July 10, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Parent Meetings Announced for Parents of APSD Student-Athletes
For more information, contact APSD Athletics at 870-246-7373, ext.
606 or babbc@apsd.k12.ar.us
ARKADELPHIA – The Arkadelphia
Public School Athletic Department has announced Thursday, July 19, and
Thursday, July 26, as the dates for pre-season informational meetings
for parents of APSD students who participate in athletics or on spirit
squads from grades 7-12.
The Athletic Department is holding
the meetings on two separate nights to accommodate families who may
have already made plans that fall on one of the dates. The meetings
will begin at 6:00 p.m. each night and will be held in the Little Theater
at Arkadelphia High School. A third option will be scheduled around
the APSD open house dates for those who cannot make either date.
With two meetings scheduled, parents
of football and volleyball players are all asked to attend the first
meeting on July 19. The meeting will coincide with the kickoff of a
fundraiser that the members of the Badger football program will be conducting,
so information regarding that effort will be presented to football parents
after the meeting. Parents of student involved in other sports and spirit
squads are asked to attend the July 26th meeting, but attendees
can attend the other session if their schedule doesn’t allow.
“We don’t want people to not attend
a meeting just because their schedule didn’t allow them to come to
the meeting that is designated for their student’s sport,” said
Babb. “We have important information that we need to share with our
families, so we strongly encourage parents or guardians to attend.”
Information will be presented regarding
Heat Illness prevention, new guidelines adopted by the Arkansas Activities
Association regarding concussions, Arkadelphia’s newly adopted drug-testing
policy, as well as other details about the upcoming APSD school year.
“We look forward to these meetings
to get things started off for the 2012-23 school year,” said APSD
Athletic Director Chris Babb. “There are some new requirements both
locally and from the AAA that require parents to sign documents before
their student can participate, so these meeting are very important.”
The meetings will also be a chance
for the district to address ways that parents and the school can work
together to help prevent injuries and heat illnesses as pre-season take
place in August, when temperatures are traditionally very high.
“Also, we really want to educate
parents about some of the things they can do to help their students
in the way of heat illness prevention,” Babb said. “Thanks to our
arrangement with HSU, we have Certified Athletic Trainers and interns
at our disposal during our practices and games so we have a system in
place to monitor our students and their health while they’re under
our watch. But at most, that’s only about four or five hours a day.
The other 19 or 20 hours when they are at home are just as vitally important,
so we want to help educate parents on how they can help.”
Below are the dates and corresponding
sports asked to attend:
Thursday, July 19 – Football and
Volleyball 7-12
Thursday, July 26 – Cross Country, Golf Tennis, Spirit Squads, winter
sports, spring sports.
If a student participates in football
or volleyball as well as one of the sports listed on July 26th,
they are asked to come to the July 19th meeting. There is
no need for parents to attend both meetings as the same information
will be presented.
“We really hope people will help
us spread the word to other parents they know,” said Babb. “It is
important for all of us to be on the same page when it comes to the
health and safety of our student-athletes.”
-AHS-
