Winning at life

T
he number of Ws a team racks up in a season will soon be forgotten, but acts of courtesy and kindness will remain long after students engaging in them have walked away from the halls of NHS.
Once again, our student athletes are proving that they are bigger than the game and are winning at life. Both the football and volleyball teams have shown incredible character simply by being awesome human beings.
Their actions may have been small, but they drew a great deal of attention. 
The high school administration got two emails in one week from other schools singing the praises of our athletes. 
The first one came from the athletic director from Glenrock who passed along thanks from his custodial staff for how clean the football boys left the locker room following their game. 
The staff had let him know that our boys left it the cleanest it has ever been, and wanted us to know how appreciative they were for the team’s effort.
The second email came in just four days later, and it was from the athletic director from Buffalo passing on thanks for our volleyball team helping to clean the bleachers following their contest.
“I have never seen a visiting team do that before, and I could not be more impressed with your program and girls,” he stated. “Thank you for creating a culture that is bigger than just the game, and thank you for setting a positive example for others to follow.”
What an awesome compliment to receive, and one that I venture to say is probably worth far more than one regarding athletic performance. 
What these simple displays of respect have done is set the tone for how others perceive the students, and the athletic programs, of Newcastle High School, and I could not be more proud of that perception.
I asked volleyball head coach Jenny Willard what inspired her team to help clean the bleachers after an admittedly heartbreaking, five-set loss in Buffalo, and her response was that they decided to continue the season philosophy of “bigger than me, bigger than us” that the team had begun over the summer.
“We chose to do community service over the summer to promote leadership and bonding, and we didn’t want to stop as summer came to an end,” Willard explained. “We decided that whether we are home or away, win or lose, we want to respect those who allow us to play a game we love.”
To that end, the volleyball team helps to clean up and sweep bleachers at all their away contests, and they help to set up the gym for home games.
“It just really pays tribute to those who work behind the scenes to make it a nice environment to compete in,” she smiled. “The girls decided since there are a lot of us and few of them, it only makes sense to help where we can.”
Both Dogie football and Lady Dogie volleyball received good sportsmanship awards from the WHSAA for their exemplary behavior, but that’s not where it ended for the ladies. They received another good sportsmanship award for their actions at their home contest against Torrington.
Chelsi Jackson, who is the head coach for the Lady Blazers, has a 10-month-old son who is battling a health condition and has undergone several brain surgeries in his short life. As a way to show support to Jackson, all three Lady Dogie teams lined up and presented her with a flower prior to the varsity game on Sept. 24. The team also presented her with a check, money raised from fundraising, to help offset some of the medical costs the family is incurring. 
“We each placed a flower in a vase that Chelsi was holding,” Willard began. “Each flower represented our hope, strength and prayers and to show our support of little Camden who is fighting his own battle, which is so much bigger than volleyball.”
These acts of kindness and service speak volumes for the character of the athletes who wear the Dogie uniform. They represent their school and their town with class and we should all be proud of these young people.