trying to wipe out sore sports|[08/17/07]

CLINTON – In the last scholastic athletic year more than 400 athletes and 100 coaches were ejected from Mississippi High School Activities Association events.

That number is way too many for MHSAA Executive Director Dr. Ennis Proctor. On Wednesday, Proctor announced the MHSAA has partnered with the Mississippi Department of Education to implement a sportsmanship plan from Learning Through Sports called &#8220STAR Sportmanship.”

&#8220This has been a problem in our state and nationwide. Last year, we had 400 student athletes and over 100 coaches ejected from our events. This is totally unacceptable. By using the STAR Sportsmanship program as a trial in 15 of our districts, we hope to promote good sportsmanship and look for positive results as it relates to the number of ejections and poor sportsmanship,” Proctor said.

Most of the ejections came not in football, but in baseball, basketball and soccer.

The &#8220STAR” program hopes to reach nearly 55,000 students and coaches in the 15 school districts. Vicksburg-Warren is not listed as one of the 15, but local high school coaches and administrators are urged to take a look at the program online at www.learningthroughsports.com.

&#8220We want to implement it in these 15 districts, take a look at the results, and then take it statewide next year,” Proctor said.

The program is funded by a grant from the Southeastern and Mountain West conferences. The STAR (Stop, Think, Act, Replay) Sportsmanship program is a role-playing program designed to help students, coaches, and parents make good decisions with their behavior on and off the playing field.

Former NFL player Brian Shulman, an LTS executive from Birmingham, represented the STAR program and said it has already produced results in Alabama.

&#8220Last year in Alabama we focused our program on football. In the previous year, there were 351 players and coaches ejected from Alabama high school football games. Through numerous efforts, that figured dropped by 40 percent to just near 200,” Shulman said.

&#8220Bad sportsmanship has become a big problem. Back when I played in high school and then college and then a little in the NFL, I never saw an ejection,” Shulman said.

&#8220Our kids see what’s happening on TV and that has filtered into the high school ranks,” said Mississippi Department of Education official Steve Williams. &#8220We have fans now waiting to see when the next fight will start. We want to see this program implemented in Mississippi in order to enhance sportsmanship and decrease our discipline problems.”

Don Hinton, a former coach and athletic director at Ocean Springs High School, was named by the MHSAA as the Mississippi Sportsmanship Coordinator.

&#8220We want to have harmony in our house. We want to reward positive behavior from our athletes, our coaches and our parents,” Hinton said. &#8220If it means increasing the fine level for ejected coaches, we’ll do it. Our games need to be about having respect for others.”

Shulman said his program will help kids know how to react to a given situation concerning sportsmanship.

&#8220We want to make being a good sport cool, again,” Shulman said.