The following guidelines should be followed when planning an I.A.C.O. sponsored I.H.S.A. Certified Officials Clinic.
Clinic Setup
The following items should be discussed and decided 10 to
12 months prior to the actual Clinic date.
- Choose 2 Saturday dates, which are approximately 3 or 4
weeks prior to the start of the I.H.S.A. sport season. The Saturday just
prior the first day of practice is a good target date. - The Clinic Chairman shall report on the status of their
Clinic at each I.A.C.O. Board meeting prior to the Clinic.- The Clinic Chair shall periodically present copies of
Clinic associated bills and invoices for approval and payment. - A complete final financial and overall clinic report
is due at the first I.A.C.O. Board meeting following the Clinic.
- The Clinic Chair shall periodically present copies of
- Recruit the appropriate I.H.S.A. Certified Clinician(s)
for the Clinic. The Certified Clinician(s) selected will then become Clinic
staff member(s). - The Clinic Chair should contact several centrally
located High Schools to determine if their facilities are available on the
selected dates.- Be certain to inform the schools that the Clinic will
be an I.H.S.A. Certified Clinic. - Determine if the school will charge a facility rental
fee. Most schools will only charge a minimal fee for any official I.H.S.A. function - Some schools may charge only for the cost of
custodians, others may charge for the custodians plus a facility rental fee. - Some schools may charge a fee for the use of
Audio-Visual equipment, and an AV operator. - Determine if the school will allow I.A.C.O. to
provide the required food service help, or if school personnel must provide
this service. Starting at 6:00am we require that someone either from the
Clinic or school staff be available to make coffee and set up the
continental breakfast. The same staff will work until after lunch has been
served, and the cafeteria area cleaned up, usually around 2:00pm.
- Be certain to inform the schools that the Clinic will
- Discuss the potential clinic dates and locations with
the I.A.C.O. Clinic Coordinator (Vice President) and your Clinic committee.- Choose the best date and site.
- Obtain and execute a rental agreement contract with the school Business Manager. The rental agreement shall indicate:
- If applicable, the rental fee
- The hours we will be allowed in the facility
- The rooms we will be allowed to use
- Personnel the school will provide
- Any equipment the school will provide
- Any other special criteria pertinent to the use of the school facility
- Inform the Business Manager that the I.A.C.O. has
liability and medical insurance coverage either under the National
Federation of State High School Associations policy or a private insurance
vendor. A copy of the N.F.H.S. insurance coverage can be obtained either
from the I.H.S.A. web site (www.ihsa.org), directly from the N.F.H.S. or the
private insurance vendor. - Provide the school Business Manager with a copy of the appropriate insurance coverage certificate.
- Organize the Clinic.
- Either the I.H.S.A. Certified Clinician or Clinic Facilitator shall complete and submit a Certified Clinic application form to the I.H.S.A. office.
- Verify that the Clinic is properly listed on the I.H.S.A. web site as Certified Clinic.
- Request that the I.H.S.A. schedule an I.H.S.A. Rules Interpretation Meeting for the date of the Clinic.
i.
A combined Softball and Baseball Clinic will require an Interpreter for
both sports on the same day at the same location.
- Choose the overall Clinic format.
i.
Separate sessions for baseball and softball
ii.
Separate sessions for new officials
iii.
Beginning officials with 1 to 3 years experience.
iv.
Separate sessions for experienced officials.
v.
Combined sessions for all
- Plan for the possibility of providing a signer for
Hearing Impaired Officials that may signup to attend the Clinic. - Contact the previous Clinic Chair to determine the
location of I.A.C.O. owned clinic equipment and resources. - If the following year Clinic Chair has been assigned,
encourage the incoming Chair to become actively involved in the current Clinic
organization and planning.
9.
Unless previously approved by the I.A.C.O. Board of Directors, the
I.A.C.O. shall not pay a speaker either an honorarium or expenses.
10.
Invite officials equipment vendors. At previous clinics the vendors have
included:
a.
Honig’s Whistle Stop
b.
Parsons (POS+)
c.
Hyatt Officials Supply
d.
Referee Magazine.
While vendors are not charged for attending, we do request that they extend the
lowest possible prices to the attendees. Most have an beginning official’s
package, which provides the basic uniform and equipment at a discounted price.
11.
Solicit each I.A.C.O. member organization to recommend speakers, and
the topic they are qualified to present. Then attempt to fit the available
talent into the chosen format of the Clinic.
a.
