On Sunday, September 24, Athletic Director Brian Foster took a group of 10 students to Miss Porter’s for the first-ever Founders League Sportsmanship Summit. Trinity-Pawling, along with other schools in the Founders League, sent 10 student-athletes to represent them at the Summit. The primary goal was to foster a clearer understanding of what it means to be a good sportsman across the schools, while providing an opportunity for students to interact with peers from other schools within the league.
The Summit commenced with schools giving brief speeches about the athletic culture at their respective institutions. Afterward, a sports psychologist delivered a presentation on what sportsmanship should entail and opened the floor to both students and faculty for questions. She also posed thought-provoking questions to stimulate discussions among the attendees.
Following this, the schools were divided into different groups, with each group comprised of a representative from every school. This arrangement allowed students to meet peers of both genders from different league schools. Within their respective groups, students engaged in conversations about creating a code of conduct for sportsmanship that could be applied throughout the league, discussing what such a code would encompass. This part of the event was a highlight for both the students and the attending adults.
Ethan Fehrenbaker ’24, a senior participant, expressed, “My favorite part of attending the Summit was coming together as a league and meeting students from other schools with varying perspectives on the topic.”
This sentiment was shared by Athletic Director Brian Foster ’79, who emphasized, “It’s important for students to engage with individuals from different schools and learn about their respective cultures. This experience allows them to recognize the differences and similarities in the lives of students at other league schools.”
The Trinity-Pawling students who attended the event are as follows:
Hank Alessandro ’24
Deuce Duffield ’24
Roni Eloranta ’24
Ethan Fehrenbaker ’24
Aiden Grahn ’24
Brayden Lahey ’24
Luke Robinson ’24
Nolan Watts ’26
Jackson Williams ’25
by Kyle Miller ’18