By Greg Bates
Sports Editor
GREEN BAY — The Pulaski boys’ soccer and Notre Dame Academy girls’ tennis teams didn’t capture their ultimate goals this season to win a state title, but both programs did have respectable showings at their respective state tournaments.
Both programs were deemed to have shown outstanding sportsmanship during their state appearances this fall and the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) honored them as Sportsmanship Award winners.
The WIAA selects one school from each state tournament to receive the award.
Pulaski and Notre Dame Academy will each receive a banner and trophy from the WIAA. Both schools are planning to hold presentations for the award at future basketball games.
Pulaski
This is just the second time in Pulaski history the school has won a Sportsmanship Award. The last was in 1996 by the softball team.
The boys’ soccer team made its second straight state appearance, losing in a Division 2 semifinal match to Whitefish Bay, 4-2, at Uihlein Park in Milwaukee on Nov. 3.
“It was not something that I expected,” Pulaski boys’ soccer coach Jeff Schneider said about the award.
“I obviously knew it was a thing, and then when Janel (Batten, Pulaski athletics director) emailed me, I felt super proud right away. Then when I read that the last time a Pulaski team won it was ’96, I thought well this is probably a bigger deal than just some random thing.
“To me, it means we’re developing great people, not just great soccer players in our program. Knowing that we’re doing that and our staff and our supporters and the people in the Pulaski community represented us in such a positive way, it’s something I really appreciated. It’s a great reminder that success goes beyond just winning games.”
The WIAA specifically states that the award is given out to those that show sportsmanship both on the field and in the stands.
“The Pulaski community does a great job in supporting its athletics, and I think that this award certainly serves as confirmation of that,” Schneider said. “Sportsmanship, I think, is a core value among all of our sports teams in Pulaski. It makes it easier when everybody’s on the same page and it’s something the community can support and be proud of. We all share the award, we’re just really thankful that we were the team to be able to showcase Pulaski on that stage.”
Notre Dame Academy
The Sportsmanship Award is the seventh overall for Notre Dame Academy and the second time for the girls’ tennis program. The last was in 2008.
The other recognitions came for girls’ soccer in 2002 and ’11, boys’ soccer in ’07, as well as girls’ basketball and boys’ tennis in ’12.
Led by coach Sommer May, the Tritons girls’ tennis team advanced to the Division 1 state tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to Divine Savior Holy Angels at Nielsen Stadium in Madison on Oct. 21.
Taking home a Sportsmanship Award is special for Notre Dame Academy as a school, said athletic director Matt Koenig.
“Every preseason I do a parent meeting and one of the focal points of that meeting is to talk about sportsmanship,” Koenig said. “Not only am I asking the parents to control themselves in the stands and to be respectful to the officials and our coaches, but we’re also asking the athletes to do that. Obviously, tennis is a little bit different in terms of having an official and all those kinds of things. But you’re asking your student body who are teenagers to control themselves when things don’t always go their way. When they’re seen as handling themselves as young adults in front of WIAA officials and the tennis-specific officials, umpires, when they’re all noticing how our kids are acting, that’s how you want your kids to be perceived. I really credit our tennis coach in terms of how she handles her whole program and how the kids themselves handle it.”
Koenig called tennis a high-integrity game, and the Tritons student-athletes showed the utmost integrity despite losing their only match of the tournament.
“I credit our student-athletes for handling themselves in such a manner that they get recognized for it,” Koenig said. “Hats off to them for doing it and hats off to our head coach for this. It’s not like she sits there in a team huddle saying, ‘OK, girls, we’re going to be the most respectful team here and we’re going to go with the sportsmanship award.’ The cool thing is, all of that happened because of their natural instincts as good kids.
“It means a lot. It’s one of those things where that’s what you want above and beyond the wins and losses, these are the kinds of things we’re trying to teach our student-athletes.”