AUGUSTA – It’s about the kids.

That was the driving force at the beginning, and the recurring theme again Thursday as “Sports Done Right: A Call To Action On Behalf of Maine’s Student-Athletes” was unveiled.

“This report is what kids have been saying for awhile now,” said Josh Quint, a freshman three-sport athlete at Poland Regional High School. “Just now, finally, a group of people have set out and listened to them really well.”

An estimated 400 people gathered at the Augusta Civic Center as the Coaching Maine Youth to Success initiative report was handed out and discussed by school administrators, athletic directors, coaches and athletes.

“We knew there was high interest,” said J. Duke Albanese, co-director of the University of Maine Coaching and Sport Education Initiative. “To get in the car, with the weather report impending and drive to Augusta, that’s a pretty strong statement.”

The strongest message came from the kids who formed the basis of much of the report. During the last year, a select panel has listened to a variety of perspectives, but the focus was always what was best for the athletes themselves.

“There’s a wide spectrum and not just a narrow perspective on what we’re dealing with in athletics,” said Marty Ryan, athletic administrator at Kennebunk and a member of the panel. “It’s not just the perspective of a few folks or the 18 people on the panel, but all the kids and all the people we brought in to our workshop sessions add a lot of credence to the quality of the presentation.”

Viewed as a national model, “Sports Done Right” is centered around seven core principles and supporting core practices that describe what healthy sports programs should resemble:

• Values and sportsmanship

• Sports and learning

• Parents and community

• Quality of coaching

• Opportunity to play

• Health, fitness and leadership;

• Policy and organization.

The report also lists behaviors that have corrupted high school and middle school sports.

“If you look at the out of bounds statements, you will see where we’ve gone wrong,” said co-director Robert Cobb, Dean of the College of Education and Human Development. “Those primarily came from students. It seems to us that a recalibration is absolutely necessary in order that we don’t continue on some of these paths.”

Jason Fuller, boys’ basketball coach at Lewiston High School, was taking notes and highlighting aspects of the report.

“The thing I like about it was it all centered on the kids,” said Fuller. “We’re all here for the kids. We’re just trying to make it an experience worthwhile for everybody involved.”

Fuller said he was especially interested in what the report said on communication and giving athletes a stronger voice.

“I’ve always said that it’s the kids’ team, and I’m just lucky enough to be part of it,” said Fuller. “A lot of the stuff, I’m going to go back and use today and just talk to the kids about it.”

The report is full of comments from athletes and coaches and has statistics mixed in with the message.

“It had a lot of good ideas about how people respond to the athletes and how they’re treated,” said Josh Gilpatrick, a junior football player and track athlete at Poland. “It had a lot of interesting statistics about college and professional sports and how many actually play professional sports. It showed what sports is really about and that sports is supposed to be fun and about enjoying the sport.”

During the morning program, various panel members discussed the seven core principles – detailing the process and highlighting the values and practices.

“I really didn’t think I was going to understand it all,” said Robyn Gauthier, a junior field hockey and softball player at Poland. “I thought it was going to be a lot of adults saying sophisticated things. I actually understood a lot of what was going on. It was really interesting because a lot of this was because of kids like us that spoke up.”

The hope is that schools begin reviewing the report. Stewards would be selected to work with the Maine Center for Sport and Coaching in helping to implement the core values. Compacts have been drawn up for schools, parents and athletes to sign. Pilot programs are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

“It seems that the intent was very good,” said Luke Potter, a junior baseball player at Lewiston. “I don’t think anybody can question it. It’s got the right direction. It will be interesting to see how schools react to it. Hopefully, they’ll undertake parts of it that will work for them and work throughout their communities.”

Copies of the 52-page report can be ordered for $10 through the Maine Center for Sport and Coaching at the University of Maine (www.mcce.umaine.edu).