SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - The ever-changing landscape of sports has not only taken a foothold in the professional and collegiate arenas, but now the scholastic scene has evolved.

And at times, it is not for the best.Boisterous crowds can lead to unruly behavior. The admission ticket seems like a bargaining chip for some fans to state one's case in a not-so-exemplary fashion and can sometimes lead to harm's way.The brunt of it gets directed at officials, coaches and even the student-athletes. Incidents of bad behavior has surfaced more than ever; at one girls basketball game less than a month ago, a Schuylkill League athletic director was forced to make an announcement to eject spectators as they threw fisticuffs.Players feel very uncomfortable with these types of forays, which are visible to them, and are subject to not only feeling poorly, but embarrassed, if their friends or families are in the mix.Tamaqua administrator Steven Toth, who was once a three-sport athlete at Cardinal Brennan High School, has seen the rise in such antics. Toth is bothered by the way fans become obsessed with poor behavior, and after contemplating a way to address these situations, he decided to step up to the plate."I was thinking about how we can address these issues and the best way was to bring the students to a forum of such, and discuss it at this level," said Toth.Toth raised his plan to the Schuylkill League athletic directors. He teamed with Scott Mattea, the SIAL's secretary/treasurer, to devise a game plan and put it into action. They first brought it to the league, and then to the District 11 athletic directors, and from there got the blessing of the district chairman Bob Hartman."Being a part of the District 11 committee, we noticed a bit more negative behavior from our student athletes," said Toth. "We've seen more ejections, more outside influences creeping up on our athletes and we felt that this would be a great way to provide useful information."Toth reached out to one-time Penn State football player and now the athletic director at Penn State Schuylkill Campus, Matt Stankiewitch, for some ideas. The brainstorming led to a mini-symposium, of sorts. Dubbed the Student-Athlete Leadership Academy, nearly all the schools in the SIAL were here Thursday morning.Some of the topics included: Athletic behavior both on and off the field, how student-athletes should properly interact with coaches, game officials, teammates, and how to handle stressful situations in athletic competition."We felt this was a great way for useful information from people who have a great background," said Toth. "Dr. Mark Apel is a (kinesiology professor) here, he was a Division I tennis player (at New Mexico State) and Matt Stankiewitch was a Division I football player at Penn State and was part of the NFL. We are trying to use the resources for our student-athletes, to gain a little more perspective and maturity on the competition floors and playing fields."Each season will have the Leadership Academy; sports in the fall will be the next forum and then the winter sports for 2018 to follow. The idea could be the first in the state, and a beta for the other districts to explore. Toth mentioned he wanted the SIAL to be at the forefront, and received the blessings not only from Hartman but long time officials assignor Dr. Frank Dangelo, a Bloomsburg University professor. Toth indicated the coaches will also be brought on board."The dynamic has changed from my (playing) days. There is a lot more AAU-type culture with our athletes, which is a positive and a negative," said Toth. "It gets a lot more exposure for the (athletes), but there are negative components that come along with it, and some of that comes back to their teams."We want to breed competitiveness with sportsmanship and also make sure we curb some of the behaviors we see as a whole. We want our parents involved, and they certainly are integral. We want them to know how we operate as a league. They give us our product - the kids. I've always preached team first."Lehighton Athletic Director Kyle Spotts sees it as a great steppingstone in terms of leadership."We brought juniors (here) with the hope of them taking it back to the underclassmen ... We're hoping it makes an impact with our freshmen and sophomores. It is a great idea, something outside the box, teaching leadership and taking something back to (our school) ... These kids know each other, they go into a game they've competed against these kids, so they know who they are playing against. This (leadership) gives them a different avenue, and they know each other from being on the field and on the court. Now they can see what they're like here in a setting like this."With the ever-growing social media, Spotts said his student-athletes are advised on the pitfalls of such potential mistakes."Be careful of social media," Spotts said. "What you put out there, everyone gets to see it. We try to hammer it at the beginning of every school year."How much of an impact this session will have will be determined on the legs of not just the participants, but the coaches and the entire school system.Dustin McAndrew, Jim Thorpe's Athletic Director, feels that the die has been cast and will start to produce dividends."This has been a really good session, I liked the people bringing their real life experiences ... Kids will say 'Wow, here is someone playing at the collegiate level and he overcame adversity through hard work after some really tough times,'" said McAndrew. "Sharing that experience will really hit home with the high school kids.""The (league) hasn't had as many issues as some of the (surrounding leagues). But the league wants to stay a step ahead of everyone else. I think little-by-little this type of (leadership session) will have an impact all over the state."Anthony Tavella and Kelsey Eckart both agreed the session will pay dividends down the road. Both are juniors at Lehighton."This will help a lot for our underclassmen," said Eckart. "Just (showing) leadership is a good thing. Not only for the sport I play, but throughout the school and other sports. What it has helped me with is to always stay positive and to help your team stay positive as well.""It will help to show we've got perseverance and not to let (a loss) bring us down," said Tavella. "Hopefully it will do the same for the fans. I'm going to take (what I learned) and bring it to my team and hopefully get more kids to come out (for cross country). A lot of kids don't want to (put the time in) but maybe I learned something that will help get more people involved."Jim Thorpe's Brandon Carroll, a three-sport athlete, has been a key member of this season's basketball team."I thought what they did was a really good thing," said Carroll. "It makes everyone aware of what goes on at these athletic events. I think we need to address these types of issues with the (youth programs), maybe get to the younger kids and their parents at those levels and try and make them aware that competing is fun, but not everyone is a star. I really think it's the root of all problems."Having the (high school) coaches meet with those parents is a good thing, because their (kids) are going to be in the school one day. It would be a good approach to get to those parents at those lower levels and address these types of problems."For Jim Thorpe senior softball and soccer player Maggie Holloway, it was a learning experience."I liked how interactive this was," said Holloway. "I've seen problems on the field, and it showed how to handle things like that. We need to take the message and say 'Hey, this is how we should be conducting ourselves.' The fan atmosphere can get to people and the highly-charged emotions can cause problems. There are some pretty obnoxious fan sections."Mattea called it the pilot program in District 11."When you put something like this together, it becomes trial and error, and we're going to get feedback from the student-athletes," said Mattea. "Sure there is room for improvement and we will tweak it. We want the kids to take it back to their schools; sort of like in industry, where it is train the trainer approach. We're hoping they take it back to their teams and use it."