AD for a Day

I chose to shadow one of my mentors at Champion Schools who I interact with on a daily basis. His name is Junior Taylor and is the Athletic Director for our school. Mr. Taylor was one of the three people that initially influenced me to be a part of CS. I felt like I had a lot in common with him, which I do, and this would make the work atmosphere a little lighter. At the same time, he is the head of athletics so I call him "Coach Taylor" along with the rest of the students and employees.

Coach Taylor is an extremely busy individual which hasn't made the beginning of the year the easiest around school. Along with the birth of his baby daughter, he also spent some time testing the waters of the UFL, a start up football league. The Varsity flag football team, which he coaches, has only lost one game which was the one he missed while trying out for a team in Florida. In the mornings Coach Taylor gets to school usually around 10am. He has two phones, both email capable, which he has on him at all times to keep up with schedule changes and questions from the many parents that he has to deal with. He is responsible for overseeing the scheduling of all practices and games, (soccer leagues, football leagues, volleyball) and forecasting the sport seasons ahead. He has many associates such as league commisioners, other coaches and city officials for negotiating permits. Since CS has two separate campuses, he also is responsible for logistics of transportation especially for competitions.

As I said previously, he was one of the three main people that make up CS. Ms. Sawyer and the VP, Ms. Fagan are the other two. That being said, Coach Taylor helps with school events like their "Fall Festival" after school holiday, "Going to College" interstate trips and other miscleanous happenings. Coach Taylor finds small openings in his day to settle stirs between teachers, coaches and his players. As the head coach, he has to keep his athletes accountable in the classroom by calling them into his office for "motivational" speeches every so often. Everyday after school, after I've left, his team either has practice or a game which he has to go to. He contributes to the school photo albums and blog entries when he has the time also.