APSU Sports Information
Brentwood, TN – Austin Peay State University women’s golf has been named the recipient of the Ohio Valley Conference Women’s Golf Team Sportsmanship Award for the fourth time in program history.
After winning three straight from 2012-14, the Governors moved into a tie with Tennessee Tech for most OVC Sportsmanship honors in women’s golf since the award’s inception in 2006.
Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon 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.
“It is an honor to receive the sportsmanship award for OVC, a special award as it is voted on by our fellow OVC golfers,” said head coach Sara Robson. “I am extremely proud of our ladies, as they take pride in being an example and displaying sportsmanship. As a program we strive for excellence in all we do; we take pride in doing things the right way and treating people with the respect they deserve, and in playing the game of golf with honor and integrity.”
UT Martin took the honor on the men’s side.
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.
