By Frank Rizzo
GLEN SPEY — November 17, 2000 – Sportsmanship, like every other virtue, has to be cultivated and encouraged.
That is why even though the Western Sullivan League is no longer, schools from the former league got together last month at Young Life’s-Lake Champion Camp in Glen Spey for a day full of talk, discussion, and outdoor activities to make it a primary force in its athletes’ lives.
Sullivan West/Delaware Valley athletic director Debbie Owen had been the point person for the defunct league’s sportsmanship efforts since 1994 and said that there has been interest expressed by the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) — to which all county schools now belong — in extending the idea of a “Sportsmanship Day” to its other schools.
In the past, the OCIAA has sent observers to the WSL’s annual event, as has the state’s Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA).
In fact, Owen and Eldred AD Al Wojtaszek were asked to give a talk at a NYSPHSAA “Sportsmanship Conference” last year.
“There’s been a lot of interest. A lot of people though they could adapt our approach to their own area,” Owen observed.