Fall 2023 Family Letter from Berlin Athletic Director Jason McFall

Please find the Fall 2023 family letter from BNL Athletic Directors Jason McFall (Berlin) and Corey Brown (New Lebanon) below.

This letter was emailed out to all BMHS families on the morning of August 4, 2023.

August 4, 2023

Greetings BNL Community,

It is our hope that you and your families are enjoying some downtime during the summer months resting, traveling and re-connecting with family. This summer BNL Athletics has been working hard to make this coming season and school year better than the previous ones for our student-athletes and our BNL Community.

Just a few reminders as we are less than a month away from our first Varsity and JV practices for the Fall 2023 season. Please take the time to register your student for Fall Sports on Family ID(Arbiter Registration (familyid.com)). We would like to have as many sign ups as possible to ensure enough student-athletes for each sport at each level for the season to come.

The following are the fall sports being offered for the 2023 season:

Varsity/JV/Modified Girls Volleyball

Varsity/JV/Modified Girls Soccer

Varsity/JV/Modified Boys Soccer

Varsity/Modified Cross Country

The BNL coaching staff and athletic administrators have been working overtime to build the BNL brand and allow for our student-athletes to have as much pre/post season work as possible. This summer the department has been hosting and continues to host several camps and clinics to engage our student athletes for the 2023-2024 athletics season. These programs include:

Baseball Camps at New Lebanon and Berlin
HVCC Summer Basketball League for Boys Basketball
Basketball Skills and Drills Camp July 29th
Volleyball Camp
Strength Training in both school districts
XC Running Community Runs
Softball Skills and Drills (coming in August)
Summer Swim Lessons at New Lebanon
Youth Soccer Camp (coming in August)

As we move into the fall 2023 season, we would like to remind students and parents about the procedures for classification of our student-athletes. If a younger student-athlete shows promise above their current play level, we have a process that will ensure that a particular student-athlete is ready for the level they wish to play. First, prospective student-athletes will be identified by our coaching staff to move up a level which is a formal process. For those who haven’t been identified, they MAY elect to try out for the upper level during the preseason (first day of official practice is August 21st for Varsity and JV teams, Modified team practices start August 30th). Once we have identified those students who may have the capacity to play above, they will have to take and pass the APP (Athletic Placement Process) which is similar to the Presidential Fitness Test or the Fitnessgram given in other districts. Students will have to pass 4 out of 5 physical tests in order to be eligible for the next level.

We would like to caution parents and players to remain at the level that they are currently aged for unless a student-athlete shows promise and can handle the rigors of competing with student-athletes who are older and physically stronger. We would like our student-athletes to remain at their age level to ensure continuity and allow the student-athlete to grow at their pace. The main concern with moving a student-athlete above their age group is that the student-athlete will not receive the same amount of playing time allowing them to grow their skill set and social level. As athletic directors we implore parents to allow the process to happen organically and not force a student-athlete to take on the additional stresses of playing above level.

We promise that we are challenging our whole community including coaches, student-athletes and even school administrators. We have been working hard to be better in every aspect. Working to instill pride in self and our shared communities, knowing and believing that we are better together and better for it.

We are working, we will be better, this will be an epic ride. Be there for the rise and cheer our kids and community on!

Thank you,

Corey Brown New Lebanon CSD

Jason McFall Berlin CSD

Berlin Athletics | Berlin Central School District

New Lebanon Athletics | New Lebanon CSD

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