Maryland Student Leaders Making a Difference with PSAs, Sportsmanship Posters

As reports of poor sportsmanship at high school events continue to increase – both in occurrence and severity – the search for effective methods of restoring respect in the competitive environment has intensified.

Attempted solutions have varied based on school-specific circumstances, but virtually all of them include a messaging component, with student-led efforts rising in popularity – and generating optimism, as of late.

One of the more recent stories of encouragement comes from one of the country’s largest school districts, Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools (MCPS), where the MCPS Student-Athlete Leadership Council (SALC) has worked to set standards for competitors and spectators at each of the district’s 25 high schools.

Made up of 54 student leaders – two from each high school plus four at-large members – SALC meets every other month under the direction of MCPS Athletics staff members Kathy Green and Robin McCue.

“The purpose of our meetings is just to provide student voicing in the administration of the athletics programs,” said Green. “So, depending on what is happening during the month, that’s really what we cover during our meetings.”

What was happening this past fall was the implementation of MCPS’ new athletics safety plan, an initiative that stemmed from a few prior incidents of negative behavior involving student-athletes, coaches and parents. In accordance with the plan, the Council was tasked with designing a public-service announcement (PSA) soliciting assistance from fellow students in upholding good sportsmanship at games.

The PSA highlighted the district’s R.A.I.S.E. core values for athletics – (R)espect and Sportsmanship; (A)cademic Excellence; (I)ntegrity and Character; (S)pirited and Safe Competition; and (E)quity and Access – and first hit the airwaves of its educational television channel, MCPSTV, in late September. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive, and the video became so popular throughout the county that it led Green to think of additional ways to capitalize on the momentum.

“From there, I was just thinking, ‘alright, how else can we support this initiative?’” Green said. “And so, at our November meeting, I came up with an outline to create student section guidelines that were ‘for students, from students.’ I presented it to (SALC) and they just rolled with it.”

Green envisioned the student section guidelines as posters that would hang in every MCPS gymnasium and would reinforce the message from the original PSA while providing more detailed conduct rules derived from the R.A.I.S.E. core values. Using one school’s existing poster as an example, Green and McCue had the entire council meet to brainstorm general poster ideas before challenging each student pair (or trio, for schools with at-large members) to come up with guidelines specific to their schools’ dynamics.

“As leaders, we had to take the time to really understand the R.A.I.S.E. core values before we started spreading them to our classmates and teammates,” said Corrine Howard, a SALC member and volleyball, basketball and track and field athlete at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. “Before we put up the posters, I don’t think anyone really knew what our values were or how to act (supportively) in the stands rather than being against the other team.”

As with any project, there were a few mild disagreements between council members regarding poster verbiage, but according to Andrea Ellers-Ruiz of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, one of the biggest challenges was making the posters universally relevant to all sports, as well as the various types of crowds each sport attracts.

“For certain sports, it varies how large and how engaged the crowds are, so we had to make it very neutral so that (the posters) applied to everyone,” said Ellers-Ruiz, who plays basketball, lacrosse and volleyball at Whitman. “Certain games have more tension and more possibilities of uprisings occurring, but we wanted to cover all sports so that everybody knew that, even if a game has a big crowd, everybody should act in the proper way.”

While the posters were shipped off for printing, SALC stayed busy with an expanded lineup of PSAs through MCPSTV. The second installment, titled “Why I Play,” was published in January and focused on the benefits of high school athletics participation. The third video celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day in February – and was also presented in Spanish – while the fourth PSA highlighted the important role of high school athletic trainers for National Athletic Trainers Month in March. Officials appreciation is the theme for this month’s video, which will also discuss the national officials shortage.

“One of the big reasons that we’re putting out so many PSAs is to become role models for the generations after us that want to play sports,” said Ella Rishell, who is on the field hockey, swimming and diving, and track and field teams at Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg. “Our main goal is to make sports affordable and accessible for everyone. And through those PSAs, we’re able to make students feel like they have a voice and that they’re being heard, because it’s a lot more influential when you hear it from someone your age than a teacher.”

The posters started to arrive at district schools in December, equipped with direct behavioral expectations such as “Cheer For Your Team, Not Against the Other;” “Let Players Play, Coaches Coach and Officials Officiate;” “Show Your Spirit From the Bleachers;” and many others. And over the past three months, it appears the posters are changing the climate inside MCPS athletic venues, as SALC members have begun to notice the impact of their handiwork.

“It’s a new medium,” said Landon Mulford, a basketball player at Walt Whitman High School. “I know before our games we have something that sort of talks about the R.A.I.S.E. values, but I think because people have heard that so much, they almost filter it out. I think the poster (at Walt Whitman) was definitely something that was eye-catching, and so it got people’s attention.”

“The environment at games is a lot more positive,” Rishell said. “There’s less arguing, less fighting, and people are a lot more respectful. And at the end of the night, we’re all able to walk away in a respectful manner with pride (in) that, ‘maybe we didn’t win, but we still showed good sportsmanship on and off the court.’ And that’s what really matters.”