Nancy O'Neil Named 2012 NFHS Coach Educator of the Year

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INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has named Nancy O'Neil of Massachusetts as the recipient of the 2012 NFHS Coach Educator of the Year Award.

O’Neil is an active instructor of the NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching course, and has been involved in pioneering and promoting professional development and education for coaches through a number of different sources. She has developed league-wide partnerships with educational groups that provide workshops for students and coaches in all league schools and speaks at state and national conferences on coaching education topics such as positive conditioning, servant leadership, building teams and shared leadership models. She has also served on the NFHS Coaches Education Committee.

Since 1994, O’Neil has been the director of athletics/wellness/activities at Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School in Sudbury, Massachusetts. She has worked closely with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association in that state’s active promotion of coach education, and played a leadership role with the concussion education component.

Prior to her current role at Lincoln-Sudbury, O’Neil served as athletic director or district-wide athletic director at the following high schools: Milton (Massachusetts) Academy, Needham (Massachusetts) Public Schools and Hudson (New Hampshire) Alvirne High School. She was also instructor of physical education at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts; assistant varsity coach in field hockey, basketball and lacrosse at Northeastern; and head girls basketball coach at Scituate (Massachusetts) High School.

Previous recipients of the NFHS Coach Educator Award are Bruce Brown, Ohio, 2011; Bobby Guthrie, North Carolina, 2010; Mike Maghan, 2009, Oregon; Lavonne Norman, 2009, Alaska; and Ken Yamase (posthumous), 2009, Hawaii.

The NFHS Coach Education Program can be accessed at www.nfhslearn.com.

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This press release was written by Barb Waldsmith, administrative assistant with the NFHS who works with the NFHS Coaches Association and the NFHS Coach Education Program. 

About the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)

The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts activities. Since 1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based interscholastic sports and performing arts activities that help students succeed in their lives. The NFHS sets direction for the future by building awareness and support, improving the participation experience, establishing consistent standards and rules for competition, and helping those who oversee high school sports and activities. The NFHS writes playing rules for 17 sports for boys and girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state associations and the District of Columbia, the NFHS reaches more than 19,000 high schools and 11 million participants in high school activity programs, including more than 7.6 million in high school sports. As the recognized national authority on interscholastic activity programs, the NFHS conducts national meetings; sanctions interstate events; offers online publications and services for high school coaches and officials; sponsors professional organizations for high school coaches, officials, speech and debate coaches, and music adjudicators; serves as the national source for interscholastic coach training; and serves as a national information resource of interscholastic athletics and activities. For more information, visit the NFHS Web site at www.nfhs.org.