Scottsdale Unified School District on Oct. 3 introduced Steven Cervantes as its new district athletic director and James Pescatore as athletic coordinator and detailed plans to expand middle-school participation through a tiered season while flagging transportation, referee and scheduling challenges.

Cervantes, who said he has worked in Scottsdale Unified for 25 years and previously served as athletic director at Desert Mountain High School, said his first months on the job have focused on meeting principals, coaches and staff across the district. "Getting to know all of the sites...it's been enlightening to hear how they run their programs and the things that we need to work on together and how we can improve the district," said Steven Cervantes, district athletic director.

James Pescatore, the district athletic coordinator, described the district's middle-school approach this year as a two-tier season that aims to broaden participation. "Tier 1 is everyone is part of the experience. So look at it as like a three-week trial...we want to get as many students involved in the community at our schools that maybe didn't even do much sports prior to coming to middle school," Pescatore said. He said the tier 1 period culminates in a weekend festival where teams generally play three matches against other schools.

The district said the middle-school festival includes girls volleyball matches and, in partnership with the City of Scottsdale, several baseball games played at Chaparral Park and other high-school sites. Pescatore said high schools are also hosting a tier 2 game for their feeder middle schools to showcase facilities and programs.

Cervantes and Pescatore identified several operational challenges the district plans to address, including rising transportation costs, a shortage of referees and concerns about sportsmanship. "Some of the things that all districts are struggling with right now are costs...transportation costs, trying to figure out how we get our kids back and forth from places. You know, a shortage of referees, sportsmanship," Cervantes said.

The hosts and guests discussed scheduling friction that arose when multiple homecoming games were initially set for the same night. Cervantes said the overlap resulted from inter-school communication lapses; he said Saguaro and Coronado were able to move their dates after the initial schedule release.

On competitive performance, Cervantes highlighted several teams he said are off to strong starts: "Arcadia's football team, varsity is 4 and 0. Desert Mountain's team is 4 and 1. ... Chaparral's volleyball team...is 15 and 1," Cervantes said. He attributed sustained success to school culture, administration and coaching that emphasize rules, classroom achievement and representing the community well.

Cervantes discussed engaging alumni and community members as part of future plans. He named former Desert Mountain player Mark Andrews as among the district's most notable athletic alumni; the program host noted Andrews is a tight end for the Baltimore Ravens.

Both Cervantes and Pescatore said they plan to continue collaborative events between middle and high schools in subsequent quarters to build participation and community ties and noted positive feedback from families about the tiered middle-school format.