A professional association dedicated to sports public address announcing has just been launched. The National Association of Sports Public Address Announcers (NASPAA) is a not-for-profit organization headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.

Membership is open to sports public address announcers and to individuals, such as athletic directors and association administrators, who have responsibility in hiring or assigning announcers. Membership is also open to students.

"NASPAA will focus on providing national leadership and meaningful educational programs and services for high school, college and amateur sports public address announcers, commented Brad Rumble, NASPAA Executive Director. "We will be active in promoting the educational values of sports public address announcing; and working with key associations and organizations, as well as entities in related broadcast fields as part of an ongoing effort to raise the level of professionalism of sports public address announcing in the United States."

"No one individual receives more attention game-to-game, event-to-event, week-in and week-out, than the sports public address announcer," remarked Frank Kovaleski, Director of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. "Their performance reflects directly on the athletic director, athletic department, school, and in many cases the sponsoring organization or association. Resources offered by NASPAA, such as "THE VOICE ABOVE THE CROWD," will be a tremendous benefit to these individuals."

"THE VOICE ABOVE THE CROWD," provides national guidelines for announcing, and is endorsed by the NIAAA, NJCAA and the NAIA.

The NASPAA is also developing a leadership-training course for the NIAAA that will focus on the role of the athletic director in managing game/event announcing. "The Voice Above the Crowd," will serve as the primary resource for the course. NASPAA's goal is to teach the course for the first time at the National Conference of High School Directors of Athletics in New Orleans this December.

Information about NASPAA membership and "The Voice Above the Crowd" can be found on the organization's website, www.naspaa.net or see their flyer here. NASPAA is managed by Allegro Media of Kansas City.