Feb. 9, 2009

Long-Time Country Day Coach Will Be Recognized at State Championships

Each year, all 24 of the Ohio High School Athletic Association sanctioned sports and the four allied professional organizations can recognize and honor one of their members with an OHSAA Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity (SEI) Award. The recipients are selected by the directors or executive committees of the respective coaches or allied organizations. Individuals selected should reflect the values of sportsmanship, ethics and integrity in all their professional responsibilities.

The Ohio High School Gymnastics Coaches Association has selected Steve Conner, head coach at Cincinnati Country Day School, as its 2008-09 SEI Award Recipient. He will be honored at this weekend�s state tournament.

�To me, this is a much bigger award than the Coach of the Year,� Conner said. �There are so many great coaches in the state of Ohio who work very hard for the sport.

�To win this award, it makes me feel like I am making an impact on the sport. I thought about how all of the coaches work together, and to be given this award by my peers is absolutely incredible. There are so many coaches who deserve this award, and we all work hard to teach our athletes how to be good sports and appreciate the competition.�

Conner has taught for 20 years, including the last 19 at CCDS. In addition to being the head gymnastics coach, he teaches Aquatics and Physical Education for kids ranging from three years old through sixth grade.

His coaching responsibilities don�t end there, though. He�s also the head girls track coach, assistant football coach and a gymnastics and track coach with the middle school teams as well. Furthermore, Conner has worked with individuals from Cincinnati Sycamore who have come over to train.

�I have always believed in the saying, �Sports are a microcosm of life,�� Conner said. �The more you put into it, the more you get out of it. Nobody can do it for you. Others can only help you achieve your goals.

�There are always going to be hard times, and what matters is how you handle those difficult situations and rebound from them. It is just as important to learn how to deal with failure as it is to deal with success. We as coaches teach these life lessons.�

Conner graduated from Miami (Ohio) University in 1988, where he was a member of the gymnastics team coached by his father, Ken Conner. When Steve was in the eighth grade, his father asked him to help teach a youth gymnastics clinic.

�I fell in love with it,� he said. �That was when I decided that I wanted to be a teacher and a coach.�

Many of Conner�s coaching philosophies stem from the teachings of his father, and Conner said that he still turns to Ken from time to time for advice. Ken still drops by the occasional practice to observe and assist, and, as Conner puts it, �if I am half the coach my father is, I am doing alright.�

Numerous other coaches have played an impact on his life as well, and Conner has blended his learnings from his football, track and gymnastics background to get to where he is today. What Conner hopes he can do now is turn around and supply those same teachings to future generations of coaches.

"I hope that I can be just as helpful to other coaches as they have been to me,� he said. �I am looking forward from learning more form coaches I have worked with, as well as coaches I meet in the future. As I mature as a teacher and coach and situations change, my focuses change. I will always do my best to be a teacher. Coaches are teachers, and teachers are coaches.�

### ohsaa.org ###   By Scott Miles, contact: [email protected]