Ryan Bozer:
Hey, good morning. You're listening to Morning Edition on SDPB. I'm Ryan Bozer, and with me to bring your morning in play is SDPB's Sports and Recreation Reporter, Nate Wek.
Nate Wek:
Hey, thanks, Ryan. How are you?
Ryan Bozer:
Good. So we've been able to share a number of stories about incredible high school talents, inspiring coaches, and the steps that players take both on and off the field. But something we haven't really talked about yet is the organization that helps coordinate and make all these opportunities for these players and these coaches possible. You're today going to bring us a story that it's going to be a change of leadership for the South Dakota High School Activities Association and it's not necessarily an unfamiliar change, but it's a big position to fill from what I understand. So can you fill us in on that, Nate?
Nate Wek:
Yeah, so Kristina Sage, she's, I guess right now technically until she takes over this new role, is the athletic director for Freeman High School. Kristina Sage has been at Freeman since I believe 1989, so quite a few years. She's been the AD now in Freeman since 2017, which that doesn't seem that long ago, but that too is already eight years ago. So she's had some experiences and stuff like that in some leadership roles over the years, and she'll be taking over as the assistant executive director of the High School Activities Association for Jo Auch who will retire at the end of June.
Ryan Bozer:
I hear executive director, I hear assistant executive director, and I go, that must encompass a lot of responsibilities with it, right?
Nate Wek:
Yeah, it does. And if you look at the different activities and stuff like that and sports that Jo Auch is responsible for, cheer and dance, volleyball, basketball, you got softball, which was just added a year ago, so these are sports now that will become Kristina Sage's responsibility. And I had an opportunity to talk with Kristina last week and obviously very excited for this new role. She understands that it's going to be a little bit of a challenge, but ironically enough too, she actually has some connections with Jo Auch, so it's maybe not quite as foreign to her as what you might think. So I did ask her just, "What's this like? You're kind of stepping into a position for an individual that's been in this spot since 2008," and here's the answer that Kristina gave me.
Kristina Sage:
I knew Jo before she got that job right, because she was in Menno and I was here at Freeman, so that was cool in that sense that somebody from the Corn Belt Conference and from a neighboring school, and so I thought she did a great job, and I know I talked to somebody else about that. She's been a great advocate for all the member schools in her years, and so yeah, it's big shoes to follow. Yep, that is true. But right, I'm looking forward to just learning what the job entails and how to keep moving forward with what she's been doing and just making sure that we have lots of opportunities for all of our student athletes, and particularly we've worked hard to increase that for the females, and I think we've done a great job of that.
Ryan Bozer:
So I hear Kristina say there that she feels like it's big shoes for her to fill, but from what I saw of your reporting on this, it's not as if Kristina herself is unfamiliar with working hard for her programs. She's accomplished a lot before being part of this organization, right?
Nate Wek:
Absolutely. Even besides being an AD for Freeman, she's been a secretary for the Corn Belt Conference, and back in the '90s when Conferences were a lot bigger than they are now, now it's more about the classes and the seed points and stuff like that, but Conferences used to be a very big deal. So for her to be kind of the secretary and kind of in charge of that Corn Belt Conference and having to organize those Conference basketball tournaments, the track meets, all those different things, that takes a lot too, and it takes a lot of leadership to do that. So for her, she's definitely got the chops for it.
Ryan Bozer:
Right. And South Dakota, it's not an athletics association, it's an activities association. So all of those, I believe, fall under that association's responsibilities of coordinating, organizing and helping make sure that there's fairness for participation in those activities. Right?
Nate Wek:
Absolutely. Even oral interp, debate, those types of events too, it extends beyond just what people think with Allstate Band or Allstate Chorus and Orchestra, it extends to those other fine arts events and speech events and stuff like that too. Which is really cool because there are a lot of talented individuals that are in those other events too, and it's fun to get an opportunity to recognize them, organize events and stuff for those individuals too. And then we get the honor, obviously, of highlighting them, which is always a joy.
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah, well, I mean, it's great to be able to give the kids those opportunities to follow their interests, follow their passions, things that they're good at, and build those skills, whether it's in speech and being able to gain skills in debating and arguing topics or if it's in a sport and gain the physical prowess or the teamwork skills that come with certain sports.
Nate Wek:
And I think the one thing about South Dakota that is really unique and it's exciting is maybe not so much in some of the bigger schools, maybe in the Sioux Falls or the Rapids or maybe even some of the other bigger districts that you have, but when you get to some of these rural school districts, kids can have the opportunity to participate in a lot of things. The fine arts events we mentioned, they can be involved in the choir, they can learn how to play an instrument, they can perform on stage in theater. They have the opportunity to participate in multiple sports.
So that's a thing too; that's very much a reality with rural South Dakota and some of these smaller school districts is you have kids that are able to participate in a lot of these sports and activities. And that's really a cool thing because even if it's something that a kid just wants to try, they can go try it, which is fantastic. It's great because you get an opportunity to try so many different things, have different experiences with each one of those sports or activities, and meet a lot of different kids. So that's really what it's all about.
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah. And now Kristina Sage gets to be one of those helping guide and make sure that those opportunities keep going well into the future. And again, what a super opportunity to have not only do it for your district, but do it for the entire state. That's quite the responsibility, understandably big shoes, but I have complete faith that she's got all the skills to do it and is joining a great team to be able to do so.
Nate Wek:
Yep, absolutely. And some of her roles real quick: she'll be administrator for sports like tennis, basketball, gymnastics, cheering, dance, and softball. So those sports that Jo Auch was administrator of will now become Kristina Sage's administrative roles with those sports.
Ryan Bozer:
Nice. Just a couple things on her plate, right?
Nate Wek:
Just a couple things. It doesn't sound like much, but I guarantee you when you think of schedule changes and you think of different, trying to get staff to work events and all that type of stuff, it really does quickly add up. So it's a role that's probably not built for everybody, but Jo Auch had a lot of spunk; before her it was Ruth Rehn. She obviously was a trailblazer in her own way in South Dakota with some of the things that she did throughout her time. So again, big shoes to fill for Kristina, but I can tell she's excited for it and we're all excited for her.
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a fantastic note to leave that on. Nate, thanks again for joining us in the morning and giving us some more insight into why we're able to talk about all these cool high school activities going on in the state.
Nate Wek:
Thanks, Ryan. I really appreciate it, and we'll talk next week.
Ryan Bozer:
Sounds great, man.
