A Lesson in Sportsmanship

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Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks – Champions of Superbowl XLVIII!

We are all so excited about the Seahawks! What people outside of our area may not understand was that this game wasn’t just about football. It was about connections. We connected on the playground when we formed “the 12th man” at recess. We connected in the hallways as we proudly wore our blue and green from class to class.  It connected classrooms too.

My friend Mrs. Arnett in Colorado teaches first grade and loves her Denver Broncos. When the Superbowl game meant that the Seahawks would be facing the Broncos, we thought we would have some fun too. On Friday, she sent me a photo of her Broncos fans in her classroom.

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She wrote me this message:

Good morning to our friends in the Seattle area! Here in Colorado we are excited about the Super Bowl! We hope the best team wins! If the Seahawks win, our teacher, Mrs. Arnett, will wear a Seahawks shirt all day Monday! If the Broncos win, we challenge Mrs. Hembree to wear a Bronco shirt on Monday! Good luck to you and your team… Go Broncos!!

I posted a photo of our school and a silly photo of Mrs. Paul and myself all dressed up in makeup and decals. We were ready for the weekend, and curious to see what color we each would be wearing on Monday morning.

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On Sunday, the Seahawks scored in the opening seconds of the game and the score kept getting higher and higher. It was clear I wouldn’t be wearing any orange on Monday. But….I felt badly. I thought Mrs. Arnett had enough punishment watching the game, and I let her know that she didn’t need to wear the Seahawks shirt after all.

No! No! No! She didn’t want any part of that. This experience was a lesson about teams, opinions, and sportsmanship. We don’t always agree, but we can respect each other’s opinions. On Monday she sent me this photo of her students. They are GOOD sports!

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Mrs. Arnett shared that since her students knew she would be wearing a Seahawks shirt, many of them showed up in blue and green to class as well. What an amazing group of students! So I say “THANK YOU” to Mrs. Arnett and her class! Mrs. Arnett – I can’t wait to see you in person in Barcelona, Spain!

You rock it in sportsmanship!

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What connections did you make because of the Super Bowl?

Leave us a comment and let us know!

 

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21 thoughts on “A Lesson in Sportsmanship

  1. Mrs. Hembree,

    What a wonderful story of sportsmanship – inspiring us and our kids. Thanks for sharing this.

  2. Words from the kids after reading your blog:
    Thank you for the wonderful message!
    You are really good sports, too.
    Good job in the Super Bowl!
    Seahawks are #1!
    Hopefully next year the Broncos get to win.
    We still love the Broncos even if they lost!

    • Dear Mrs. Arnett’s Class,
      Thank you for leaving us such an awesome comment! My students will be writing back soon to you, so please check back later today! It is a sunny day in Seattle but quite cold – only 25F. There is a big parade in downtown Seattle for the Seahawks. We are at school however, and will have to watch the coverage later once we are home again.

      I hope you have a wonderful day!
      From,
      Mrs. Hembree

  3. Dear Mrs.Arnett,
    I think the Broncose offense is pretty strong.
    And also I like the colpr orange.
    Thank you for being a good sport about the game.
    From Adele.

    • Thank you. We love blue and green also. We know blue and green make turquoise. We think your team is blue and green because of the ocean and Puget Sound.

    • At recess we like to play in the snow. We make snowmen when the snow is right. We slide on the big curly slide in our snowsuits and it goes really fast. The snow plow makes big snow hills for us to play on. It was 9 below zero here this morning and we could not go out to recess today.

    • Yes I wore a Bronco shirt on Friday. Lots of kids wore Bronco shirts as well. Some were Seahawk fans. One of our boys wore a Buffalo Bills shirt.

    • Thank you, we would like to win next year. We are happy for you though. Congratulations! Maybe it will be the Broncos and Seahawks again next year!

  4. Ms. Hembree,
    This is a wonderful story! It saddens me sometimes when the less awesome sportsmanship gets in the news, eclipsing all the great stories of the positive. Both Russell Wilson and Payton Manning show so much class and spirit that don’t always get commented on. But the two of you, with your cyber connections and community beyond borders and allegiances is truly wonderful!
    Miss you,
    Mr. Leahy

    • Dear Mr. Leahy,
      It’s so great to hear from you! Thank you for commenting on the importance of good sportsmanship. Mrs. Arnett and I have connected on a couple projects and I love that our library has no firm borders. I’m also going to try to connect with a blog buddy in Russia this week. I think it will be bring some reality to what shows up on the television screen.
      Miss you too,
      Mrs. Hembree

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