At Millbrook (N.Y.) High School, Athletic Director Brian DeVincenzi thinks he's found an antidote to the chest-thumping, shirt-tugging professional athletes his students watch on television. It's called Athletes Helping Athletes (AHA), and over the past two years, it's been the centerpiece of his plan to change the culture of Millbrook athletics.

"My principal and I were looking to ratchet up the school's emphasis on sportsmanship," says DeVincenzi, who arrived at the school three years ago. "Not that the culture was bad, but we wanted to keep taking steps in a positive direction. We wanted to provide another piece of character education that could tie into the overall picture of sportsmanship at Millbrook and create a better environment. When we heard about Athletes Helping Athletes, we realized we'd found a way to do that."

Begun in 1984, Athletes Helping Athletes is currently being used by over 40 high schools in the New York Metropolitan Area, as well as by satellite programs in New Jersey and Canada. Based at Adelphi University's Sports Leadership Institute, AHA trains high school athletes to lead middle and elementary school classes on sportsmanship.

After a successful start in 2004-05, Millbrook's 2005-06 AHA program has 22 student-athlete participants. Athletes were selected after a short application process and are expected to remain in the program until they graduate. Over the course of a school year, AHA members attend three full-day workshops in Garden City, N.Y., led by Adelphi physical education students, which include sections on lifestyle choices; sportsmanship; drug, alcohol, and tobacco abuse; gender and racial violence; performance-enhancing drugs; bullying, hazing, and teasing; and leadership development.

As prominent Millbrook student-athletes, the participants then share those lessons informally with their teammates and formally with students at Millbrook's two elementary schools. The younger students are excited to host the high school athletes and write essays about the things they learn. Feedback from elementary school teachers and parents has been very positive, and as these students graduate to the middle and high school ranks, DeVincenzi expects the impact to grow.

At the high school, DeVincenzi sees AHA providing a special opportunity for student-athlete leaders to have their own club. "As athletes, these students already know what it's like to feel they're part of a team," he says. "But AHA is different. When we interviewed the participants last year, they talked about the importance of being part of something bigger. This gives them the feeling they're really having a positive impact on the world around them."

The program is also working effectively with a series of gradual changes the athletic department has implemented to emphasize sportsmanship. Last year, Millbrook outlawed all negative cheering at its athletic contests, and there is no cheering at all, positive or negative, allowed during free throws at home basketball games. The school also instituted a policy of warning and then removing spectators who are seen harassing players, coaches, or officials.

Millbrook stations an athletic administrator and two or three chaperons in the stands during games, training them to maintain order, keep the cheering positive, and interrupt any fan misbehavior. Two pages of the game program are devoted to teaching sportsmanship, with quotes from prominent athletes and coaches, and an announcement is made before every contest to emphasize positive behavior.

This year, DeVincenzi held a meeting for the parents of all Millbrook athletes. Attendance was mandatory, and if parents didn't show, their children weren't permitted to compete. DeVincenzi used the meeting to spread the word about Athletes Helping Athletes, explain the department's emphasis on sportsmanship, and outline the rules of fan conduct. The result?

"People seemed to take everything we said to heart, and I didn't hear one negative comment," says DeVincenzi. "I said, 'We want to be excellent when it comes to sportsmanship, and to do that, we need to think before we speak. That includes all of us. Because once we yell at a kid--or a coach, or a referee--it's too late to take it back.'

"We've made a conscious effort to make students and parents aware that we're serious about sportsmanship, and you can see the difference," he continues. "We had to remove a couple of people early on, but now everybody understands the consequences. And they watch over each other, which is a great thing."

For senior Kevin Lovell, a baseball, basketball, football, and golf athlete and a member of AHA, the new sportsmanship initiatives have significantly changed the athletic culture at Millbrook. "There's no question about it," he says. "You can see the impact throughout the school. And outside school, you can see students really respecting each other and standing up for what they believe in. We're definitely making a difference."

The Poughkeepsie Journal agrees, and presented its annual Sportsmanship Award to Millbrook High at the end of 2005. "We're trying to take sportsmanship to the next level," says DeVincenzi. "Where we'll end up is still a question, but we'll continue to look for different avenues to explore. We don't expect to change the culture here in a year, or even two years. But over time, we're working to make this the best experience possible for everyone."