By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

Doing sports right has become a team effort in Lewiston and Auburn.

The pilot sites for the University of Maine’s Sports Done Right initiative include Lewiston and Auburn operating together as one site.

“They both applied as their own separate school systems,” said J. Duke Albanese, Sports Done Right co-director. “I called the two superintendents, and they said it sounds like a good idea.”

Lewiston and Edward Little, and their respective middle schools, are part of 12 sites, comprising 29 schools. Winthrop and Poland also have been named as pilot sites. Other schools participating include school departments in Augusta, Brewer, Portland, Rockland, Houlton, Ashland, Cumberland, Kennebunk and SAD 35, which includes Marshwood High School.

“We’ve got some small SADs in multi-towns like Poland and Ashland,” said Albanese. “We’ve got some large SADs like Marshwood. I think we’ve got a good mix. Portland and Deering are very different even though they’re a couple miles away from each other. I think we’re going to learn a lot.”

The sites were chosen from 26 applicants. In addition to need and whether the schools could properly implement the ideas unveiled in the Sports Done Right report, a number of factors were used in choosing sites.

“Geography, size of school, degree of commitment reflected in their letter of application, their reaching out into the community and not having it be a school-based initiative, those were the things were were looking at pretty carefully,” said Robert Cobb, co-director of the project and Dean of the UMaine College of Education.

For Lewiston and Auburn, it makes for a unique opportunity to work together for a common goal.

“It really will send a message,” said Barbara Eretzian, the superintendent of the Auburn School Department and a member of the Sports Done Right select panel. “You can show that you can still be competitive and still do it the right way. The two high school will compete against one another, but it can still be done right.”

Albanese, Cobb and Karen Brown, the director of Maine’s Center for Sport and Coaching, will be at Auburn Hall on Thursday, March 24 from 4-to-6 p.m. to provide copies of Sports Done Right, review the report and answer questions. The report is also available online at the MCSC website (www.mcsc.umaine.edu).

As pilots, the schools are given support and guidance the MCSC. Schools also receive an affiliation with the Institute for Global Ethics, a waiver of fees for the 2005-2006 school year for middle and high school coaches enrolling in the Maine Online Coaching Eligibility Course and a $3,000 grant to assist with convening public sessions, preparation of informational materials, travel and other related expenses.

Because of their size, Lewiston/Auburn and the Portland sites will each receive a $5,000 grant.

“The good thing about being a pilot site is that it does provide a little financial support,” said Winthrop athletic director Eric Turner. “Our budget is so tight in athletics that we wouldn’t be able to afford to do much on our own. This will give us a chance to reach out.”

The sites are getting the word out and developing leadership teams. The goal is to have the leadership groups in the various schools bring the message of Sports Done Right to the masses, with the hope of implementing policy and a community endorsement.

“I think it’s a real great addition to the whole product, having two rival schools,” said Eretzian. “It will be good for both communities. Because it’s both schools coming together, people will be having the same thing. It will be like doubling. Our kids go back and forth all the time and go to the other team’s games.”

Lewiston and Auburn will have their own representatives on the leadership team but will work together.

Though small groups of leaders have been encouraged, the pilots are trying to bring in a variety of perspectives and representatives to their panels.

“I originally thought five or so would be a nice number, but it’s too big an issue” said Turner. “We’ve got to reach out, and we’ve got to find the right people. What I’m looking for are people that can fill a number of roles.”

The process begins next week when the leadership teams attend a training session Tuesday in Orono.

Brown says the leadership groups will review the report in depth and do some brainstorming in regards to engaging their communities. Future steps will fall in place from there.

“We’ll be meeting with them again in May after their community conversation,” said Brown. “We’re going to be in very close contact with them. We want to walk through it with them because we want to learn from them.”

Those schools and communities that weren’t selected as pilots sites won’t be left out, says Brown. The MCSC wants to help all schools and communities get involved.

“They can form a leadership team and if they’d like to be guided through the process, we’re having a trainer training session for anyone in May free of charge,” said Brown. “We’d be going over the same curriculum.”