By TTU Sports Information / OVC Media Relations
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech University is the recipient of the 2017-18 Ohio Valley Conference Team Sportsmanship Award for women's golf, the league office announced Thursday.
The University of Tennessee at Martin took home the honor for the men's golf team.
"I'm truly excited for the women to receive this award," head coach Polk Brown said. "It's a testament to the type of individual each one of them is, what they represent, and how they conduct themselves on the golf course. This shows just how much the other teams in the OVC respect and enjoy being paired with us during competition. We are so proud of them."
Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators and fans.
"Without sportsmanship there are truly no meaningful victories," said Beth DeBauche, OVC Commissioner. "The recipients of the OVC Team Sportsmanship awards should accept this award with great pride for their fellow competitors have made it clear their teams exemplify the best in intercollegiate athletics. In receiving this prestigious honor other competitors are saying these student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents and value fair play. That is quite a compliment as those are all traits that will lead to true victories throughout the course of life."
The 2017-18 school year marks the 13th year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded. This marks the fifth-straight and sixth overall award for the UT Martin program (2011-12, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18) and the fifth award for the Tennessee Tech program (2006-07, 2007-08, 2009-10, 2014-15, 2017-18).
At this year's OVC Championship, UT Martin placed eighth while Tennessee Tech was seventh.
Implemented in August 2005, the team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.
In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a first-of-its-kind "Sportsmanship Statement," a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one's opponent. The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics, and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
