OHSAA: Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Committee honors 29 schools

From the Ohio High School Athletic Association

COLUMBUS – The OHSAA Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Committee has announced that 29 member schools have been selected to receive school sportsmanship awards for the 2011-12 academic year. The 29 schools met the “Respect the Game Challenge,” while 24 of those schools also earned the prestigious Harold A. Meyer Award.

This is the second year the OHSAA’s revised three-tiered process for the Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity school awards has been implemented. The list of recipients was accepted by the OHSAA Board of Directors at its regularly scheduled meeting Oct. 18.

In order to meet the “Respect the Game Challenge,” schools must complete a comprehensive checklist that confirms the various sportsmanship, ethics, and integrity programs within their school. Besides developing a well-planned, educational program on sportsmanship, the form reminds schools to develop:

• a comprehensive student-athlete campaign
• a coaches campaign
• a student body, student support group, parents, and fan campaign
• a public address announcers campaign

Schools that have met the challenge will receive a “Respect The Game” banner that can be displayed in a prominent area of the school.

Meeting the “Respect The Game Challenge” is the precursor to being considered for the Harold A. Meyer Award. That award, named in honor of the late OHSAA commissioner from 1969 to 1977, is presented to schools that demonstrate via a PowerPoint presentation they have completed an eight-part program that promotes sportsmanship, ethics, and integrity in their schools and communities. The applications and presentations were judged by students from Ohio Dominican University in collaboration with the OHSAA staff.

First-year winners receive a banner to hang in a prominent area of their school. Schools that had previously received the award were presented with the banner the first year they won, then subsequently receive the numerals corresponding to the year(s) the award has been earned.

The Meyer Award has been presented every year since 1992, and Bay Village Bay is the only high school that has won the award every year since its inauguration.

The last tier of the SEI awards is the Commissioner’s Award for Outstanding Sportsmanship. The SEI committee is still determining which schools will receive this award, but finalists come from the Harold A. Meyer Award entries that submitted a public service announcement. The winners of the Commissioner’s Award will be honored at the state basketball tournament.

Following is the list of schools that have been selected for the 2011-12 Harold A. Meyer Award (*indicates first-time applicant):

• Amelia High School (Batavia)
• Bay High School (Bay Village)
• Bedford High School
• Bishop Watterson High School (Columbus)
• Coshocton High School
• Cuyahoga Heights Middle School
• Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School (Dayton)
• *Heskett Middle School (Bedford)
• John Sells Middle School (Dublin)
• Johnstown-Monroe High School
• LaSalle High School (Cincinnati)
• Nagel Middle School (Cincinnati)
• North Ridgeville High School
• Norwayne High School (Creston)
• Norwayne Middle School (Creston)
• Ross High School (Hamilton)
• Saint Ursula Academy (Cincinnati)
• Stow-Munroe Falls High School
• *Sycamore Jr. High School (Cincinnati)
• Teays Valley East Middle School (Ashville)
• Teays Valley West Middle School (Commercial Point)
• Valley View High School (Germantown)
• West Carrollton High School
• West Holmes Local Schools (Millersburg)

Following is the list of schools that have been selected for the 2011-12 “Respect the Game Challenge” (*indicates first-time applicant):

• *Archbishop Hoban High School (Akron)
• *Indian Hill High School (Cincinnati)
• Kenston High School (Chagrin Falls)
• Loveland High School
• Steele High School (Amherst)