At a recent assembly, Athletic Director Mark Conroy discussed the code of ethics that all Williston teammates (and spectators!) must adhere to. Williston abides by the rules established by NEPSAC, the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council, an association of nearly 170 independent schools throughout New England.

“Fair or unfair, a school’s good name or reputation is often times derived from its athletic program because athletics are played on SUCH a public stage,” he said. Williston will compete in over 600 games during the year traveling throughout the northeast and hosting schools from all corners of New England and beyond. “Because of this,” he said, “I believe that our students have both a privilege and a responsibility to represent our school with the highest ideals of sportsmanship when our they pull on that blue and green jersey every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon.”

He went on, “For me, sportsmanship has two dimensions that are equally important—the first dimension is related to the manner in which our teams and individuals represent Williston always being mindful that our actions on the field of play should reflect positively on our great school. The second dimension of sportsmanship is our ability as a community to be a respectful host of our opponents as spectators.

“At Williston, we take great pride in our school spirit as we look to inspire our teams to play their hearts out rather than look for opportunities to antagonize, demean, or disrespect the performance of our opponents.  My personal philosophy is that we all should strive to make certain that competition brings out the best in us, not the worst.”