Centennial girls' team models sportsmanship

While our culture of commercials, fame and money urges us to regard overpaid athletes as people to emulate, whether as heroes or anti-heroes, it's gratifying to come across some true, real-life role models.

Enter the Patriots of Centennial Middle School in the Snohomish School District - specifically, the seventh- and eighth-grade girls basketball team, their parents and coaches. A Saturday story by reporter Melissa Slager told of how the players give a surprise sportsmanship award to a member of the opposing team at every Centennial home game.

The Centennial players decide among themselves at some point during the fourth quarter who they should give the award to, and present her with a gold medal after the game.

What a fantastic idea. Sometimes in youth sports, awards can go overboard, with every third grader who stepped on the soccer field being recognized for just showing up. But this has real meaning, and an excellent message.

"We decide who tries their best and hustles," said Samantha Irwin, a Centennial eight-grader. "Sportsmanship is a lot. It just shows who you really are ... You won't be respected if you don't have it."

Credit Centennial coaches John Bonner and Larry Taylor for instilling such a fine attitude, and how they go about it. At the start of each season, they hold a parent meeting to stress how parents should model good attitudes. No doubt that includes such things as shouting encouragement rather than instructions (that's what coaches are for!), cheering good plays by both teams and not yelling at the referees.

Parent Sarah Gravelle came up with the award idea after the teams' previous tradition of giving the opposing team cans of pop after each game was canned due to new nutrition guidelines at the school. Gravelle's inspiration reflects exactly "how parents should model good attitudes."

At a time when people are reluctant to coach or referee youth sports, mainly because parents haven't instilled the values of sportsmanship - in themselves - the Centennial way of doing things is extremely valuable. When college and professional athletes are continually in the news for drug busts, DUI, rape, domestic violence and assaults on other athletes and/or spectators, even discussing "sportsmanship" can sound quaint and out of touch. But if the goal is to return to what is good and important about sports, it's all the more reason to take the focus off the macro view and zero in on the micro - Centennial athletes exemplifying the very meaning of sportsmanship through their play and their actions after the game.

Their sportsmanship shows who they really are.