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Dear Indian Hill Sports Families:
It is an exciting time for Indian Hill Athletics. Last school year, we won the Cincinnati Hills League (CHL) All-Sports Trophy (the CHL CUP) and we are in good shape to win it this year as well. At the end of the Winter season, we are 1.5 points out of first place. Keep up with the standings here.
The All Sports Trophy is a combination of how each school's varsity teams finish in the CHL standings. Indian Hill recorded a record number of points and first place finishes at the varsity level in the 2023-2024 school year. Congratulations to all of our student-athletes, coaches and families. We were also fortunate enough to send twenty-three of our student-athletes to play collegiate athletics and we already have fourteen student-athletes committed for next year. Pretty impressive!
The purpose of this letter is to share some reflections on the goals of our athletic program and what we need parents and families to do to partner with the athletic program.
Let me start with a simple statement — athletics matter at Indian Hill. We have generations of alumni who talk with pride about the ways Indian Hill athletics helped them develop skills, values, habits, and friendships that have anchored their lives. Our goal is to give our athletes a great experience that will unlock their potential to be better athletes, teammates, and people.
To do this, our coaches focus on the development of our athletes. Their approach to both the team and individual athletes is designed to instill within our athletes attributes like critical thinking, creative problem solving, adaptability, and the ability to communicate and work in teams. We are also focused on helping our athletes develop good habits and values. We spend a lot of time as a department talking about and working on team culture, specifically through the work of "2 Words" education and the Student Leadership Team.
We are also performance oriented. We want to help our athletes learn how to succeed in life by learning to challenge themselves and by seeking out feedback, reflecting and becoming better. For many of our athletes and teams, there will be stumbles and even moments of failure. We see these as learning moments. We want our athletes to grow from these experiences, to learn the value of hard work and to practice resiliency and failing forward.
Finally, we expect our athletes to be fully engaged in the classroom and to be excited about learning. I am proud that our athletes are also some of the top students in our school and that so many athletes achieve great academic success. As a result, our kids have many opportunities to go to great schools after high school if that is what they chose to do.
Indian Hill Athletics is life-shaping for a high-caliber student who is highly motivated, disciplined, prepared to work hard with others, and who leans into these elements of a performance-oriented culture to achieve at a high level. We realize this kind of program does not work for every athlete, but it is what we have chosen to do at Indian Hill. We do, however, hope that it works for most.
As parents, guardians, and family members, we welcome your support in making everything above happen. We are excited to welcome families to games and events! Many of our teams have active parent groups, and we encourage you to be part of these groups. We often hear from parents that forming friendships with other families is an unexpected benefit of being the parent of an Indian Hill athlete. We love that part of Indian Hill athletics.
At the same time, we ask you to remember that just as high school athletics and middle school athletics are different for your students, it’s different for parents too, and there are boundaries around parental involvement now. We want our athletes to navigate their own experience and communicate directly with coaches and the athletic staff about challenges or concerns. We see this as part of the learning process. If students find this hard, they can always talk to me, Athletic Coordinator/ Assistant Athletic Director - Julius King or Athletic Administrative Assistant - Michell Cowherd or any member of the Athletics team. We have already formed great relationships with many of your kids. There are lots of people in the Athletic Department who are here to support them in their personal growth. If your student has an issue, they should talk directly to the coach first and then we can proceed from there. As a parent, I understand the need for parental involvement, but let them try first. Many of us have heard the term "helicopter parent". I believe we now experience the "snow plow parent" more often than the helicopter parent. Every path does not necessarily need to be paved all of the time. Let them get their own shovels out from time to time, and clear the path themselves.
- Hazing: We unfortunately have seen an uptick of hazing activity across the country in the landscape of college, high school and middle school athletics. If a team or individuals have been identified in hazing behavior, there will be a formal investigation. Results can be as extreme as cancelling the season, to decreasing competitive opportunities or being dismissed from the program. We take hazing very seriously and I want to be notified right away if there are any concerns. Please refer to our Athletic Handbook to learn more about all of our policies and procedures.
- Athletic Family/Guardian Support Ideas: If you have ideas for ways parents can philanthropic support our programs, please contact Meredith Ducey our Executive Director of the Indian Hill Foundation, our Boosters or me if you have ideas. We often have requests regarding how a family can best support athletics or the school. We would love to discuss anything you have on your mind. Indian Hill is currently dreaming and planning for an Athletic Fieldhouse. Due to many amazing individuals, we have raised over $6M. We need to get to about $10M to consider moving forward with this project. At this point, the fieldhouse is on hold until additional funds are raised. Please contact me directly if you are interested or can put me in contact with someone that may be interested in partnering with us to make the fieldhouse a reality.
- Sports Medicine: We are most interested in your child’s health and well-being so we have a highly trained and expert Sport Medicine Staff - Beacon Orthopaedics
* Medical Director - Dr. Tim Kremchek
* Certified Athletic Trainer - Terri Konte
* Certified Athletic Trainer - Susan Blackson
- Strength & Conditioning: Indian Hill Athletics has a full-time strength & conditioning coach, Logan Neff. Logan is a highly trained professional and an expert in his field. In addition, Logan has recently been named the State of Ohio Director for the National High School Strength Coaches Association. Follow Coach Neff on X @CoachNeff_
- Communication: Our athletic website should help you find most of what you are looking for. The athletic department and most teams are very active on social media. Follow on X or Instagram for highlights and updates. Below are some helpful "handles" to follow:
X: @bphelps_ih ; @ihbravesad ; @IH_sportsmedia; @IHSchools ; @IHillboosters1 ; @ihsuperbrave
Instagram: @ihsuperbrave; @bphelps_ih ; @indianhillhs ; @ihsportsmedia @ihboosters
Yours in sport and education,
Brian Phelps
Athletic Director
Indian Hill Schools
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