Letter to the Student Body

A new school year brings with it new opportunities to learn from textbooks and to learn about life.

There is a variety of extracurricular and athletic activities available to you at our school. We hope you will become involved in those that interest you.

Athletic events are always among the most popular activities for participants and spectators, and these games provide another learning experience. When you become involved in an athletic event, how our school and community are perceived is influenced by the good sportsmanship you display.

We will be incorporating the themes of Pursuing Victory With Honor into our athletic programs. This is a successful nationwide program that reinforces the need for sportsmanship in educational athletics.

As a society, we are constantly bombarded with the message that winning is everything. Not everyone can regularly win games or finish first. But everyone can practice the Golden Rule—treating others the way they wish to be treated—and follow the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

Please take a few moments to review the following guidelines:

• You are at a contest to support and yell for your team and to enjoy the skill and competition, not to intimidate or ridicule the other team or its fans.
• School athletics are learning experiences for students, and mistakes are sometimes made. Praise student-athletes in their attempt to improve themselves as students, as athletes, and as people.
• A ticket to a school athletic event is a privilege to observe the contest, not a license to verbally assault others or be obnoxious.
• Learn the rules of the game so you understand and appreciate why certain situations can occur.
• Show respect for opposing players, coaches, spectators, and support groups. Treat them as you would treat a guest in your own home.
• Refrain from taunting or making derogatory remarks to your opponents during the game, especially comments of an ethnic, racial, or sexual nature.
• Respect the integrity and judgment of game officials. Understand that they are doing their best to help promote the student-athlete. Admire their willingness to make difficult decisions in full view of the public.
• Show appreciation for outstanding plays by either team.
• Refrain from using any controlled substances—such as alcohol or drugs—before or during games, and afterwards at or near the event site.
• Use only cheers that uplift the teams.
• Recognize and compliment school and league administrators for their efforts to emphasize the benefits of athletics and the role of good sportsmanship.
• Be a positive role model through your actions and by censuring those around you whose behavior may be unbecoming.

As our representative, your actions are scrutinized by family and friends, opposing fans, the local community, and the media. They will reflect back upon us. Displaying good sportsmanship will say positive things about you and our school and remind us all that in the end, sport is meant to be fun.

We hope the upcoming year is a rewarding one for you.

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