53rd National Athletic Directors Conference to be Held in Nashville, Tennessee

The 53^rd National Athletic Directors Conference (NADC) will be held Friday through Tuesday (December 9-13) at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The conference – which returns to Nashville for the fifth time – will host more than 3,000 athletic administrators, spouses, guests and exhibitors from across the United States. It will mark the highest attendance in the history of the NADC, eclipsing the previous record set four years ago in San Antonio.

The country’s largest meeting of high school athletic directors is co-sponsored by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) of Indianapolis. The Conference Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. CST on December 12 and the Conference Banquet at 6:00 p.m. CST on December 13 will be streamed live on the NFHS Network at no cost. Following are the links for each event:

            Luncheon –  https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/nfhs/evt896a19e2f3

Banquet – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/nfhs/evtbbc0b18b78

The NADC begins Friday, with several NIAAA committee meetings, as well as registration at 4:00 p.m. In addition to networking opportunities, NIAAA Leadership Training Institute (LTI) courses will provide professional development opportunities for attendees. The first session of LTI classes begins at 6 p.m., Friday and the final session takes place at 4:00 p.m., Monday.

Full conference festivities begin Saturday with registration at 8:30 a.m. in the Delta Lobby, and the Opening General Session will be held at 5 p.m. on Saturday, December 10.

The keynote speaker for this year’s opening session will be Inky Johnson, who is one of the most highly sought-after speakers in the world. For more than a decade, executives, professional sports teams, business owners and others have benefited from the raw energy of his thought-provoking and inspirational presentations. Whether the topic is leadership, teamwork, excelling in the midst of adversity, embracing change, mental agility or perseverance, Johnson’s message is effective and efficient.

The Closing General Session at 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13, features keynote speaker Jeremy Boone. Boone is an internationally recognized coach, author, speaker and researcher. He is the founder of Athlete By Design, a coaching and consulting company for more than 25 years dedicated to helping high-performing athletes, coaches and managers maximize their potential focusing on being the best at getting better. Since 1995, he has worked with more than 50 National/World Champions, Olympic Medalists, and elite coaches from six countries.

The first NADC workshop session gets underway at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, December 11. There are 40 scheduled workshops across five sessions that cover topics including Building Culture Through Positive Leadership, Addressing Student Behaviors During Contests, Increasing Multi-sport Participation, Promoting Leadership Among Coaches, Supporting Student Mental Health, Crowd and Conflict Management, along with legal issues and the use of social media.

At the Conference Luncheon on Monday afternoon, eight athletic directors will be recognized with NFHS Citations for their contributions to interscholastic athletics at the local, state and national levels.

The 2022 recipients are Tom Dolan, CAA, retired state administrator, Charlottesville, Virginia; Kevin Garner, CAA, retired state administrator, Rolla, Missouri; Michael Hughes, CMAA, athletic director, Lakewood (Colorado) High School; Everett Kelepolo, CMAA, district director of athletics, Nebo School District, Spanish Fork, Utah; Darryl Nance, CMAA, district director of athletics, Greenville County (South Carolina) School District; Robert Palazzo, CMAA, athletic director, Classical High School, Providence, Rhode Island; Peggy Seegers-Braun, CMAA, athletic director, Divine Savior Holy Angels High School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Kris Welch, CMAA, state administrator, Oregon School Activities Association, Wilsonville, Oregon.

Eleven athletic administrators have earned NIAAA Distinguished Service Awards, which will be presented during the Conference Banquet on Tuesday, December 13. This year’s recipients include David Frazier, CMAA, athletic director, Rutherford (New Jersey) High School; Murphee Hayes, CAA, director of athletics, health and physical education, Whitney Point (New York) Central School District; Brenda Marshall, CMAA, athletic director, Corpus Christi (Texas) Independent School District; Vicki Nelms, CMAA, assistant principal/athletic director, Adrienne C. Nelson High School, Happy Valley, Oregon; Lanness Robinson, CMAA, district athletic director, Hillsborough County Public Schools, Tampa, Florida; Josh Scott, CMAA, district athletic director, Springfield (Missouri) Public Schools; Aaron Stecker, CMAA, activities director, Kennedy High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Jamie Tallman, CAA, athletic director, Union Educational Complex-Grant County Schools, Mount Storm, West Virginia; Jack Tarr, CMAA, retired athletic administrator, Malcolm (Nebraska) Public Schools; Jason Wiberg, CMAA, activities director, Devils Lake (North Dakota) High School; and Trever Wilson, CMAA, athletic director, Stansbury High School, Stansbury Park, Utah.

Three other individuals will receive NIAAA awards during Tuesday’s banquet. Sandra Mader, CMAA, director of athletic services at Aldine Independent School District in Houston, Texas, is the recipient of the NIAAA Frank Kovaleski Professional Development Award; Cass Herbst, CMAA, athletic director of East Valley Middle School in Nampa, Idaho, is the recipient of the Thomas E. Frederick Award of Excellence; and Trish Witkin, CMAA, director of athletics of Glastonbury (Connecticut) High School, is the recipient of the NIAAA Award of Merit.

The induction of eight athletic directors into the NIAAA Hall of Fame will conclude the banquet and conference. Those being recognized this year include Steve Bridge, CMAA, former longtime athletic director from Elma, Washington; Christine Bullard, CMAA, retired athletic administrator from Denver, Colorado; the late Don Dalton, CAA, athletic director from Burlington, Wisconsin and Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association President; Jim Dorman, CMAA, retired athletic director of Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Lincoln High School and current executive director of the South Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association; Blane Gaison, CAA, retired athletic director from Hawaii and current executive director of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu; the late Jack Johnson, the longtime athletic director from Dearborn, Michigan; Peg Pennepacker, former longtime athletic director of State College (Pennsylvania) High School  and current school board member of the Perkiomen School District; and Steve Smiley, CAA, retired longtime athletic administrator of Mustang, Oklahoma.