Ballantyne Magazine covers news, events, real estate, restaurants, shopping, health, schools and business in the upscale Ballantyne Area of Charlotte, NC.
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wanted to be involved in high school athletics," he says. Schundlemire attended Appalachian State University and worked in sports medicine before getting involved in administration and eventually taking an AD position at Harding High. After six years he moved to Hopewell for eight before taking over as AD at Providence three years ago. He teaches sports medicine and physical education in addition to his AD duties. He also helps direct traffic in the school's parking lot every afternoon. "It's tough on my family," he admits. His job means he misses a lot of the athletic events of his two sons, ages 15 and 18, who between them play football, wrestle and run cross country for Lake Norman Charter School. "It's a sacrifice we have to make," he says. "My wife once cut out my picture and put it on a milk carton." To be fair, Schundlemire, now 46, warned his wife, also a teacher, of his hours when "It's a sacrifi ce we have to make," he says. "My wife once cut out my picture and put it on a milk carton." he married her. "There was a wonderful article in the paper about what it takes to be a coach and be involved in athletics. I cut it out and said, 'Read this to make sure you WINTER 2010-2011 still want in.' She did. She knew what she was getting into." He says the job has gotten more difficult over the years because of technological advances. "When I first took over in '95, I didn't have a cell phone or e-mail. That has grown exponentially as we've become more technology based," he says. "Before, everything was done with paper and pencil. Now we're accessible 24/7. That's been tough to get used to." It helps that he stays positive, he says. "I try to find the good in everything. I use a lot of humor and never take myself too seriously. I'm outgoing —which helps as an AD. You've got to be able to stay focused because so many things are coming at you in different directions." There are other challenges, too. "The eligibility process, the paid-to-participate part of it, those are challenges that have been added and make the job more difficult. But when you're in this chair, you know what you're getting into and every job in CMS has gotten more difficult over the last few years," Schundlemire says, adding that the economy hasn't affected participation as much yet as it has attitude. "We're a lot more frugal in what we do and how we spend our money," he says, underscoring that the threat to middle school sports is a real and scary one. "If you're not worried about middle school sports it'd be foolish," he notes. "You read any comments to media stories and the first always is to cut all extracurricular activities. That worries me a lot. Being involved in athletics, I know how important it is for the total school and the good CELEBRATING TEN YEARS 2000-2010 BALLANTYNE MAGAZINE 83