THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509170151
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Virginia Beach is one of the top cities in the state for greeting opposing high school athletic teams with good sportsmanship.
Ocean Lakes and Tallwood high schools have received the Virginia High School League/USAir Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Award. The 2-year-old honor was bestowed upon three other of the state's more than 280 schools. Tallwood and Robinson won for the second time.
Joining Robinson and the Beach District's two newest high schools are Highland Springs and Lancaster - the first Group A school to be honored.
VHSL assistant director Larry Johnson presented Ocean Lakes with its banner and plaque Friday at a pep rally. Tallwood will receive its awards during its Sept. 29 homecoming pep rally.
Each winning school will also receive 50 points toward the athletic competition for the Central Fidelity Cup, which honors the state's most successful athletic programs.
``I consider this to be the Virginia High School League's most prestigious award,'' Johnson said. ``It's the only award that the entire school is graded on.''
To be honored, a school must fill out an application detailing its efforts to meet the VHSL's eight requirements. Six schools applied for the award this season.
``That's up from two last year, so we've more than doubled the participation,'' Johnson said. ``We're very happy with that. Other schools participate in good sportsmanship, but probably didn't feel they were ready to meet all the requirements.''
To qualify, a school must:
Show that it has a broad-based committee to coordinate the planning and implementation sportsmanship; have presentations throughout the school year to coaches, athletes, parents, fans and support groups emphasizing the school's philosophy on sportsmanship; have an ongoing promotional campaign; annually evaluate coaches in the areas of instruction and demonstration of sportsmanship; have procedures and plans for dealing with sportsmanship problems and complaints; have a program for acknowledging and awarding good sportsmanship; have a governing school board with a written policy on sportsmanship, ethics and integrity for its extracurricular activities.
``This is all part of what we're trying to establish here,'' Ocean Lakes principal Jerry Deviney said. ``We're trying to have zero tolerance for a lack of sportsmanship.
``The kids deserve most of the credit for this. They've all worked very hard.''
Tallwood didn't rest on last year's laurels in trying to become a two-time winner.
``Yes, we worked very hard for this again,'' student activities coordinator Bruce Phelps said. ``It's a very special award for a school, especially because of its coming on a state level.
``It says a lot about the Beach to have two winners this year.'' by CNB