Building and Fandom

            The 2015-16 school year is in full swing.  The students and staff have done a great job of coming back and building on where we left off last year, which makes it an exciting time at Tekamah-Herman Schools.  Luckily, the weather has cooperated until this past week.  We had to dismiss early on two days because we had temperatures approaching 90 degrees in classrooms.  With limited circulation throughout the building and humidity rising, it doesn’t cool well overnight.  The conditions make it difficult on our students to learn and reaffirms the need to address building deficiencies sooner rather than later.

            Another exciting aspect of the beginning of a new school year is the activities.  With new faces in new places, it is always interesting to see how our students compete against others.  Specifically in athletics, I would like to pose a challenge to our fans and student body.  I want us to be the best, most positive fan base we can be.  When I travel for conference meetings or to away contests, a recurring theme from other schools is that they view us as one of the “worst” fan bases they encounter each year.  That is a little disheartening because I know we have great people and athletes who are passionate about their activities.  However, there seems to be too much emphasis on the negative aspects (a missed call by an official, a perceived poor decision by a coach, an inadvertent mistake by a player) instead of promoting the positives.  The NSAA awards fans of schools Sportsmanship Awards at each State Tournament.  I cannot wait for the Tekamah-Herman fans to be the recipient of such an award because of how we approach the game.  While no fan base is innocent of the occasional outburst, WE can directly control how WE conduct OURSELVES.  This means each individual conducting him/herself how they would want their child to act.  After all, our youngest fans are watching everyone else and taking a cue from them how to cheer for the Tigers.  I would love to be able to attend the next conference meeting to hear how “great” our fans are, because I know we are.  Have a great week and Go Tigers!!