Athlete of the Week (AotW) is a tradition that has been used for the last five years to highlight athletes on the announcement and social media.
Athletic director Matt Sisk inherited the tradition from former AD Melanie Bosch when he started two years ago. Sisk will continue the practice by relying on coaches to nominate players.
“Coaches are the ones that are able to see how an athlete performs and that’s not only on the court or on the field but also in the classroom seeing how they treat their peers and other adults, things like behavior and academics,” Sisk said.
Sarah Dowell, who is a volleyball and track coach, was responsible for recognizing her athletes. Unlike other sports teams, the volleyball team rotated recognizing a player each week between the A, B, and C teams. There were multiple things she looked at before selecting a player.
“Someone who is a student first then an athlete, someone who tries their best and tries to do their work first then focuses on being an athlete next and someone who is a good citizen in the school,” Dowell said.
Eighth grade volleyball and basketball player on the Navigators team Kennedy Cantrell was selected as AotW for both sports. Cantrell was on B team for volleyball and A team for basketball.
“It meant something to me when I got athlete of the week,” Cantrell said. “It showed that my coaches noticed the hard work and effort I had been putting in towards being a better player.”
Kelly Rumpel, who coaches boys basketball, cross country and high school track,had similar feelings to Dowell in what he looked for in recognizing a player for AotW.
“In my opinion what makes a good athlete academic wise would be maintaining good grades,” Rumpel said. “Behavior wise is being a good citizen. On the athletic field, [I look for] somebody who has a lean build, can run fast, and jump high. Overall, [I want someone who] works well with others and doesn’t stress under pressure.”
Eli Arnold is a seventh grade basketball player on the Pathfinders team and was chosen for AotW. Arnold agrees with Cantrell as in how he felt about getting AotW.
“It felt good when I saw that I got athlete of the week,” Arnold said. “It proved that the hard work I put in was paying off and it showed I was being noticed by my coaches.”
