Importance Of Sportsmanship Intensified At Lake City High
Lake City has intensified its focus on sportsmanship this year as a result of numerous incidents last year involving other schools.
Student conduct became a volatile issue after an incident following a Lake City/Sandpoint game when a student got seriously injured after someone threw a rock through his car window.
With Homecoming this week, Lake City administration and staff emphasized the importance of sportsmanship, including a review of the Inland Empire League’s sportsmanship guidelines.
Earlier this year, during class meetings at Lake City, the IEL code was handed out and clarified. The code includes maintaining total silence through the completion of the national anthem, permitting only signs that are encouraging to your team, not singling out particular players, limiting face paint to the size of a quarter, and no noise makers.
Ron Adams, Lake City activities director, said that “while there has always been a focus on sportsmanship,” it’s focus was intensified by “some things that went on last year between the schools in this area.”
He acknowledged the need for some changes at Lake City. “Public perception is low. We’re loud, and that can be good but the perception is that we can be vulgar and rude, that we can go a little overboard.”
Kasha Ho, a senior at Lake City, agrees there is a sportsmanship problem. “People forget that it’s just a game and that your opponents aren’t necessarily your enemies,” she said.
Ho remains skeptical of attempts to improve the situation. “There are efforts on behalf of the administration to increase sportsmanship, the roots of the problem are deeper than anything the administration is attempting to fix,” she said.
“People need to reconsider their feelings and actions while at Lake City events.”
And she pointed out that the Homecoming hype “can contribute to the energy at games, and that can aggravate unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Some students are more optimistic. Sam Thilo, a Lake City junior and student council member, said Lake City has a “better image than last year, and that the conduct has improved this year, especially with Sandpoint.”
Thilo said that while the IEL rules may be “stopping some students from doing what they want to do…they have achieved their intended goal.”
Adams agreed. “I think the issue has been resolved. We haven’t had any real problems this year.” He credited the improvement not only on the IEL guidelines, but “based on kids being more aware of what is going on and what happened last year.”
On Nov. 3, there will be another IEL meeting in Sandpoint to discuss sportsmanship. Representatives from every part of the schools involved will be there to discuss any need to clarify or add to any rules.