Opinion: I found sportsmanship at an Ogden high school

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OGDEN, Utah — I’ve been complaining recently about the lack of sportsmanship in high school sports. Well, I feel I must tell you now that I found an example of superior sportsmanship at a school in Ogden this week.

My son’s team was playing DaVinci Academy. We got absolutely clobbered. DaVinci had so many talented 3-point shooters and ball handlers. But it isn’t their athletic skill I want to tell you about.

One of their star shooters is a student named Isaiah Sanchez. He was drilling it every time he touched the ball. Then at halftime, he ran off the court, changed shirts, and ran back on the court with the 9 to 12-year-old cheerleaders.

He leads the cheerleaders

And he did it with this huge smile on his face.

The game at DaVinci was the first time since I was in high school, going to games in the late 1970s when I have been present when the whole community comes out for the game. Of course, the parents come. We’re always there. But there were students, young families with no players on the court, young parents of cheerleaders. The stands were packed on the court level and up above in the overflow.

The game was exciting, even though we lost by 25 points, because of the fans!

This school walks its talk!

This school just walks its talk when it posts a sign on the wall next to the banners of all the championship teams that say, “Welcome to DaVinci where sportsmanship is an expectation.”

At the end of the game, as the players walked by each other and high-fived or knuckle-bumped, several of DaVinci’s players and their coach stopped Ethan to tell him, “You’ve got a great game!” (Ethan had his first 3-pointer that night.)

I remembered what high school sports is all about that night, and I thank this school for setting such a great example.

Amanda Dickson is the co-host of Utah’s Morning News and A Woman’s View.

 

Follow @amandadickson