A long-standing tradition in the various local high-school region-tournament competitions is to introduce and announce first-team selections before the tourney’s championship games or matches.
The recognized players and coach of the year gather on the field or court, usually line up and photographs are taken of the group.
The ceremonies are quick, with no statistics or commentary on any of the players or particular coach given. It’s always a nice event to see all of those standout athletes in the same place at one time.
Some are in uniform, as they are about to play in a region championship. Others are in street clothes, and some wear the jersey of their particular team. Some are kind of hard to immediately recognize out of uniform.
The players deserve to be singled out in such manners, and hopefully, such traditions of recognitions will continue.
– Dave Facinoli
dfacinoli@sungazette.net