Jimmie Santee is Over the Edge

PS Magazine, Sept/Oct 2010 On June 10 at 11:45 am pacific coast time a coach from the LA area updated his Facebook status with the following words, “PSA + C-E-R'S = GREED”. By that night, six more coaches weighed in with comments like, “yep its called lets suck all the money we can out of the coaches” and “thief” and finally, “The smell of corruption is powerful to allow so many ‘required’ fees.” You can imagine how I felt reading those words. You can imagine as the e-mail made the rounds how those on the board of governors felt and those committee volunteers who give hundreds of hours of there time to this “greedy” organization. Unfortunately, while a majority of LA coaches have worked hard to improve their “product”, a loud vocal minority continues to misstate the current facts regarding membership to PSA, required CER’s, criminal background checks and in general, the purpose and mission of the PSA. For over 70 years, the PSA mission has been: “Dedicated to providing continuing e...

July/August 2010 On June 4, 2010, the world’s greatest coach died at the age of 99. “Quietly, with dignity, as if the Lord had personally and gently embraced and carried his spirit away”, said close personal friend and co-author of several of John Wooden’s 10 books, Steve Jamison. “Coach,” as he was referred to by most, was not a figure skating teacher but the legendary basketball coach of the UCLA Bruins. Among his achievements included 10 NCAA Championships, a winning streak of 88 games that spanned three seasons and the President’s Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor America can bestow. I knew of John Wooden, just as most sports fans would; a reference quoted by a TV or radio commentator to one of his many “Woodenisms” like, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” It wasn’t until just before his death however, when Tom Zakrajsek presented his keynote address at the annual PSA Conference in Colorado Springs, that I was really enlightened. Tom talked a lo...