Stoughton at top of ladder
CHERRY TWP — In terms of his career, John Stoughton aimed high — but not for himself.
The Moniteau High School athletic director simply wants to be as equipped as possible to do his job well.
Stoughton, 30, became a Certified Master Athletic Administrator earlier this year through the National Interscholastic Athletic Adminstrator Association (NIAAA) based in Indianapolis.
The status of CMAA was achieved through a process that took three and a half years and involved the completion of 12 courses and a project, the latter through a formal presentation to the NIAAA board.
“My project was our fitness center,” Stoughton said of the facility that opened at the high school earlier this year. “We took a lot of feedback from coaches and physical education teachers in putting that together.”
Athletic directors accrue points on the job that are also applied toward their receiving certification through NIAAA.
Stoughton is on the District 9 committee and is secretary-treasurer of the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference, along with serving as A.D. at Moniteau.
“Those positions, hosting a state playoff event, being an on-site game manager, you get points for all of those things,” Stoughton said.
As courses are completed, an athletic director increases his level of certification. The first level reached is Registered Athletic Administrator, followed by Certified Athletic Administrator and Certified Master Athletic Administrator.
Stoughton is one of only 47 active CMAA's in Pennsylvania. There have been 100 CMAA's all-time in the state.
By comparison, there are 377 active CMA's in the state, 458 all-time.
There is no financial benefit to any of this,” Stoughton said. “I just want to be as well-rounded as I can in handling this position.”
The courses cover a number of areas, including legal issues, social media, transgender, event management, hazing, constitutional law, labor law, budgeting, finance, middle school and junior high athletics.
The latter “talks about building a foundation at that level with no emphasis on winning,” Stoughton said.
He emphasized his satisfaction with his position at Moniteau. Stoughton serves as transportation director for the school district as well.
“We have a good board that is student-oriented and I immensely enjoy working with the adminstrative staff here,”he said.
And the high school's fitness center was a popular place before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down March 17.
“Faculty, staff and students were all making use of it,” Stoughton said of the fitness center. “One of our teachers is developing a weight lifting and self-wellness class in there.
“The PIAA has given us July 1 as a start-up date. If nothing changes, we will have students in the fitness center that day.”
