Sportsmanship Video Contest a step in right direction
The need to instill good sportsmanship among school sports teams is being addressed by DOE’s Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Accountability (OCIA) with the first annual ‘Good Sportsmanship’ video contest. Spearheaded by OCIA’s physical education department, the contest is designed for student athletes in grades 6-8 and 9-12. Judging took place Tuesday, April 16 with the winners receiving their prizes yesterday.
Student athletes created a short 5-8 minute video promoting the values of good sportsmanship and fair play. The videos contained different kinds of songs and music, interviews and the students’ own narration to present a positive message about good sportsmanship.
The videos were judged on content and message such as script; how closely the video covers the specified components and topic guidelines including creativity or the overall originality of the video, use of original ideas, illustrations and style. The videos also were required to meet the objective of the contest; i.e. promoting sportsmanship in school athletics.
The visual quality of the production, such as the appearance of the video (quality of the sound, lighting and audio) were also important, along with technical skill (camera operation, camera steadiness and was the film within the time limit).
The final product — overall creativity, overall impact of sportsmanship message and overall video quality was the final judging point.
The contest is the brainchild of OCIA PE coordinator Clayton ‘Boom’ Mahuka, who saw that there is a problem in the territory when it came to good sportsmanship, especially amongst the high school students during sporting events.
“Like I said before, the first thing we have to is admit that we have a problem, especially with our high school athletes during sporting competition,” said Mahuka. “I am trying my best to teach these young athletes about the benefits of being a good sport, but we all need to work together on this problem. This is why I started this Good Sportsmanship video contest.”
He said, “If we get everyone involved such as parents, teachers and coaches in helping teach these young athletes the benefits of being a good sport, these kids not only might become better athletes, but better citizens as well, which will benefit everyone in the long run.”
The overall winner for this year’s 1st Annual OCIA Good Sportsmanship Video Contest was the video sent in from Tafuna High School students. “We learned how important good sportsmanship is and how it affects everyone that plays a sport,” said members of the winning team from Tafuna High School. “We would like to send a message to the public, that sportsmanship come from the players’ family and what they teach them,” said the winning team.
Second place was the team from Fa’asao Marist High School that stated that this competition taught them more about sportsmanship, as it allowed them to develop more ideas on becoming better competitors.
Honorable Mention went to another team from Fa’asao Marist High school. “This project helped us learn that good sportsmanship is a big aspect in every athlete’s lives and that each competitor and coach should respect everyone during competition regardless the outcome,” they said.
Names of the winners of each team:
1st THS:
Memory Tafetee
Kevin Saua
Aaron Leupolu
Harjinder Sall
Toloa Seti
Siu Aitu
L’dori Mamea
Jacinta Sauvao
Tabitha Tuigamala
Marietta Faatuala
Onofo Aoao
Naelou Acherman
Suiai Moalele
Faavela Ah-Sam
Jaeleen Ozu
Kimberly Iosefo
Knoche Faaleniiga
Simanono Maiava
Noa Lloyd
Jesse Scanlan
2nd FMHS:
Grace Brown
Mary Taupou
Anthony Isaako
Leitu Afu
Lui Savali
Virginia Noval
Jayne Tuvale
Fatima Viliamu
Makerita Lelevaga
HONORABLE MENTION FMHS:
Desmond Kiona Applin
Uonica P. Baustista
Leauma Maurice Tuitele
Patrice Leonard Maeatanoa
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WINNER: TEAM SAMOA BAPTIST ACADEMY:
Marieta Lee
Cassie Tuineta Mahuka