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JAMESTOWN, NY (WNY News Now) – After school sports are an important part of the high school experience as it teaches core values such as communication and teamwork. However, some young athletes go above and beyond on and off the field and are now using these skills to teach others the way of sportsmanship.
Those with the Sportsmanship Symposium say this is a great opportunity for up and coming athletic leaders to showcase their initiative and drive for the betterment of themselves and their team.
“There’s no better, in my opinion, building ground so to speak than the competitive environment that is sports, and high school sports especially, to kind of hone some of those skills that will take you well into your professional career and also leverage you to be good family men and women,” said Northwest Arena’s Program Director of The Zone John Kinder.
The Symposium is meant to give students from all different backgrounds the chance to make meaningful connections with other athletes.
“They come and they spend the whole day here with kids from other schools, we do a lot of cooperative games, we do discussions and we have a chance for them to just kind of work together with kids from other schools,” said Coordinator Robert Goold. “I think it’s meaningful for the kids that come here, and hopefully they take back some of the positivity so they can use it in their own schools and programs.”
The sportsmanship leaders recognize the impact they could have on others, and say they appreciate the opportunity.
“I love this event, it’s great to have the athletes from the county come in and just present the sportsmanships that we’d like to see here in Chautauqua County, especially with people knowing each other through social media nowadays, everyone is seeing each other and seeing their names and now to actually come together and meet them in person is something special,” said Falconer Senior Jack Shea.
“For me and for us three standing here, like I said, we couldn’t be more excited to take our knowledge and give back to underclassmen and teach them to become leaders like we are,” said Jamestown Senior Trey Drake.
The 17th annual Sportsman Symposium will be held on April 28th at the Northwest Arena. The day will see a slew of high school aged students who have great sportsmanship and leadership materials.
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