Cincinnati, Ohio, December 2, 2013 – St. Ursula Academy is proud to announce Cross Country Coach Dan Bird is the 2013-2014 winner of the “Respect the Game of Life” award for his work with the cross country team at St. Ursula. The award recognizes individuals who display good sportsmanship, ethics and integrity in high school sports and/or co-curricular activities.
Coach Bird joined the SUA community as the Cross Country coach in 2010 and immediately made an impact as he began to encourage team members to support one another, have fun, and maintain a competitive spirit.
He created within his teams an atmosphere of competitiveness, while promoting a positive and encouraging culture. Coach Bird has instilled in his fellow coaches the importance of carrying out these same ideals.
Despite running miles and miles every day, Coach Bird has created an atmosphere where most girls can’t wait to start all over the very next day. The team enjoys the many fun activities directed by Coach Bird and his staff such as “Fruity Friday” and family tailgate parties on race days.
The staff working with Coach Bird strives to make each team member feel welcome. Through Dan’s leadership, he instills the importance of being part of a special community.
SUA Athletic Director Mike Sipes appreciates the leadership that Dan has shown. “He has taught the teams to encourage each other through our good days and bad days. He teaches not only how to be a good coach and a good runner, but also how to be a good team member and leader.”
“Coach Bird is very humble but extremely competitive himself as he is one of the top runners in the city and is “the top runner” in his age group,” said St. Ursula President Lelia Keefe Kramer ’77. “He walks the talk, not only in his running but how he carries out his everyday life. We are all very grateful to Dan for the job he does with our runners and for the example that he and his staff set every day.”
With the backing of the Ohio High School Athletic Association and to promote good sportsmanship and point out examples of positive behavior, the SUA Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Committee developed this award in the fall of 2009.
The recipient of the Respect the Game award can be a coach, educator, parent, official or even a person from outside our SUA community. They just need to embody the qualities of sportsmanship, ethics and integrity in their work in the school.
The criteria for a Respect the Game nomination is as follows:
The recipient demonstrates a high level of sportsmanship every day.They understand the importance of high school co-curriculars as valuable and as such it is worthy of respect. The person acts with courtesy, dignity and pride. They demonstrate the importance of putting others ahead of themselves in an ongoing effort to practice the importance of teamwork. The recipient’s attitude is able to sway others to follow her and her methods of demonstrating good sportsmanship. SUA is committed to ethics and integrity in athletics, clubs, student organizations and all co-curricular activities and rewards good sportsmanship. The school has a formal Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Committee that sets the standards and selects the award recipients. In fact, St. Ursula is the only GGCL School in Cincinnati to have received the prestigious Harold A. Meyer Sportsmanship Award by the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) and has won it nine consecutive years!
To learn more about St. Ursula Academy, please visit www.saintursula.org.
St. Ursula Academy is a Catholic, college-preparatory, secondary school for young women known for academic excellence and rich tradition. St. Ursula welcomes students from more than 70 grade schools in the Greater Cincinnati area. In 2002 the Academy was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School. The campus, located at 1339 E. McMillan Street in East Walnut Hills has been the home of St. Ursula Academy and Convent since 1910. 87% of the class of 2013 earned college scholarships totaling more than $20-million.
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