Monday Morning News
January 13 – Esports Start Date
January 13-18 – Winter Officials Appreciation Week
January 14 – Hardship Review
January 20 – NMAA Office Closed
January 22 – Monthly ADs Meeting
January 25 – Scholastic Publications
January 28 – Baseball Rules Clinic
January 29 – Softball Rules Clinic
In the News:
GoFAN WEBINAR
Here at the NMAA, we are always looking for ways to provide value to our schools, and we are excited to announce a webinar we will be hosting with our partners at GoFan and the NFHS Network, powered by PlayOn.
Join us on January 15th at 11:00 am Mountain Time to discover how New Mexico schools can optimize event management with PlayOn integrations.
The content of the webinar will include:
Digital Ticketing & Streaming Management Demo: See how to set up your school with PlayOn HQ for seamless digital ticketing & streaming management.
NFHS Winter Sports Officials Appreciation Week will take place next week – January 12-18, 2025!
Participation in officials’ appreciation weeks can be as simple or as extravagant as state associations and/or schools want it to be. Many schools will not only get their teams involved in the fun but will ask student groups on campus to get involved. It is a great community project for school student councils, spirit groups or other groups that serve as ambassadors to your school and community. Here are some ideas that have worked throughout the country:
• Officials’ appreciation week banners and signage on the fence, wall, etc., surrounding the contest playing area.
• Gift cards/cookies/donuts/other items presented to the crew by both the home and visiting team.
• Photos of the officiating crew with both teams and coaches prior to the start of the game (or at the end, depending on timing).
• Read a PSA at the start of the game, thanking the crew for working the contest.
• Student escorts of the crew onto the field/court/pitch.
• “Thank you” cards, signed by the team and coaching staff.
• Special appreciation signage in the officials’ locker room.
• Recorded “thank you” messages from student-athletes and coaches to officials, posted on social media.
• These are just some examples of what schools can do – the possibilities are endless!
From this, we recommend that schools of any of these events/recognitions and send them by email or text (information below signature) to our state associations to post on social media (or schools can post on their own social media). Tag the NFHS or NMOA in any of these posts:
Facebook: NFHS – @NFHS1920 ; NMOA – @NMOA
Instagram: NFHS – @nfhs_org; NMOA – @nmofficialsassociation
Twitter/X: NFHS – @NFHS_Org; NMOA – @NmoaOfficials
NMAA FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
NMAA Foundation Scholarships are awarded to students from NMAA member schools who, through the application/nomination process, demonstrate excellence in athletics, activities, academics, and character. The deadline to submit applications is Saturday, February 1, 2025. For more information, please contact Julie Sanchez at 505-923-3278. CLICK HERE for information regarding NMAA Foundation Scholarships. Applications are now open.
COMPETE WITH CLASS SCHOLARSHIP
The New Mexico Activities Association, in conjunction with the NMAA Foundation, will be awarding a maximum of five(5) $1,000 Compete with Class scholarships during the 2024-2025 school year. Awards will be given to students that best exemplify the three pillars of the Compete with Class sportsmanship initiative – Respect, Integrity, and Responsibility. Recipients will be selected by the NMAA Foundation Board of Directors based on recommendations from the NMAA and its member schools.
MAXPREP SCORES
Reminder to input your final score into MaxPreps as soon as possible, following your contest. Having an accurate schedule on MaxPreps with the final score is vital to the seeding & selection process for State Championships.
MaxPreps Score Reporting:
www.nmact.org/file/MaxPreps_score_reporting.pdf
AUDITING SCHEDULES & DRAGONFLY REMINDERS
The start of the regular season is upon us! Just a reminder to please audit your schedules each week to ensure you have officials scheduled for all contests with accurate game dates and times!
The travel ring policy is now in effect. Remember that you no longer need to determine driver, rider and meal fees. Everyone on the crew receives a travel fee, calculated one-way from each official’s home address to your contest site. That means if the individual official lives 30 miles one-way from your site, they are paid the fee from the 26-50 mile tier ($30), not 60 miles for the round trip! DragonFly will auto-calculate the correct rate for each official for you by selecting the “NMAA Travel” rule on the “Manage Payments” tab after your event. See this video ‘how-to’ link: https://youtu.be/gB_a5KluqHA
Here is the officials fees and travel ring document for 2024-25: https://www.nmact.org/file/Officials_Fees.pdf
For those that are hosting tournaments, if you have not already entered your event in DragonFly, here is a video ‘how-to’ link for building tournaments (remember volleyball pool play matches must be entered as scrimmages to avoid populating in MaxPreps rankings): https://youtu.be/eQNrjlGadfU
