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Early in July the Star met with Ed Redmond, the Lansing School District's Athletic Director. We talked about the program, the school, the teams and all aspects of the Athletic Program. This is part one of a three part series.
When you enter Ed Redmond's office he is warm and welcoming. There are trophies on display, and it is obvious that he is proud of the students who play on the teams. He is very positive about people, always looking for something encouraging to say. It is clear he knows the district and the program he has managed for nine years.
Lansing Star: Lansing is a huge sports town.
Ed Redmond: Athletics is a very a hot topic. It's something that people in Lansing are concerned about. They follow their kids. Certainly it's been a big part of the community since I've been here, and I've been here 23 years.
LS: How long have you been the Athletic Director?
ER: I've been the Athletic Director since 1996. Fred Caliel, who was a long time Athletic Director and basketball coach for 25 years passed away unexpectedly in the summer of '96. They were looking for someone to come in who was familiar with the programs and the school and they offered me the opportunity. Fred was here for 25 years and did an outstanding job, and I just feel we're trying to continue that. I've been the AD now for eight or nine years.
LS: Were you teaching in the school before?
ER: I started here as a teacher in 1984. I taught health education in High School and Middle School and I taught driver education in High School. I taught all those areas until '96. When I became the AD in '96 I still taught High School health and driver ed a half day. So in '99 I received my administrative certificate from SUNY Cortland and at that time I was appointed the Athletic Director/Dean of Students here in the High School. At that point they took all teaching assignments away from me so I'm now an administrator. But all the years I've been in this district.
LS: What's the connection between phys. ed and the athletics program?
ER: Well, there's a strong connection with the kids. We encourage our kids to participate in sports through physical education. The connection is an obvious one from the physical activity standpoint. But as far as the two departments (are concerned), they're not connected. We have a physical education curriculum coordinator and she's a member of the faculty so she is in charge of coordinating that. My role as Athletic Director is to run the athletic program. The 24 or so sports, I'm in charge of out of this office.
LS: There is a wide range of sports offered.
ER: In Fall you can see our girls are spread out with cheer leading, soccer, swimming and volleyball. They have four choices. If you look in the Winter (schedule) they're offered basketball, cheer leading, track and bowling. Then in the Spring it gets a little lighter: softball, track, golf and tennis. Our girls programs, especially in the Fall, do very well considering we're only a small B school now. We just made the B classification with our enrollment, so for the number of kids required to make an athletic team they do very well.
LS: What are the classifications?
ER: We're in the Interscholastic Athletic Conference ((IAC) and that's basically a geographical thing. We've been part of the IAC for years. We're in an 18 school member conference. What they do with the classification is they take your enrollment for three grades (9, 10, 11) and they put you into a classification within the state. Next year we'll have 342 kids, grades 10, 11 and 12. That makes us a B school. The B cutoff is 325. And that goes all the way to 600.
LS: We were a C before?
ER: Yes, and prior to '97 we were a D so we've really grown.
LS: These classifications don't affect the league that you're in?
ER: No, it affects your sectional play. When you get to something called sectional play you advance into state playoffs. That's how you're grouped. You're grouped with the other B schools. The other B schools in our league would be Trumansburg, Dryden, Waverly and Watkins Glen.
LS: So you wouldn't play the As at all?
ER: We wouldn't play the As unless we chose to play them in what we call a non-league game. If we wanted to play Ithaca it would be a non-league game. Some of our teams do go out and play bigger schools.
LS: And that is a way of handicapping the teams?
ER: It tries to level the playing field. A school like Ithaca is choosing from 1300 students vs. a school like Lansing that is choosing from 300 students. You know, there's a difference.
LS: But Lansing has been very successful.
ER: Right, Lansing's done very well. The athletic program has really thrived. Over the years (Lansing has) always been at the top of the League.
LS: What do you attribute that to?
ER: Well, I think the first thing is the community recreation programs that are run through the Recreation office of Mr. Colt. He does an outstanding job getting kids involved. And the parents that are involved at that level are outstanding. The time they contribute, they volunteer... that's where it really all starts. They bring kids into that environment.
Then I think we hire great coaches here. Our coaches in the school district are outstanding. We have veteran coaches. We have very low turnover. If we do it's usually at the modified level where we have to fill in some coaches from year to year. Our varsity coaches typically have been here quite a while. So continuity in the program has helped us. Certainly support from the Board of Education and the Administration here is critical. And the community... the funding for the athletic program is critical. We have top notch facilities. And I think our kids are talented. I think we have kids that excel in the athletic arena, and it's just one portion of their excellence. As you know they excel in music and drama and everything else around here. It seems to be a source of excellence in the school district.
I think if you put all those things together you're going to have a winning program.
Next week, in Part 2 of 3 Ed Redmond talks about the philosophy behind the athletics program, and how it fits within the district and the community at large. In part 3 he talks about the school's sports facilities, his family and coaching.
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