The Ohio Valley Conference’s (OVC) 2019-20 Team Sportsmanship Award for the sport of rifle has been awarded to UTM, the league office announced this morning.
This marks the sixth time out of 15 years that the Skyhawks have earned the award in rifle. UTM owns two more OVC Team Sportsmanship Awards in rifle than any other program, winning the award in 2007-08, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2019-20.
Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the OVC Team Sportsmanship Awards are bestowed upon the conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff, administrators and fans.
“Without sportsmanship, there are truly no meaningful victories,” said Beth DeBauche, OVC Commissioner. “The recipients of the OVC Team Sportsmanship awards should accept this award with great pride for their fellow competitors have made it clear their teams exemplify the best in intercollegiate athletics. In receiving this prestigious honor, other competitors are saying these student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents and value fair play. That is quite a compliment as those are all traits that will lead to true victories throughout the course of life.”
Implemented in August 2005, the OVC Team Sportsmanship Awards are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.
In 1995, the OVC implemented a first-of-its-kind “Sportsmanship Statement”, a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one’s opponent. The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics, and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.
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