Platte County High School is about to end the school year with the honor of having submitted the winning video in the 2021-2022 Greater Suburban Conference Sportsmanship Video Competition, with their entry, ‘Why Sportsmanship Matters at Our School.’
The video was a united effort by students in the Athletic Leadership Team, who wrote, directed, filmed and produced it, along with the help of business teacher and Future Business Leaders of America adviser, Hannah Kasner, and activities director, Gabe Middleton.
The Student Athletic Leadership Team makes the game-day graphics that can be seen on the PCHS Activities Twitter page. The team also updates the activities website and makes highlight videos for games. The goal is to provide information regarding activities at the high school.
The video’s basic message is the importance of sportsmanship and how it can be shown in many ways, like in a game, in the classroom, and in the community. The video also emphasizes that having good sportsmanship in whatever you do sets you up for success in life. Recent 2022 graduate, Luke Bunge was given the opportunity to produce the video since he had worked on videos for games and other events throughout the school year and was experienced with working camera equipment and editing software.
“As the producer, I wrote the script and filmed a majority of the footage,” Bunge said. “What I really enjoyed was being creative on the footage that was used with each sport. I got a lot of help from Mrs. Kasner who is the Athletic Leadership teacher. I also had a lot of help from other students on the Athletic Leadership Team.”
Bunge was just finishing up another video for Dr. Keith Jones, PCHS principal, so he found it a little challenging to jump right back into another video-making process. He wrote the script in a couple of weeks and then the filming and editing took about a week and a half.
“Coach Middleton told our class about the contest and I’m a very competitive person so I immediately knew it was something I could do and try to win,” Bunge said.
Because sportsmanship is something that all the PCHS coaches value, Bunge said they know how important it is to help students for future success.
While Bunge is planning to attend the University of Missouri to study sports management, a career in film-making or producing is something he has also considered.
“I think it’s very cool to make a highlight video and know that a lot of people watched it and really liked it. Being able to show my friends and classmates playing sports for a lot of people to see is a great feeling.”
Sportsmanship is an important value at the high school and Bunge believes students show good sportsmanship the majority of the time.
“We like to have fun and make jokes and sometimes those can cross the line, but Coach Middleton does a great job of keeping us in check and making sure we know how important sportsmanship is,” Bunge said. “Having bad sportsmanship isn’t just a reflection of the person who has bad sportsmanship, it’s a representation of the whole school. So we try our best to show sportsmanship that represents our school in a positive way.”
For Bunge sportsmanship is important because not only does it make individuals better people, it also prepares students for success.
“I think it makes you a better athlete as well,” Bunge said. “Some of the best athletes I’ve seen in my four years of high school have great sportsmanship and I have a lot of respect for them even though they go to different schools.”
Bunge describes finding out they had won the contest, as a very awesome feeling.
“Mrs. Kasner pulled up a picture of Coach Middleton holding the trophy and I was somewhat shocked because I had seen some of the other entries and thought that they were very good,” Bunge said. “Kearney and Ruskin had great videos too and I think they had just as much of a chance of winning as we did. It was really cool to get to see the trophy and it’s something that I’m very proud of.”
His favorite part about being on the Athletic Leadership Team was making highlight videos, knowing that he was able to showcase his friends’ talents in videos for everyone to see. “It was such an awesome feeling and it was really cool to know that people really enjoyed the videos as well, Bunge said. “I think it would be awesome for every student and parent to watch the video. Not only does it showcase our athletics and activities but I think the message is great as well. I think that having pride for your school is very important and a great way of showing pride is by having sportsmanship. My favorite clip from the video is at the end where the entire student section at the basketball game says ‘We Are Pirate Nation.’ That was something that I sprung on them right before and everyone was very open to doing that and it turned out great and was a perfect ending to the video.”
For Middleton, who has been the activities director for two years and has coached for 16 years before that, the basic message of the video is that representing yourself, your family, your school and your community in a positive way is more important than winning.
“We all want to win but the lessons we learn from sports and activities will stick with us way longer than the wins. It is our job as adults to help equip our kids with the tools necessary to handle themselves with respect and integrity in times of adversity.”
Middleton believes sportsmanship is an area that could definitely be improved, but he said it’s practiced the majority of the time at PCHS.
“Unfortunately the times when sportsmanship is not displayed seem to get more attention than the times it is, but for the most part our coaches, kids and parents show good sportsmanship. Showing respect to our opponents and displaying sportsmanship sends a message of maturity and shows people you know how to handle yourself in times of adversity.”
Middleton believes the students did a phenomenal job putting the video together and providing an important message for viewers.
He hopes everyone at PCHS watches the video and practices its message every day. He was very proud when he found out the video had won the Greater Suburban Conference Sportsmanship Video Competition.