Clinic speakers must be knowledgeable, experienced officials, and, in
addition they MUST BE PROFICIENT PUBLIC SPEAKERS.
b.
An I.H.S.A. Certified Clinician must present the required topics of
“Professionalism” and “Conflict Resolution”.
c.
Remind Presenters that I.A.C.O. Clinics are based on National
Federation High School Rules and Mechanics, not collegiate.
d.
Assign a “Presider” to introduce each speaker and help each presentation
session to proceed smoothly.
e.
The use of video and/or Microsoft PowerPoint
presentations is encouraged and recommended.
f.
Each clinic presenter is required to provide either a written outline or
the text of his or her presentation. In order to be included in the Clinic
notebook all presentations must be provided to the Clinic Chair no later than 10
to 14 days prior to the clinic.
g.
Assemble the Clinic notebook and binder. Binder covers are required for
the Clinic notebook.
h.
Each I.H.S.A. Certified Clinician along with their I.H.S.A. registration
number must be listed on the index page of the Clinic notebook.
12.
A Clinic brochure must be designed. The brochure shall be provided to the
I.H.S.A. in time for mailing with the rulebooks. It must be printed on 8″ by 11
paper. It can be printed on both sides and folded in half but it cannot be a
trifold. One side should contain a registration form, and as much Clinic
information as possible. The other side should provide additional Clinic
information, such as topics, speakers and the date time and location. Stress
that it is an I.H.S.A. “Certified Clinic.” Point out that clinic
pre-registration can be completed online with a credit card at
www.iaco-official.org. It may be advisable to post
a printable version of the Clinic brochure on the I.A.C.O. web site.
Check with the I.H.S.A. Officials Department to determine the quantity of
brochures required and the date when they are needed. The clinic brochures can
be printed by a local print shop such as Kinko”s, or by the print shop in a
local school. Some schools can produce a quality job while using it as a school
fundraiser.
13.
Prepare a Clinic press release. The Clinic Coordinator has samples of
previous press releases that may be used as a guideline. About 3 months prior to
the Clinic send a copy of the press release to Referee Magazine. About 6 weeks
prior to the Clinic, send the press release to all of the local newspapers.
Invite local sports writers to attend the Clinic as our guests.
Clinic Support
1.
Arrange for food service.
a.
Assign a qualified staff person to make coffee and pick up donuts and
sweet rolls for the continental breakfast. The I.A.C.O. owns its own catering
size coffee pots.
b.
The same person should also pick up orange juice, and some milk.
2.
Arrange for lunch.
a.
I.A.C.O. has a contractual arrangement with “Lee and Eddies” catering
service. They provide Italian Beef, Fried Chicken, salads, rolls, condiments and
Jell-O for a very reasonable cost.
b.
Unless special arrangements have been with the host school, appoint
someone to pick up the lunch soft drinks.
3.
Line up your Clinic Staff (Non-speakers).
a.
Co-ordinate the advance registration process with the I.A.C.O.
Webmaster.
a.
Designate a Clinic Registrar
i.
To have overall responsibility for the registration process
ii.
To process advance registrations
iii.
To co-ordinate the walk in registrations.
b.
Assign staff to check in all
attendees. This staff should arrive about 30 minutes prior to the doors
opening, and stay there until about 11:00am when registrations are closed
i.
In order to make change, provide a
“bank” of about $100.00 cash. Caution; NEVER LEAVE THE BANK UNATTENDED!
ii.
Badges should be printed for all
of the advance-registered attendees.
iii.
Provide an alphabetical listing of
all pre-registered attendees. Check off pre-registered attendees as they arrive.
iv.
Hand out Clinic notebooks
v.
Process the walk in registrations.
Extra staff may be needed to process walk in registrations.
c.
Conference Assignors, host school
staff, I.A.C.O. Clinic staff and I.H.S.A. staff are not charged admission to
I.A.C.O. clinics.
d.
The I.A.C.O. Treasurer shall be
responsible for accounting for the Clinic receipts.
e.
At approximately 9:30am the
Treasurer and/or the Registrar should plan to provide a count of the
pre-registered and “walk in registrations” for the final meal count.
4.
Confirm that the equipment vendors that were invited will be attending
and when they plan to arrive. If they wish to set up their area on Friday
evening, verify with the school authorities to confirm that the vendors can be
admitted on Friday evening. Be present when the vendors arrive to layout and
assign their display area.
