Since 2022, CESA 12 has partnered with Superior High School to host the Northern WI Sportsmanship Summit. The focus of the summit is to provide our region an opportunity to have high school athletes come together for a day of learning, reflection, and action planning. Themes for the event, topics for the sessions, and speakers involved in the day are chosen based on their connections to our area. The Summit is a one-day event and every district is invited to attend. Schools can send a group of 4-5 students along with an adult supervisor to the event. Following the event district teams build a plan for how to support sportsmanship in their district for the remainder of the school year. CESA 12 provides a structure for this process, conducts a follow-up in late spring, and supports teams connecting previous plans to future plans.

Keynote:

Sportsmanship as a Life Skill: Panel of secondary and post-secondary coaches/athletes discuss the importance of sportsmanship in their roles and in their lives. Reflection on their own experiences and how they saw or see this impact their teams, their schools, and their community. Students will have an opportunity to ask questions and engage in the reflection throughout the Keynote Session.

Student Sessions: (students will rotate through the three sessions during the summit)

Strengthening Sportsmanship and Belongingness: Having a sense of belonging on a team, in a school, and in a community can be raised up by positive sportsmanship. Students and adults involved in school co-curriculars have an opportunity to influence this and we consider the ways this can occur during this session. Students will be able to reflect in small groups the impact of their own actions and those they see from others. Groups will have time to brainstorm potential action steps or activities they could consider for their own district to be leaders in using sportsmanship to build belongingness in their school and community.

The Secret Life of Officials: Brief learning on the current trends in officials working at the secondary level and the expectations from WIAA for athletes and officials. We will have a panel of officials from our northern region to support students in understanding the role of the official and how sportsmanship impacts them. The session will consider the point of view of the official for why they take on this role, ideal interactions expected, emotions around the current trends, and the pros and cons of the role. Officials and participants will have an opportunity to connect over some fun games as well.

Being a Leader for Sportsmanship: Students will go through a brief learning on the WIAA Sportsmanship expectations and consider what this looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Students will brainstorm to define "leader" for sportsmanship and small steps they can take personally to match that definition. Students will work in groups to dive into the area of sportsmanship related to being a fan and work together to put together a list of resources that schools can use and even share with their fans.

Adult Supervisor Session: Community of Practice for ADs and Coaches (the adult supervisors will be assigned a time to attend this session to engage in a discussion that focuses on current strengths and current areas of need in our region.)

Contacts:

Rebecca Spets (rebeccam@cesa12.org)

Missy McCorison (missym@cesa12.org)