Playing the right way
The Cornerstone Christian School Falcons might not have won a medal at the Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association 2A boys provincial championships, but they ended up coming away with some impressive hardware nonetheless.
The team was presented with the SaskMilk Sportsmanship award during an assembly on Friday morning, an honour that school athletic director and former coach Lee Behrns was more than proud to be on hand to receive.
“One of the things (SHSAA executive director) Lyle McKellar said is ‘there are 385 or so schools in the province and this is your fourth one in 20 years, so you must be doing something right’,” Behrns said with a laugh.
“(McKellar) was there himself at provincials on the Saturday and said he saw in the coaches and players and even the fans how supportive we all were... when other fans were getting unruly our fans were telling them to relax, it’s high school sports. So it was those little things that Lyle said he noticed and that helped make it pretty much unanimous that we receive the banner.” The award is presented annually to the school at each provincial championship that demonstrates the best sportsmanship at the event. Receiving a blue banner is the kind of consolation prize that can make not winning a medal that much more easier to take.
“It would be nice to have gold, silver or bronze hanging on the wall, but winning the Sportsmanship award is a pretty good honour , too,” Behrns said. “In the end this one is voted on and it’s an honour, the other ones the players can control. You have to play the right way to win that award and that’s what we always try to do.” Shortly after provincials, Falcons coach Tammy Elliot said the team had received many comments in regards to how enjoyable it was to face her squad — their oncourt conduct was exemplary and made the high-pressure games all that much more fun to play.
“One of the teams, I think it was Kipling, even drove back for the semifinal game to cheer for us, so to have that kind of support was pretty nice,” Behrns said. “So at the end of the day that’s what you want, you want to be the team that everyone is gunning after but at the same time respect your opponents and play like gentlemen.”
The Falcons will head into next season looking for another banner — only this one is white with gold trim, signifying a provincial championship. They lose one player and will have a veteran-laden line-up taking the court.
“Their sights are already pretty high, we lose our captain, but those Grade 11s will rise to the occasion,” Behrns said. “We’re coming off our best finish ever in fourth, and hopefully we’ll have a really good chance to win it all next year.”