Mission Statement and Philosophy

Mission Statement:

The mission of the Ithaca School District is to develop well-rounded athletes through competition, academics, teamwork, and reliability. It is committed to developing the mind, body, and spirit through organized sports to make them better school and community members. By doing this, the athletes will become good community members after their school careers. We plan to do this through athletic competition at our students' skill levels.  

Philosophy:

Ithaca Athletics does not believe in winning at all costs. Ithaca Athletic Department's goal is to demonstrate teamwork, academic, and sportsmanship excellence by being in the top 10% in all three categories in the conference. We believe in teamwork, academics, and sportsmanship. Each one of these three core values is shown throughout our extracurricular activities. All three things are an end-of-the-season award for every sports team.

Teamwork is shown throughout our programs through our buddy program, tutor programs, and weight room. The buddy program is where the seniors will take one or two freshmen under their wings for the year to help them with high school sports. The freshman can get help with anything from how practices are run to what to wear on game days to school. Our tutor program sets student-athletes up with other student-athletes doing well in the class to allow them to understand the class better. Our last program is our weight room, where we believe in lifting as a team. This program enables the players to get to know each other more and push each other throughout the year. 

We believe all athletes are student-athletes first. To ensure this happens, we have our after-school and grade sheet programs. The after-school program has all student-athletes receiving a D or F attend a study hall every Tuesday after school. This program allows the students to have extra time to get their grades up without the chance of getting into trouble with their coaches. The grade sheet program has all student-athletes take a weekly grade sheet to have the teachers sign off that the students are passing. 

The last core belief of our athletic department is sportsmanship. The biggest reward for this is our yearly scholarship, handed out to one senior. A coach will nominate one student-athlete, and the winner is picked by all the coaches and the athlete director.