Harwood fall sports season opens with a sportsmanship message – to parents
August 19, 2023 | By Lisa ScagliottiHarwood Union High School fall sports launched this past week with the usual pre-season meeting for student-athletes, parents and coaches.
Ian Fraunfelder, the school’s new athletics and activities director, began the session Tuesday night in the school auditorium with a brand-new 5.5-min. video from the Vermont Principals Association emphasizing the importance of sportsmanship and modeling positive behavior – by adults.
The clip opens with longtime University of Vermont men's basketball coach Tom Brennan and includes South Burlington High School Principal Patrick Burke along with high school athletic directors and coaches from South Burlington, Winooski and Bellows Free Academy.
Speakers in the VPA Sportsmanship video: Tom Brennan, Patrick Burke, Dan Marlow, Mike Jabour, Sam Jackson, Anjie Soucy, Lauren Thomas. Screenshots.
The message includes footage from national and Vermont sporting events as speakers talk about how emotions come into play for players and spectators and the importance of managing those emotions.
“You can win a game and act like 2-year-olds and you honestly haven’t won a thing,” Bellows Free Academy Athletic Director Dan Marlow says to the camera.
“Raise your hand if you want to put your kid in a toxic environment,” Burke says.
Scenes include a TV news report from a fight that broke out last winter among adults following a sixth-grade basketball game in Alburgh. A 60-year-old man who had been in the altercation later suffered a fatal heart attack. Other images include scenes from news coverage last fall after fans were banned from soccer games between Winooski and Enosburg teams after incidents where fans and players harassed players with racial slurs.
“If the fans are the problem we will remove the problem,” Marlow observes.
“If we can’t teach life skills through this game then why are we doing it?” asks Winooski High School Athletic Director Sam Jackson.
A referee who’s not identified points out that a statement about sportsmanship is read before games but he doesn’t think fans take the message to heart. South Burlington Field Hockey Coach Anjie Soucy recalls canceled games due to lack of refs.
“Referees just don't want to deal with bad fan behavior,” Jackson says. “What can we do to change the course?”
The speakers go on to praise student-athletes who show good sportsmanship such as helping opponents up off the field or court. “The kids are showing more progress than the adults are,” South Burlington High School Athletic Director Mike Jabour says, adding a wish for such positive examples to get news coverage in the future.
They also address parents directly. “As parents it’s a logical thing to be defensive,” Soucy says, but later adds, “There’s no place for hate.”
Marlow is very blunt: “You don’t have to demean somebody else to make your son or daughter look better,” he says. “Don’t be afraid to stand up to the people around you. What’s your role going to be?”
Brennan chimes in with a sage reminder: “It’s their time – it goes by like that,” he says, clapping his hands together as others’ comments come in rapid fire about supporting players, celebrating milestones while being a good example. “You being the best person you can be? The wins will come – wins in sports games and wins in life,” Jackson offers in very coach-like final advice.
Lauren Thomas, assistant executive director of the Vermont Principals Association, poses a rhetorical question: “If your kid is happy, healthy and well-balanced – isn’t that what we want for our kids?”
Burke looks beyond the challenges to suggest that high school sports can be the opposite of divisive. “Scholastic-based athletics is so worth protecting. We can use it as one way to unite communities, to bring people together,” he says.
The VPA Sportsmanship Video can be found on the homepage of the VPA website.
Covering the bases
Harwood Athletic Director Ian Fraunfelder during the fall preseason meeting. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Fraunfelder just joined the Harwood administration, coming to the district after 14 years at Bellows Falls Union High School in southern Vermont. A graduate of Colby-Sawyer College with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport sciences, he previously worked as recreation director for the town of Swanzey, New Hampshire.
He succeeds Chris Langevin who resigned in January, and his predecessor Sue Duprat filled in temporarily until the 2022-23 school year ended.
Fraunfelder’s slide presentation covered the typical ground for a pre-season meeting: school attendance, keeping up with academics (“You’re a student first, athlete second.”), no-tolerance on substance use (in and out of school), communications with coaches (“Athletes should advocate for themselves.”), protocols on leaving games with parents rather than riding home on the team bus, etc.
Fraunfelder also introduced a new method for the athletic department to communicate with student-athletes, coaches and families. He asked those in the room and has since asked coaches to convey the information to teams to have players and parents sign up using a text message.
The online system uses an app called Remind which will allow Fraunfelder to create texting groups by team that he in turn can message with important updates as needed. He said he hopes it will be especially helpful when there are last-minute changes due to weather, for example.
The texting system will replace having to watch social media accounts for individual teams, he said, but participation is key. “It’s going to work best if everybody’s on it,” Fraunfelder said.
Any player or parent who has not yet received information to sign up should ask their coach for details.
Harwood Athletic Trainer and Assistant Athletic Director Danielle LaFlamme also addressed the gathering stressing physical fitness and nutrition for athletes going into the school year.
Parents also heard from Matt Lillard with the Harwood Boosters Club which has dwindled in volunteer support in recent years, particularly during the pandemic. A small group remains and is looking to rebuild its board and list of volunteers. Anyone wishing to help out with booster activities is asked to email harwoodboosters@gmail.com.
High school team tryouts and trainings have begun in the past several days. Fraunfelder said most teams should be formed before school begins on Aug. 28. Fall sports are: Girls and Boys Soccer, Field Hockey, Golf, Bass Fishing, Volleyball and Cross Country; Harwood players also may join the U-32 Football program.
The Girls and Boys Soccer teams have the first scrimmages on the calendar – the boys at CVU on Wednesday, Aug. 23, and the girls hosting Montpelier the same day. All of the game times are at 5 p.m. for both varsity and junior varsity teams.
The first games of the season are listed for Field Hockey hosting Stowe at 4 p.m. on Sept. 1, and Girls Soccer traveling to Mt. Abe on Sept. 1 for a 4:30 p.m. game. On Sept. 2, Boys Soccer hosts South Burlington at 11 a.m. and Harwood Cross Country heads to the Essex Invitational meet.
The Harwood Tandem Calendar lists sports practices and games and is updated often to reflect any changes such as last-minute cancellations due to weather.
More information is on the school athletics website homepage including the student-athlete handbook, and links to purchase school logo merchandise. The fall sports preseason presentation will be posted there soon, Fraunfelder said.