“I was really excited because I knew Mrs. Kasner and her students had worked really hard and knew they would be very excited,” Middleton said. “Plus I hate losing...”
Middleton had shared the Suburban Conference Sportsmanship Video Challenge with Kasner in September, since she is the Student Athletic Leadership Team instructor. Submissions were due by March 1.
“The challenge was to encourage schools to make sportsmanship and positive school spirit a priority at our school,” Kasner said. “They didn’t want to stifle enthusiasm at our athletic events, but believed a uniform set of expectations is necessary for all schools in the Greater Suburban Conference. The task was to create a video about why sportsmanship matters at our school. Requirements included a two-to-three minute video, creativity, and a clear definition of expectations. This was the first year implementing the Sportsmanship Video Challenge.”
She is proud of the student who produced the video. She believes it was truly a team effort. “I do want to recognize senior, Luke Bunge for taking on the leadership role throughout this project,” Kasner said. “Luke came up with the idea, wrote the script, and did a majority of the filming and editing. He and others have been a huge asset to the Athletic Leadership Team and I know several of our students are going to continue their journey in sports marketing as a career path.”
Kasner has been a business teacher and FBLA adviser for 14 years. She has been at PCHS for eight years. Her courses include graphic arts/desktop publishing and business technology I and II, leadership and development I and II, advertising and multimedia and web design.
“In both my leadership and development class and advertising and multimedia class we have an ‘Athletic Leadership Team’ composed of 25 PCHS students,” Kasner said. “For the past four years, I have been working with a group of students in my business classes to help prep for and build a sports marketing program at PCHS. We are in charge of the Athletics website, game-day graphics, score updates graphics, All-State Pirates displays, and more. Next year, we officially will have three sections of sports marketing and entertainment to provide more opportunities for our students in the field of sports marketing and provide real-world learning opportunities as the team works on projects and tasks for our PCHS Athletics Department.”
For Kasner, positive sportsmanship and school spirit are important in allowing competitive play to be more enjoyable for all, including athletes, spectators, coaches and referees.
“This was something I learned at a young age from my family and experienced playing on the field and court,” Kasner said. “Winning is fun and at times it may feel like it is the most important thing during a sporting event, however, no matter the outcome we need to be gracious and respectful towards others. By demonstrating integrity throughout all sporting events, we can use this as a foundation to build our school culture in our classrooms and throughout our community.”
She believes athletes, students, parents, administrators, coaches and others have good intentions of practicing positive sportsmanship and school spirit.
“We are all human and not perfect, which means there will be times when we fail to uphold our district core values,” Kasner said. “As a community it is important for us to reflect on those moments and continue to do better. I am proud to be a part of Pirate Nation and have time and time again seen many aspects of positive sportsmanship and school spirit demonstrated throughout our building, on the field, on the court, and throughout the community. I have seen positive attitudes from coaches, best efforts given by athletes, handshakes with teams before and after the game, teammates supporting each other with high-fives and encouraging comments, and more. I think my favorite memories this past year were watching our Platte County boys’ basketball team play Smithville and at the Warrior home. I was impressed with the attitudes of all coaches and players. These teams had athletes who were rivals, but also friends. It was fun to watch a Pirate win, but even better to see how all the players were on the court playing their hearts out for the love of the game - not just the win.”
When she found out the video had won the competition she said it was amazing. “The team is composed of a variety of skill sets and students who are learning how to create and produce professional products whether that be in graphic design, video production, web design, etc. We have access to professional equipment, but resources are limited and sometimes we have to think outside the box. I have learned being ‘resourceful’ is helpful and the reality is we are capable of a lot more than we think if we just take risks and try.”
While the video that her students worked so hard to produce did win the top prize, Kasner said the irony was that this ‘win’ was not the most important thing for her – similar to why sportsmanship matters.
“We were provided with an opportunity - a challenge,” Kasner said. “I approached my team and everyone was on board. We worked together, utilized our resources, and put in our best efforts to make a vision a reality and that was to produce a professional sportsmanship video that represented what it truly means to be a part of Pirate Nation and how we as a community of people from all walks of life come together for one purpose. The greatest reward for me was the opportunity to work alongside my students through facilitating and mentoring.
“This group of students have made me feel part of the team and together it was our goal to celebrate our diversity, our teammates, our coaches, our community, our values. We are Pirate Nation! Watching the learning and growth taking place through the production of this video is truly rewarding. Knowing these real world learning opportunities for our students are helping them prepare for their future careers is the greatest reward and a ‘win’ for me as a business educator.”
Check out the video at youtu.be/gJgVYQCGDBA