By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association announced at the end of last month that Amelia High School Athletic Director and Dean of Students Jams Collins had become a Certified Athletic Administrator.

“The NIAAA is pleased to announce that James Collins, Athletic Director and Dean of Students at Amelia High School, has been recognized by this association as a Certified Athletic Administrator,” the organization said in a press release. “To earn this distinction, James has demonstrated the highest level of knowledge and expertise in the field of interscholastic athletic administration. The voluntary certification process included a thorough evaluation of the candidate’s educational background, experience and professional contributions, as well as a rigorous, comprehensive written examination.”

The NIAAA is a national professional organization consisting of all 50 state athletic administrator associations and more than 7,600 individual members. It is dedicated to promoting the professional growth of high school athletic administrators and preserving the educational nature of interscholastic athletics and the place of these programs in the secondary school curriculum, according to its website, www.niaaa.org.

In order for Mr. Collins to become a CAA, he had to meet a certain set of criteria set by the NIAAA. The objectives of the certification process are to promote the professional standards, practices and ethics of athletic administration; ; identify levels of educational training essential for effective athletic administration; foster professional contributions to the field; and to maximize the benefits received by the school community from the leadership provided by certified athletic administrators.

The requirements for a CAA are a Bachelor’s Degree, from an accredited institution; approval of CAA personal data form; two or more years of experience as an athletic administrator; employed by a school, school district or state high school athletic association in such capacity that the administration of interscholastic athletics is among job responsibilities; completion of Leadership Training Institute classes as well as a successful completion of the CAA examination.