The MSSADA Messenger

Dear MSSADA Members,

I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well as we look forward to the thought of warmer weather and the Spring athletic season!

We are excited to share the information in the latest installment of our "The MSSADA Messenger", highlighting student-athlete essay award winners, multiple association partnerships, and information concerning our upcoming virtual conference, along with the NIAAA Section 1 Summer Institute.

Our Executive Board has worked extremely hard over the past two months developing a comprehensive schedule for our inaugural virtual conference, with many professional development opportunities and a celebratory awards video. I highly encourage all members to register and attend, as we are extremely excited to participate!

Thank you again for all that you do for high school student-athletes, all while battling a worldwide pandemic and balancing daily challenges that have accompanied it.

Sincerely,

Francis Whitten III, CMAA

Executive Director

MSSADA

Dear Athletic Administrators,

I thought that it would be nice to relay some exciting and positive news during these challenging times.

I am proud to announce the winners of the 2021 MSSADA Scholar/Athlete Essay Awards! This year's winners are Grace Brogioli from Wareham High School and Benjamin Westphal from Algonquin Regional High School. These two remarkable individuals will now represent Massachusetts in a pool of candidates from Section 1 in contention for the NIAAA Scholar/Athlete of the Year Award.

Special thanks go out to Scoreboard Enterprises and The Championship Award Guys, strong supporters of our organization, who are financing $500 scholarships to each of our winners in recognition of their outstanding academic and athletic achievements.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the athletic administrators that supported this effort by taking the time to spread the word to their respective candidates and for writing such heartfelt recommendations. We had numerous applicants, all truly outstanding young men and woman.

Thank you again for your continued professionalism and dedication to educational athletics.

Respectfully,

Fran Whitten, CMAA

MSSADA Executive Director


GRACE BROGIOLI Wareham High School	BENJAMIN WESTPHAL Algonquin Regional High School

GRACE BROGIOLI

Wareham High School

BENJAMIN WESTPHAL

Algonquin Regional High School

Gipper Media, Inc. (Gipper) has signed a partnership with the Massachusetts Secondary Schools Athletic Directors Association (MSSADA) to help grow MSSADA’s social media presence via their use of the Gipper platform and to help connect and support MSSADA members.

"We are thrilled to partner with Gipper and use their platform to help enhance our association’s social media presence," said MSSADA Executive Director, Fran Whitten. "Gipper’s powerful, but simple platform will help us create branded social media content to better promote MSSADA and our members’ accomplishments. We are also excited to introduce more of our members to the Gipper platform as well as their extensive professional development resources."

In a moment in history when schools’ digital communication has never been so important, Gipper provides a critical tool for athletic departments to better communicate and engage with their stakeholders. The easy to use platform enables high school athletic departments to create professional sports graphics for social media - in seconds, on any device, and without needing any design experience. Users can access a range of ready-made templates that they can customize and share directly to social media in just a few clicks.

"It feels great to partner with the MSSADA," said Matthew Glick, Founder & CEO of Gipper. “It is a fantastic organization that is invested in helping support Massachusetts based athletic directors - which aligns perfectly with everything we do at Gipper. High school athletic departments have so many teams and student-athletes to cover, but lack the resources to do so effectively. Gipper allows athletic administrators to save time, while creating professional sports graphics to better grow their brand, engage stakeholders, and drive revenue. As the leading graphics solution platform in the K-12 industry, this was another no-brainer partnership.”

About Gipper:

Gipper is the leading graphics solution platform in the K-12 industry, enabling schools to create professional graphics for social media - in seconds, on any device, and without needing any design experience. Serving school communications professionals, athletic administrators, and principals - Gipper empowers anyone at a school to create effective and compelling content for social media in just a few clicks. With access to a wide range of ready-made templates and seamless social media sharing, schools can create and share more content than ever, all while spending less time and money. In doing so, schools are able to better grow their brand, improve stakeholder communication, and create additional revenue opportunities.

For athletic needs, try Gipper for free at: gogipper.com/athletics

For general school needs, try Gipper for free at: gogipper.com

For additional information about Gipper, please contact:

The MSSADA is excited to announce the formation of a partnership with rSchoolToday! The foundation of this joint venture will be the creation of a tremendous new website for the association. Members will now be able to easily access important information, valuable resources, and outstanding professional development opportunities.

Ray Dretske, Co-Founder, President and CEO of rSchoolToday said "We are thrilled to partner with the MSSADA. As so many Massachusetts schools use rSchool for their Athletics Management, it was a natural fit to help the association." Thanks to Ray and his team, we will not only have an active website but also the ability to livestream, video conference, create a media library and much more.

Matt Trahan, Athletic Administrator at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School and 2nd VP of the MSSADA, believes that "We will now have the ability to reach all of our member schools through the technology of multi-platforms providing the association with a state of the art experience."

"This partnership with rSchoolToday puts our association on the cutting edge in terms of the utilization of technology and the resources and offerings available to the membership. I also want to extend special thanks to Matt Trahan for his tireless efforts to make this all happen", said MSSADA Executive Director Fran Whitten

LTC Course Information

For the 2021 MSSADA Conference, we are excited to offer the following

LTC Courses via Zoom:

504 - Legal Issues I (Tuesday 5/4/21 8:00AM - 12:00PM)

619 - The Power of Curb Appeal (Tuesday 5/4/21 8:00AM - 12:00PM)

790 - Leadership Training Instructional Methods (Tuesday 5/4/21 4:00PM - 8:00PM)

506 - Legal Issues II (Wednesday 5/5/21 8:00AM - 12:00PM)

628 - Mental Health and Wellness for the Student-Athlete (Wednesday 5/5/21 8:00AM - 12:00PM)

508 - Legal Issues III (Wednesday 5/5/21 4:00PM - 8:00PM)

706 - Coaching Coaches to be Leadership Educators (Thursday 5/6/21 8:00AM - 12:00PM)

Information regarding NIAAA LTC Course Offerings during the 2021 Virtual Conference and Registration is included in the Family ID registration for the conference.

Please contact Karrah Ellis, MSSADA LTC Coordinator at ellisk@tantasqua.org with all LTC course or CAA Exam questions.