During the fall sports awards assembly, the coaches of each fall sport team share with the upper school who they have selected for each of their awards. Athletes work hard throughout the season to get their names called in this assembly. Head cross country coach Brant Evans shares what qualities he searched for while selecting the right people for their awards.
“The MVP award is usually a little bit easier, the qualities we look for in the MVP award are typically the most decorated runner on each team. We look at times, how they finished in different races and who was consistently at the top for each race; those are the qualities we look for in the MVP award,” Evans said. “For the Pillar award we are looking for that student and athlete who is kind of that team player all the time. They are selfless in what they do and how they go about what they do, they encourage and they are there to do the right things even when nobody’s watching.”
Junior Ruthie Brinson tells us why she thinks she fulfills the requirements of the volleyball coaches as her team’s MVP.
“I tried to maintain a good positive attitude the whole season,” Brinson said. “I felt that I kept the team on task and kept them wanting to win.”
Brinson was asked, “What responsibilities do you have as your team’s MVP?” and “What responsibilities do you have as your team’s MVP?” This was her response.
“I was team captain and I was also a middle which means you have to communicate all throughout the game, which helps the team stay loud and focused on the game,” Brinson said. “During the off season I’m going to make sure to practice and figure out new drills to help the team figure out their weaknesses for the next season.”
When asked if he believed whether performance comes hand in hand with academics and attitude, Evans gave an eye-opening response.
“I think it’s a yes to both those questions, I think that academics and athletics often go hand and hand, especially when it comes to cross country. Cross country is such a mental sport and it’s hard, just like it’s hard to force yourself to study on a Thursday night when you’re tired and you don’t want to study anymore,” Evans said.
“Kids who do well in school are often very well equipped to do well in cross country because they know what it takes to sacrifice and they know what it takes to kind of push through hard things and achieve. Sometimes you have kids that are not necessarily the best runners or the best in class but there is something about them that just attracts other people to them and yeah, sometimes those people just have a unique quality to make people around them feel at ease, comfortable and have a good time. Now that is hard to measure.”