The athletic department and administration have decided to hold pre-season meetings for all athletes to address sportsmanship, proper conduct, and appropriate behavior. The meetings will be held at the beginning of each sports season.
Principal Rich Kitchens said offering specific coach, student athlete, and parent meetings are something he, the athletic department, and the administrators have been discussing for about a year.
“While we were always planning on having these meetings, recent events increased the urgency to schedule a date as well as prompted a change to some of the content we were planning,” Kitchens said.
Co-Athletic Director Jeff Peters said the purpose of these meetings will be to identify what it truly means to “Achieve the Honorable.”
“We want all of our students to understand what we think it is to act with personal integrity, respect, dignity, and courtesy towards one another and our opponents,” Peters said.
Kitchens said sportsmanship has never been addressed as a separate subject, other than team by team. He said one of the school’s goals this year is to approach integrity in a broader, school-wide sense.
“We have recognized that our student athletes sometimes get different messages from sport to sport, so we want to have a common, unified message on what it means to be a Highlander on and off the field or court,” Kitchens said. “We have been getting there with our coaches, so it is now important to share that message with the players.”
Peters said he believes it is worth taking the time to speak to athletes about these matters to ensure their understanding of proper sportsmanship.
“We would like to take the opportunity to specifically address groups of students since the athletes represent PHS in so many ways,” Peters said.
Kitchens said being a small school, we are gifted in that almost every student has the chance to participate in a sport.
“That’s not always the case at bigger schools, but that gives us an opportunity, and with that comes some responsibility,” Kitchens said.
Men’s JV Basketball Coach John Kirby said participating in sports provides valuable life lessons. He said having pre-season meetings will hopefully remind athletes how to conduct themselves properly.
“It is an important life lesson to know how to behave, especially when suffering disappointment, for example a loss, but also how to conduct yourself when things go your way, for example a win,” Kirby said.
Men’s Varsity Soccer Coach David Villalobos said pre-season meetings could help clarify what sportsmanship means to all athletes.
“Sportsmanship is very important to learn on the playing field because values like fairness, respect, and friendliness are all important to have in the real world,” Villalobos said.
Villalobos said sportsmanship is especially important when facing a loss or disappointing defeat. He said players should always show respect for the opposing team, no matter what the outcome is.
“Hopefully, players will be able to walk off the field, move past the results, and use them as a motivator to improve individually and as a team,” Villalobos said.
Kitchens said while the main focus of these meetings will be to address athletes, it will be beneficial to have coaches, parents, and fans attend, too.
“I’d love fans and parents to come to the meeting because sometimes they’re unreasonable or inappropriate, and that’s not right,” Kitchens said. “We have expectations where you show other teams respect. You don’t call out individuals on other teams and you don’t mock other players.”
Kitchen said he, the athletic department, and the administrators are still in the process of discussing specific details about who will speak and what will be presented in the meetings.
“Part of the discussion is going to be taking a broad view of sportsmanship, beyond the practice, beyond the game, to how we treat should treat each other outside,” Kitchens said. “I hope the notion of [students] respecting themselves and one another is heightened, and that treating each other with courtesy and dignity becomes the goal.”
