For 25 years, the IAAM has promoted the proposition that ‘participation in high school athletics can be the experience of a lifetime’

By Nelson Coffin
nelson@iaamsports.com

It’s time that the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland took a bow — and what better time to do it than on the 29-member organization’s 25th birthday?

The offspring of the Association of Independent Schools and the Catholic League, the IAAM has been providing healthy athletic competition for a quarter of a century in the Greater Baltimore Metropolitan Area.

The IAAM offered nine varsity sports at its inception to the 14 in play today, with 400 varsity and junior varsity squads vying for championships.

The organization started when AIS and Catholic League officials decided that consolidating the top two private school leagues in the Baltimore region simply made more sense, ending administrative redundancies and cross-over games between the two leagues.

Charter members remaining with the organization include Archbishop Spalding, Concordia Prep (Baltimore Lutheran), Beth Tfiloh, Bryn Mawr, Catholic High, Chapelgate Christian, Friends, Garrison Forest, Glenelg Country School, John Carrol, Key, Maryvale, McDonogh, Mercy, Mount Carmel, Mount de Sales, Notre Dame Prep, Park, Roland Park Country School, Severn, St. Frances, St. John’s Catholic Prep (St. John’s-Prospect Hall), St. Mary’s, St. Paul’s School for Gils and St. Timothy’s.

Annapolis Area Christian School, Gerstell Academy, Indian Creek and St. Vincent Pallotti all joined the IAAM following its inaugural season and remain as members.

According to the Baltimore Sun, then-Catholic High principal Sister Janet Thiel said that merger provided better organizational structure for burgeoning girls interscholastic sports in the area, including important legal safeguards.

She also said that maintaining aspects of each league’s “flavor” was another critical component of the union.

Current McDonogh athletic director Mickey Deegan, who attended the original Board of Governors meeting in April of 1999, said that her colleagues in the room that day — Sister Janet, Jean Waller Brune (RPCS), Rebecca Fox (BMS), and Mary Ella Marion (Mercy) — were “excited and optimistic” about the new league’s prospects for success.

Deegan said that streamlining two organizations into one went smoothly, owing in part to longtime Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association executive director Rick Diggs’ sage advice. Diggs, who passed away last month, was regarded as the ‘founding father’ of the MIAA, which was formed in 1994 after the dissolution of the Maryland Scholastic Association.

“Rick — God rest his soul — was a big help to us,” said Deegan, the first IAAM president with her successor, Marion, the vice president. “We wanted both voices — from the AIS and the Catholic League” (to be represented).

While the AIS schools typically were stronger in lacrosse and field hockey, the Catholic League was more likely to field standout soccer, basketball and softball squads, she said.

While some vestiges of those trends remain today, there have been instances of former AIS teams breaking through in former Catholic League strongholds and vice versa.

“It’s really been a wonderful organization,” Deegan continued. “Everyone is respectful and collegial. When I reach out to (athletic director) Nick Gill at Mercy because I have to move a game because of Yom Kippur, we work things out. Everybody is so willing to help each other out.”

And she added that the league has “blossomed” under executive director Sue Thompson, who has held that post since 2005.

“Sue’s leadership has taken us to another level,” Deegan concluded.

Thompson said that she takes great pride in the Silver Anniversary.

“So much has changed over 25 years in terms of the role athletics plays in young women’s lives, yet so much remains the same,” she said. “One thing I think we can all agree on is that participation in high school athletics can be the experience of a lifetime. There are so many identifiable benefits in being part of a team; it’s the memories, life experiences and relationships that we carry with us; it’s leadership opportunities that set the stage for professional career tracks that require empathy, teamwork, refined leadership skills and time management skills.

“We are a league wrapped in constant support by our Member Schools and our community partners.  We remain as one of the premier athletic conferences in the region, but what’s even more important than that is the recognition that thousands of young women have competed, excelled, and thoroughly enjoyed their time in the IAAM over these past 25 years.”