The Sharon Academy boys\u2019 soccer team finished 8-5-1 in the regular season, good enough to make the VPA Division IV playoffs, where their season ended in a quarterfinal loss.<\/p>\n
But even though they didn\u2019t win a championship, the Phoenix still were honored earlier this month with a postseason accolade for the program\u2019s performance \u2014 not for its play, but for its sportsmanship.<\/p>\n
The Phoenix were one of four teams to earn a Vermont Soccer Officials Association Sportsmanship Award.<\/p>\n
Grayson Levy, the Phoenix\u2019s head coach and the school\u2019s athletic director, said he and his team were happy to receive the honor, and he believed it reflected the players\u2019 high character.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you ask any coach, athletic director or educator at any level, they\u2019ll tell you their primary goal is building great kids,\u201d said \u201cSo when you get an award for sportsmanship, it really shows \u2014 especially to the boys themselves \u2014 that what we\u2019re doing is about more than just putting a ball in the net.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s recognition was the first statewide sportsmanship award the VSOA has presented, according to Mike Clark, a member of the organization\u2019s sportsmanship committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficials talk after every game, and most of the time when we talk, we point out the poor sportsmanship that we saw,\u201d he added. \u201cSo the executive board decided to put together a sportsmanship committee, which I was on, to see what we could do to honor Vermont teams, north and south, that showed great sportsmanship.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of the evaluation process, referees rated schools after every game \u201con the sportsmanship behavior of the players, coaches, fans and on-site administrative support,\u201d according to a news release announcing the recipients.<\/p>\n
Clark said there were more than 2,000 submissions after the season, which were tabulated to determine boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 team winners in the northern and southern portions of the state.<\/p>\n
Accepting officials\u2019 calls, helping opposing players up from the turf and showing respect from players, coaches and fans were among the ways the Phoenix demonstrated sportsmanship.<\/p>\n
\u201cSportsmanship stands out in a lot of different ways, but when you see it, you know what it is,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n
Junior goalkeeper Collin Keep said the recognition meant a great deal to him and his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just shows that there is something to look forward to when you\u2019re being kind,\u201d Keep said.<\/p>\n
The Enosburg boys, U-32 girls and Fair Haven girls teams were the other recipients.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongratulations to the teams selected for the 2025 VSOA inaugural Sportsmanship Award,\u201d VSOA President Marvin Pritchard said in the news release. \u201cThe school, community and soccer official relationship that you have developed is a model for others to emulate in the future. You have been chosen by soccer officials who respect your passion for the game while always exhibiting the highest level of sportsmanship.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sharon Academy boys\u2019 soccer team finished 8-5-1 in the regular season, good enough to make the VPA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,76499,701,158834,561,82],"class_list":["post-371433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-homecenterpiece2","tag-latest-news","tag-sharon-high","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}