Ava Smith, who made a school-record nine 3-pointers Wednesday night for Union, is also a proponent of sportsmanship. A senior, she addressed the home crowd on opening night a couple of weeks ago to introduce the game officials and ask the crowd to be respectful. Photo courtesy Heather Tianen

Ava Smith, a senior at Union, said the message is clear: Respect game officials and players

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

For years, there has been a pre-game announcement at just about every high school basketball game in Clark County.

Almost every high school sporting event, actually.

It is usually the public address announcer talking about sportsmanship.

At Union High School, new messengers have taken to the microphone.

The change started last season at Union, and the new way of making the sportsmanship announcement has continued into this basketball season. A couple weeks ago, at Union’s first home girls basketball game, senior Titan Ava Smith and Columbia River senior Emma Iniguez teamed up to deliver the address.

They introduced themselves as proud members of their basketball teams, welcomed fans to the event, and asked all in the gymnasium to support both teams by making sportsmanship a priority. They also introduced the officials for that game and thanked them for their time.

“Honestly, it’s a sportsmanship thing,” Smith said. “We want to thank our officials. We know that officials get heckled by student sections or parents. We just feel it’s important that they come to our games and ref these games.”

Lamont Woods, the athletic director at Union, said it is a good look for both programs when representatives from each team address the crowd.

“It’s a positive thing,” he said.

Oh, and there is another reason for the players to make the announcement, Woods said. Crowds are accustomed to hearing the message from the PA announcer. That’s the norm. But when it is the athletes themselves speaking to the crowd, the crowd’s attention is definitely on the athletes.

The message is delivered.

Smith acknowledged being a little nervous before speaking in front of the crowd, but she said it was for a good cause.

Smith also said the Titans thank the officials after every game.

Smith, by the way, has had a strong start to her final high school basketball season. On Wednesday, she made a school-record nine 3-pointers in Union’s victory over Evergreen. She scored 29 points as the Titans improved to 5-0.