ACA Sportsmanship Award (Week 6): Colton Neitzel of St. Francis
Kpreps is excited to announce a new award for the 2019 season – the weekly Sportsmanship Award. We have teamed up with 'A Class Athlete' (ACA) to recognize those individuals or groups that demonstrate sportsmanship and high character during the heat of action. This award is open to students or student-athletes who goes above and beyond to demonstrate an act of kindness or sportsmanship.
We are pleased to announce that this week we are recognizing Colton Neitzel of St. Francis.
Mindy Bradstreet, a parent from an opposing school, submitted the following nomination for Colton a few weeks ago.
I would love to nominate Colton Neitzel of St. Francis for this week’s ACA Sportsmanship award. As a parent from the opposing school I witnessed after our home game Colton making sure he made the rounds to shake every officials hand. He was the only player I noticed to do that. We have had an injury-stricken year and my son is the only senior left on the team that hasn’t been injured. After the game he found my son to shake his hand & tell him good game. This is truly a class act kid! His actions spoke volumes to my husband & I and all the spectators who witnessed what we saw! He truly cares about everybody who participated at the game not just himself or his team’s victory!
Last Friday night, Kpreps editor Matt Gilmore was viewing the online stream of the St. Francis and Leoti-Wichita County game from Open Spaces Sports. Upon the game’s conclusion, Matt noticed Colton again running to catch each official and shaking their hand to say ‘thank you’. Colton’s actions set a great example for others and he seems to appreciate the importance of each individual that is necessary to make high school sports a successful experience for those who participate.
Each week during the season, we will choose an individual or group as recipient of this award. Winners will receive the Sportsmanship Excellence Award Certificate, and the unique ACA helmet sticker as part of our Kpreps Helmet Stickers feature. At the end of the season, we will choose one overall winner, for the annual Kpreps-ACA Sportsmanship Award.
Please help us by emailing your nomination stories, pictures, or videos to matt@kpreps.com and ACA@kpreps.com. You can also send to Kpreps via social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc). Please include the name of the person(s) involved and a description of the act or event that you are nominating. Nominations for the award will be accepted through Tuesday of each week, with the winners announced thereafter. We will list the weekly winners here, at kpreps.com, and also on aclassathlete.com. The overall winner will be announced after the State Championship games.
ABOUT A Class Athlete:
A Class Athlete was started in 2016 to encourage young athletes in all sports, to play hard, play to win, but also to play with class and dignity. Originally targeting youth sports, ACA quickly expanded to include middle school and high school sports, and beyond (coaches, cheerleaders, fans – everyone!). In recent years, participation in youth sports has continued to decline, and the #1 reason according to the kids: 'It's not fun anymore.' ACA is determined to bring the fun and the kids back!
Participating in sports is very beneficial in many areas. It helps build confidence and self-esteem, teaches respect, teamwork, and leadership skills, and improves communication and cooperation – all qualities needed to be successful in life. It is said that participation in sports reveals a persons’ character. But ACA believes, when sportsmanship is emphasized, it is a very important aspect in building a young person's character and integrity.
For more information, please visit www.aclassathlete.com.
A Class Athlete Sportsmanship Award (2019 Season)
Week 1 – Landon O’Hare, Lincoln High School
Week 2 – Plainville High School & Student Council
Week 3 – Kayden Christiansen, Lakin High School
Week 4 – Hunter Engle of Madison and Nate Burdette of Maranatha Christian Academy
Week 5 – Jalen Bush & Caney Valley High School
Week 6 – Colton Neitzel of St. Francis
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