aware of any schedule changes or discussions.

Equipment Manager: do an initial discussion at the start of the season to see if there are any special equipment needs.