It’s about time we met. If you’re at all familiar with high school sports and/or the AIA, you’ve probably heard my name or read something about the staff of the AIA.  Unfortunately for many, we are just a name.  You haven’t met Dr. Slemmer (the Executive Director), our tournament coordinators, officials department and/or accounting staff. In many cases on message boards or chat rooms, you have only heard of our staff and/or me in the context of misinformation or hearsay.   Now once upon a time, that was the only way to get information.  It came to you through narrow channels, as communicated by others through some string of contacts.  But the world has changed and with blogs and social media, there is no longer a need for narrow channels.  You can find out who and what we do, directly from our staff and me.  So this blog is a look inside letting you know what we are doing here at the AIA and why.  You may not always agree with the AIA Executive Board and/or staff but at least you’ll have a better understanding of who we are and why we do what we do.  We are the AIA, a group of 274 member schools who have voluntarily joined to make up an Association to govern and run high school athletics and activities in the state of Arizona. The staff, well we are people who dedicated our professional careers to promoting and creating opportunities for kids.
So allow me to introduce myself. I’ve been honored to serve the Association as the Chief Operating Officer, reporting to our Executive Director Dr. Harold Slemmer since 2006.
In 2000, I came to the AIA as a coordinator and worked in a variety of capacities assisting Dr. Slemmer.  While my day to day responsibilities and tasks have changed immensely from the early part of my career, some things have never changed; I still love sports and I am thrilled watching the kids achieve great things.  I know how educational athletics positively impacted my life and it is my intention to share that positive influence through the AIA. 
While I try to keep the positive impact of educational athletics at the top of my mind, many days it can become very difficult. Because on many days  not only is the AIA as an organization questioned but also the intentions, motives and character of our staff and leadership.  So if you are questioning things, this is a forum for me to provide answers, to you the fans, parents, communities, and students whom we serve.  Again, you might not always agree with the logic of the decisions but hopefully we’ll all walk away with a better understanding as to why, and the reasoning behind the final decisions of the AIA Executive Board.   
Let’s start with some recent claims on AZCentral.com about ticket prices.  To set the record straight, WE ARE TRYING TO MAKE MONEY.  But when we make money, it goes to AIA programs and excess funds are dispersed back to our member schools.  We were very pleased with our recent audit and the information shared with the Board on May 7, 2011, regarding the 2009-2010 fiscal year.  Unlike the vast majority of not for profit organizations that struggle to put 70 cents of every dollar to programs, we put 90 cents of every dollar directly into our programs. Only 10 cents of each incoming dollar goes to overhead and administrative costs.
If we are able to earn more, we disperse the excess funds to the schools for them to use in whatever way best suits their community needs.  In other words, if we can make the tournaments profitable, the money goes back to your community schools. 
Now let me address ticket prices.  Currently they are at $10 and $8 for adults, and $6 for students.  That money goes toward the cost of the event, e.g. venue, security, tournament employees, logistics, and officials.  From what we have been able to gather, the pricing structure of a flat $5 was set some 25 years ago. Unfortunately, the AIA was losing money and in order to sustain operations, we had to make some adjustments.  It would be fiscally and morally irresponsible and downright reprehensible to allow this to continue to a point in which our programs and thus the students and member schools we serve did not have the programs that are important to our member schools and the communities they serve.  Was it a hard decision to make?   Yes.     In the discussion, there was thought of the families that are struggling financially due to these economically tough times.  But to not make the decision would have hurt even more families and their kids.  While for some families it is as easy as forgoing a movie weekend to make the games, we realize there are others that have difficulty sending every member of the family to game.  That is part of our reasoning in developing live, free streams of the games on AIA365.com.  And to ensure that the record is straight, AIA365.com is completely underwritten by sponsors.
We are constantly rethinking strategy, decisions and tactics to make sure that we are achieving the AIA mission of creating “an ethical environment promoting fair and equitable competition while supporting the academic mission of our member schools.”  There are a lot of tough choices and decisions to make but I hope as you get to know the AIA, the AIA team,  and me, you will realize every AIA decision is made with the best interest of our students and member schools  in the mind of the AIA Executive Board and AIA staff  
I look forward to the days ahead giving you the inside information on high school sports and the perspective from the place where we see it all, the AIA. Please forward questions or topics to info@aiaonline.org for me to answer and discuss as we move ahead with my blog.
Even though the schools are out for the summer we will be in the office getting ready for 2011-2012’s victories, defeats, achievements, and life lessons that are all a part of the AIA experience.