By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Bob Neal spent an abundance of time enjoying basketball this winter.

He took in exactly 100 basketball games at all levels, mostly girls’ and women’s games.

“I’ve seen so much good come out of participation now, especially for girls and women,” said Neal.

So when Neal returned to the Farmington School Board recently and heard so much about Sports Done Right, he decided to take a closer look.

“I liked what I saw in the press reports,” said Neal, who was a former chairman of the board before an 11-year break. “It just sounded from those that it was something to pay attention to.”

So Neal made the trek to Auburn Thursday evening to participate in a public forum to review and discuss the federally funded report, produced by a University of Maine initiative in conjunction with the Maine Center for Sport and Coaching.

Co-director J. Duke Albanese joined MCSC Director Karen Brown at Auburn Hall to walk through Sports Done Right and answer questions. Members of the select panel that helped develop the report, Walter Abbott, Barbara Eretzian, Larry LaBrie and Marty Ryan, were all in attendance as well, joining a number of local coaches and interested parties.

“I think the timing is right with what we’re seeing on TV with the behavior of the athletes today and the fans,” said Jim Lawler, the director of the Auburn YMCA. “With all that exposure, the timing couldn’t be better. I think it’s time to take some off the pressure off of the kids. I think we need to incorporate them in the discussion.”

Lawler was interested in Sports Done Right because of the impact it could have at the youth levels at the YMCA.

“I think the attitudes and the habits of the kids in sports are starting at an earlier age,” said Lawler. “So it’s programs like the YMCA that gets these kids as young athletes. It’s important to incorporate these ideas at a younger age. So as they develop their attitudes and habits and get to middle school and high school, they’re more on the positive side.”

When John White was the athletic director at Edward Little High School, he was part of a pilot program for Learning Results. So he was interested in seeing how Sports Done Right, which used some of the same practices as that project, compared.

“It’s going to incorporate a lot more community groups,” said White. “Little League, the Y, the rec department, youth soccer, those types of agencies. I think there’s a wider scope.”

Lewiston and Auburn have been selected as a combined pilot site for Sports Done Right, joining Winthrop and Poland among 12 sites.

The Lewiston-Auburn Sports Done Right Leadership Team met prior to Thursday’s meeting and announced a forum for high school and middle school coaches May 2 at the Lewiston Middle School.

Brown and Albanese went over the seven core principles of Sports Done Right: Sports and Learning; Leadership, Policy and Organization; Parents and Community; Philosophy, Values and Sportsmanship; Health and Fitness; Quality of Coaching and Opportunity to Play.

The main discussion Thursday revolved around communication and how to reach the people that need to hear about Sports Done Right most.

“There will be a lot of people that will have heard about Sports Done Right and not have read a page of it,” said Albanese. “So communication is very important.”

Sports Done Right has sparked the most discourse in regards to competition and how far schools will go to win. That’s something Neal had interest in as he read the report this week.

“Most of Duke’s presentation mirrored my first response,” said Neal. “My concern is about winning. We need somehow to equate winning with doing your best, no matter what the score.”

What White liked especially about the report is the clear definition of what athletes have determined to be over the line. With each core principle and recommended practices, there are also pitfalls cited to avoid.

“What I liked to here was showing those things that were out of bounds,” said White. “Those things need to be shown.”