sportsmanship

Syd One of Three Greyhounds Named All-GLVC

wbb_all_conferenceThe Great Lakes Valley Conference announced their post-season honors revealing Player of the Year, Coach of the Year along with First Team, Second Team and Third Team All-GLVC. Martha Burse was named to the First Team and Sydney and Nicole Anderson were named to the Second Team.

While this was Syd’s first full year of actually playing college ball, she still missed games due to nagging knee difficulties.

Sydney was also named the team’s recipient of the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award. Proud of her not just as a player, but also who she conducts herself on and off the court.

The UIndy Athletics website posted an article about the three players and their post-season awards.

Here’s a portion of that article:

Although injuries limited her to just 19 games, Brackemyre has still had a major impact on the Greyhounds in her debut year. The Wilmington, Ohio-native’s 15.3 points per game and 47.7% shooting both rank second on the team.

Brackemyre put teams on notice immediately, recording back-to-back double-doubles against Findlay (20 pts, 16 reb) and Walsh (14 pts, 10 reb) on opening weekend. That was enough for the conference to make her the GLVC Player of the Week, the first time in more than two years a Greyhound picked up the conference’s weekly honor.

Additionally, Brackemyre was named the team’s recipient of the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These individuals must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The honorees are now eligible to become one of their school’s two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced at the end of the academic year.

Middle School Football Amazing Play

This past weekend our junior high students attended the Christ In Youth BELIEVE Convention at Northern Kentucky University.  We joined with about 6,000 other junior high students and adults to sing, laugh, listen, learn and grow.  (We might have eaten some pizza, too!)

In the final session, the speaker was encouraging us to use the gifts and abilities and influence God has given us for others.  He said that means having an influence on whomever God may put in our path.

He shared a few examples of students he knew that invested their time and energy to impact others.  He then showed a video clip about a middle school football team who went out of their way to make a difference in the life of one of their teammates. It’s not only a good story, but a great example for all of us.

Sportsmanship Wins Yet Again

Saw this video posted today on Facebook and it’s a great story of sportsmanship and putting others first. It reminded me of Jason McElway’s story that was posted a couple of years ago. In a time when both athletes and parents can get so caught up in winning and losing, stories like these are refreshing. Great job to both the coach of the team and to the player on the opposing team for what they did.

Sportsmanship Wins Again

Several months ago there was a great story about a high school track athlete that quit running to help a fallen competitor finish the race. Listening to the radio this morning, I heard a similar story, this time on the football field.

A St. Clairsville, Ohio, football player was on his way to his 12th touchdown of the season, nearing the end zone after a 52 yard running play. He stepped out at the 1 yard line so a teammate could score a touchdown in honor of his father who just passed away from a stroke.

The player, who is a starter on the freshman team, plays sparingly at best on varsity and never lined up at running back. He followed his blocker and scored on the first play. It was his first touchdown and he said he knew his father was watching.

In a time where we hear of bad behavior from athletes – and parents, too! – it is refreshing to hear a story like this one.

You can read a more detailed account on the USA Today High School Sports website.

Sportsmanship Wins The Day

This story has been all over Twitter and carried by several news organizations.  It appeared on the front page of ESPN’s High School Cross Country and Track page. It’s a great story.

The short story is that Meghan Vogel stopped running in the 3,200-meter race in the state track meet to help a fallen runner cross the finish line.  I love the title ESPN gave it in their headlines: “Sportsmanship wins the day at Ohio meet.”

You can read the entire story on ESPN’s page, but here’s a great quote from Meghan in the article:

It’s strange to have people telling me that this was such a powerful act of kindness and using words like ‘humanity.’ When I hear words like that I think of Harriet Tubman and saving people’s lives. I don’t consider myself a hero. I just did what I knew was right and what I was supposed to do.

It’s a great story that not only should be read, but duplicated, by athletes and individuals everywhere.

Shot of a Lifetime

I first heard this story when it appeared in the Dayton Daily News this weekend. The video is below along with the description. It comes out of Franklin High School which is a school in our area. Great story!

Franklin High School special needs senior,Mark White,got the shot of his lifetime Friday night 2/17/12. He has been the mgr. with the team for 3 years now,trying to support his team the best way he knew how. The Wildcats were 19-0- going in to the game,working on a perfect season,under the head coaching of Brian Bales. The last home game was senior night,and Mark was honored by being named the “6th man” starter for the team that night! So without starting the clock,the teams took the floor with a traditional game start,and what follows will explain itself.