Recognizing the Opponent with more than a Handshake

Watch the game and stay for the post game handshake. Starting this week, you may notice something new at Overlake’s home sporting events.

Owl captains will present a member of a competing team with a medal that acknowledges their sportsmanship. “It’s meant to reward athletes in our vision of what it means to be a good competitor,” says Athletic Director John Wiley. “I envision captains going through the line and seeking out an opponent and saying, ‘Hey, thanks for playing with class.’ while shaking their hand and presenting them with this coin without a huge presentation.”

Coach Kirk Joy brought the idea to Wiley after sharing that it’s a practice they did in high school sports in Maryland from where he just relocated. Wiley has been a sportsmanship advocate in the Emerald City League and hopes the idea not only takes off at Overlake but across league schools. “One side of the coin shares our community values that are really applicable to athletics like integrity, compassion, and respect,” explains Wiley. “The other side has our Owl and reads ‘Thanks for playing with class’.”

The coins will be handed out after home games on the varsity level and hopes that the athletes receiving the coins will bring the idea back to their athletic directors. “In a day and age where you turn on ESPN and see examples of behavior we don’t want our kids to emulate, this is a subtle way to let athletes know that they’re playing the game the right way and my hope is that other schools will pick up the ball and run with it.”

Wiley adds that captains and assistant coaches will look for athletes on opposing teams who help a kid up, support a teammate after a mistake, or show respect for officials. “If we’re just looking at the scoreboard then we’re missing the big picture. Character counts and this is a way to literally award it,” says Wiley.