ATHLETIC DIRECTOR WINS NATIONAL AWARD

Scott Morris, Fluco athletic and activities director, traveled Dec .7 to Phoenix, Ariz., to accept an award from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) for excellence in his field.

The NIAAA recognizes outstanding individuals in athletic administration every year. Each of the 50 states proposes one outstanding administrator for this national honor. An NIAAA committee reviews the nominations and selects the top nominees to be honored.

Morris is one of the 11 recipients of the 2017 Distinguished Service Award. Obviously, he has received a very exclusive honor.

Morris, 50, has been at Fluvanna County High School (FCHS) for 19 years. He has a B.A. in criminal justice and an M.A. in administration and supervision. He has served as the activities and athletic director for the last 14 years. He came to Fluvanna from Madison County High School.

Initially, Morris taught history and government at FCHS, and coached softball. In those early years, he also served as an assistant coach for boys’ basketball and football. After five years, he took the full-time job of activities and athletic director.

During his tenure at FCHS, Morris has presided over a major expansion of the athletic and activities programs at the school. The school has added boys’ and girls’ varsity and JV lacrosse, varsity and JV girls’ soccer, wrestling, and has reinstituted the swimming program.

The lacrosse program has not had much success as yet on the field, but the addition of the program has brought a host of students into the sports program and given the school an extremely busy spring schedule. The wrestling program has produced some outstanding individual performers, including one state champion.

Swimming proved to be a difficult matter as the team originally was limited to the small facility at Health Nutz, but Morris eventually worked out an arrangement that allows the team to use the outstanding facility at Fork Union Military Academy. The girls’ soccer team has been consistently highly competitive.

On the activities side, the school has added debate and forensics. In the short time that the program has been in place, FCHS has already captured a state title in forensics.

In an interview prior to Morris’ trip to Phoenix, he was quick to acknowledge that the Fluvanna community has been extremely supportive of the Fluco athletics program. He especially praised parents who were very involved in getting the swimming and wrestling programs rolling and he noted that the USA lacrosse organization was very helpful with the institution of lacrosse as a varsity and JV sport.

Furthermore, Morris made it clear that he believes he has had a strong group of coaches to rely on for a number of years.

Morris’ commitment to the job is very obvious. He is a fixture at virtually every home sports event, even if it means he doesn’t arrive home until 10 p.m. In the spring, he can be seen moving all around the athletic fields, while a variety of Fluco sports teams including baseball, softball, tennis, soccer and lacrosse are in action.

Morris is also a major fundraiser for the Fluco athletics and activities programs, which are mostly funded by contributions from the community. He also has been successful in recruiting volunteers to assist with all the little tasks that must get done in order to achieve a successful athletic program.