5.
Make up signs on white poster board for each Clinic session. The morning
of the Clinic tape these signs, using double-sided carpet tape, outside the
assigned rooms.
6.
Obtain the I.A.C.O. computers and projectors. Coordinate their
deployment throughout the Clinic.
Day of
the Clinic
1.
Arrive early at the Clinic location. If the doors open at 7:00am, the
Clinic Chair should arrive at 6:00am. Have the clinic food service staff there
to make the coffee and set out the donuts and juice. Have the remainder of your
staff (non-speakers) arrive by 6:30am to help with the signs and last minute
details.
2.
Make sure EVERYBODY who enters the building has a name
badge, and receives a two-piece meal/raffle ticket. One half of the ticket will
be surrendered when they pick up their lunch. The second half is retained for
the raffle drawing.
3.
Staff the registration desk until
about 11:00am. At that time close registrations and pick up the registration
records, receipts and the “Bank”. Along with the Treasurer, the Clinic Chair
should count and verify the Clinic receipts. The receipts should be placed in a
secure location. You will probably have about $1,000.00.
Other Duties
It is the Clinic Chair”s responsibility to welcome the attendees. The
I.A.C.O. President and/or Vice President may also make opening comments.
START ON TIME. During the clinic sessions, circulate through the
various classrooms. Your presence in a room will contribute. If you find a
presenter in trouble, throw them a life preserver. Help them out.
At lunch, supervise the serving. The caterer should deliver the food and
set it up about ” hour prior to the scheduled serving time. Work with the
equipment vendors. We do not charge them for attendance, but we do ask them to
pay $5.00 each for their lunches. They are usually willing to provide some kind
of door prizes. After lunch, ask the host school Athletic Director, or a well
known official, draw a door prize ticket from your raffle box. Have that winner
draw the next ticket and so on. We usually award the most valuable prize last.
Be certain to frequently mention and acknowledge the contributors.
At the completion of the lunch break, assist the school staff with the
clean up of the cafeteria. Allow them to do their job, but show them we wish to
co-operate. After the classrooms sessions are complete, work with both the
Clinic Staff and the school staff to pickup clinic materials and restore the
classrooms for Monday morning classes. Again, let them do their job, but show
them that we care about their facility.
Clinic Evaluation
At the completion of each of the final Clinic classroom sessions, in
exchange for their name badge holder, provide each Clinic attendee with an
I.H.S.A. Certified Clinic/Camp Attendance and Evaluation form. This form
requires the attendee to fill-in their name, social security number, I.H.S.A. ID
number, plus the Clinic date and location. The overall Clinic experience should
be rated. In addition, on this form, using their name and I.H.S.A. ID number,
each Clinician must be evaluated.
After the Clinic classroom sessions are complete, the attendees will
proceed to the I.H.S.A. Rules Interpretation meeting. As an aid to forms
completion, prepare a slide or viewgraph containing the Clinician names and
I.H.S.A. ID numbers. This information can be projected as the attendees file
into the Rules Interpretation Meeting location.
There will be some officials and coaches at the Rules Interpretation
meeting who did not attend the Clinic. As the co-host (the school”s A.D. is the
other co-host), you and the A.D. should welcome the attendees. Introduce the
I.H.S.A. Rules Interpreter. The clinic staff should hand out the interpretation
materials and assist the Interpreter with the Rules Interpretation Meeting
registration. Following the I.H.S.A. Rules Interpretation Meeting the completed
Forms should be collected. Be certain to accept ONLY ONE ATTENDANCE FORM
per attendee.
The I.H.S.A. Clinician and Clinic Chair should collect and
assemble the I.H.S.A. Certified Clinic/Camp Attendance and Evaluation forms.
The Clinic staff should verify that they were properly completed, i.e. name, SSN#,
I.H.S.A. ID#, location, sport and date, and that they have been signed. To
insure validity, it is recommended that the completed forms be crosschecked with
the Clinic registration records.
Read through the I.H.S.A. Clinic evaluation forms.
Tabulate and be prepared to share the session and clinic evaluations with the
clinic presenters and your staff. Either the Clinician or Clinic Facilitator
should forward the completed forms to the I.H.S.A. office.
Wind
Down
At the end of the Clinic day, meet your Clinic staff and
your presenters at a local watering hole and unwind. You have all earned it.
Compare notes and get ready for next year.