Earlham College | News from Public Affairs

Earlham students cheer at field hockey contest.

Earlham students cheer enthusiastically for the Quakers field hockey team at the first home game on Sept. 9. The College is joining in this year's national fan sportsmanship initiative.

RICHMOND, Ind. — Fans of Earlham College athletics and most National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III teams are going to be seeing a great deal of the phrase "Be Loud, Be Proud, Be Positive."

The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) and all 10 of its member institutions are among the 326 Division III schools and 31 conferences participating in the Division III Commissioners Association Fan Sportsmanship Program.

"The NCAC is a leader in conducting athletics the right way," Earlham Director of Athletics Frank Carr said. "All of the conference schools are striving to positively impact the atmosphere at athletic events on our campuses."

Carr stated that Earlham's student-athletes received information about the sportsmanship program before the fall season began. He also is informing the Earlham community through the Athletics and Student-Athlete Advisory committees as well as the College's newspaper, The Earlham Word. "The athletics department hopes to create a safe and enjoyable environment for competitors, game officials and spectators," Carr said.

"In recent years, we have witnessed a growing antagonism between players, teams and fans," Carr added. "College athletics always has been built around certain principles. There seems to be a movement away from one of the most important of these — sportsmanship. While there have been some isolated incidents of bad behavior at Earlham games, the College hasn't had any dangerous situations frequently depicted in the national media."

Earlham Provost Nelson Bingham believes that the program has merit. "I am glad to say the NCAC is not populated by a large number of athletes who have been so poisoned by this corrosive atmosphere in our society at large that they engage in poor sportsmanship in our athletics contests," he said. "Nevertheless, it would be naive to assume that all of our athletes have escaped or avoided those negative influences. Of course, we have a conference where coaches, presidents and the college communities in general value sportsmanship and support an ethos of healthy competition and that helps."

"This initiative is intended to provide further emphasis on sportsmanship, and even if this is primarily a preventative measure, it is important for us to take this kind of stand," stated Bingham, who also serves as the Earlham men's faculty representative to the NCAC. "Perhaps the symbolic meaning that this carries can, in some small part, counter the trends in the larger society as well as insuring that we remain faithful to the ideals of varsity sports that have served our schools and our students so well for generations."

NCAC member schools have received help from the conference with promoting the program. "We sent all of the banners, signs and other materials in time so each athletics director could include the sportsmanship program as part of a kickoff meeting with their entire staff," NCAC Executive Director Dennis Collins said. "I haven't received much feedback yet, but I have been on Allegheny's and Wooster's campuses in the last 10 days and all our sportsmanship signs are up promoting the event."

Collins wants the program to increase the enthusiasm at athletics events. "The hope for the Fan Sportsmanship initiative is for education to take place this year, resulting in a much better environment at our contests," he said. "Most of our sporting events seem to go just fine with spectators and participants exhibiting model behavior."

Like every conference, the NCAC is not immune from the possibility of issues. "We do have selected sports where student fans and some parents, amongst the adult fans, just seem to want to create a hostile, unsporting atmosphere," Collins said. "This is not an atmosphere that our campus leaders want at our sporting events, because it can and has led to hostilities and physical confrontations. We have come very close to having people hurt."

The student-athletes are cognizant of the sportsmanship issue. "Soccer is very rough, but you have to treat your opponents and officials with respect," Earlham sophomore women's soccer player Maddie Daskovsky said. "However, it is difficult for many athletes to be aware of sportsmanship amongst spectators during a match, but it is something this initiative is making us conscious of this year."

Jeff Justus, head men's basketball coach, hopes the awareness will increase the level of sportsmanship. "Basketball games become intense, especially at tournament time and the crowds in the NCAC remain supportive of their teams," he said. "My concern is the personal remarks from fans that are directed at players and officials. Hopefully, this initiative will encourage fans to police themselves before anything serious occurs."

The Fan Sportsmanship initiative banners will be on display at all Earlham athletics events to remind our fans to "Be Loud, Be Proud, Be Positive."