ELLENVILLE – Hoisting a championship trophy can really do a lot for school spirit. Just ask Ellenville High School Athletic Director Mary Borriello. When Borriello took over the athletic program in the early '00s, one of the first things she did was put together a report identifying the problems within the department — and what should be done in both the long- and short-term in order for the school to get back to its winning ways.

And it certainly appears that her plan has worked. The football team is coming off unprecedented, back-to-back Section IX championships, thanks to the hard work and leadership of her husband, Tony; track and field, a sport in which Ellenville typically excels, has been taken to the next level by Coach Phil Althouse; and the soccer program under Coach Maxwell Mead has flourished, with the squad making the post-season despite playing in a tough league. Even the boys' and girls' basketball teams have had better-than-expected results over the past year. The field hockey team also made a trip to post-season play in 2009.

"I put together this report in 2004/2005," Borriello says. "I wanted to identify areas we needed to improve."

The first step, according to Borriello, was to have physical education teachers and other members of school staff become more directly involved in the athletic program. In the past, she says, coaching was often done in a more piecemeal manner, with coaches who sometimes lacked experience in a particular sport being given an opportunity, a situation that, at best, had mixed results. Borriello says that there were even a few occasions in which a parent would coach a team. Despite these well-meaning efforts, Borriello felt strongly that such a system didn't offer the kind of long-term continuity required for the programs to be successful.

"If you look at schools that seem to be successful, they have a lot of phys ed. and staff members coaching the teams," Borriello says.

The idea behind this is very simple, according to Borriello. As students move from elementary, to middle, and then to high school, they develop a rapport with their coaches. This rapport means that students come to trust the experience of a particular coach, and at the same time the coach is able to identify those athletes who are ready to move on to the next level — and ensuring that top athletes participate in organized sports means that teams will be more successful. This kind of success leads to more enthusiasm, overall, which leads to more student interest, thereby creating what is, in essence, a positive-feedback loop. Borriello says that this strategy was also given strong consideration when it came to the hiring new phys ed. teachers. "We looked to hire teachers who had experience in the sports we needed," Borriello says.

She also says that the compensation coaches receive is something she looked at when it comes to retention.

"We brought the coaching salaries up to the [Ulster] county average," Borriello says.

Coaching high school sports is incredibly demanding. Teachers, in addition to their regular duties as an instructor, often put in many extra hours on the sideline, sometimes more than 20 hours per week. While the love of the sport is no doubt a major attraction for many teachers, ensuring that there is adequate compensation for this extra-curricular time is key.

Borriello says that several years ago the school district actually did an audit of the athletic department. The results of this audit bore out many of the ideas that she had submitted in her earlier report.

"The audit backed up a lot of what I was talking about," she says.

And there can be no doubt that the new strategy is bearing fruit. Just a few years ago, Ellenville High School had to cancel its football season because of low turnout.

"We got one game into the season and we had to cancel [the rest of the games]," Borriello says.

To transform the program from its moribund status into a program that is now the envy of local rivals is no small feat.

Borriello also said that she is amazed by the good work all of the coaches are doing, but that Coach Althouse and Coach Mead have been particularly impressive when it comes to results. Currently, the indoor track team is a phenomenal 10-0; and the soccer team looks to continue its success, with a number of veterans who will be returning next season, and a crop of good, young players moving up through the ranks.

Borriello says that another area that has helped is the elimination of the "no cut" policy that had previously been in place. Under this policy, if a player wanted to play, he or she would be allowed to do so, even if this meant that the student could be placed in a situation in which he or she would be overmatched by the opposition.

"This meant that coaches had to spend a lot of time dealing with safety [concerns]," she says.

While she says she understands that some parents were probably upset at this change in policy, overall it has really helped the various programs find their respective footing when it comes to competing in Section IX and the Mid-Hudson Athletic League.

"It's helped a lot," Borriello says.

And, if you walk the corridors of Ellenville High School — or, if you grab a slice at Arianna's — you'll notice that kids, and parents, are sporting the familiar blue and yellow of Ellenville athletics. Success leads to school pride, which in turn leads to better performance all around.

"When the kids are successful in athletics," Borriello says, "you see it in our hallways and our classrooms."