Boston Globe: "Massachusetts Maritime Runner Sacrifices Good Showing To Help Another"
Mass. Maritime runner sacrifices good showing to help another
October 3, 2010
Massachusetts Maritime Academy senior Meredith Hall exhibited a true gesture of sportsmanship when she sacrificed her time and placement while running the Codfish Bowl Invitational cross-country race last weekend at Franklin Park.
The Duxbury High graduate was in the middle of the 5-kilometer course when she noticed that Brandeis senior Hannah Lindholm had stopped running, was holding her chest and having difficulty breathing.
Hall (inset), an emergency management major, assessed Lindholm’s condition, thinking she was suffering from asthma or an allergic reaction.
“She told me to keep going,’’ said Hall, “but I wasn’t going to leave her alone. Anyone would have done the same thing. I know she would have done the same thing for me.’’
Hall stayed out of the race until she saw medical staff approaching Lindholm, who was experiencing an asthma attack.
Lindholm, a native of Madison, Wisc., appreciated the assistance.
“Meredith made sure I was OK. . . We always wish each other luck before our meets. I’ve had to deal with asthma as a runner and I was OK after using my inhaler. I had to drop out of the race, but I was fine.’’
“True to her EMT training, Meredith did what she was trained to do, sacrificing her time, her overall place and the team’s standing to do it,’’ said Mass. Maritime head coach Linda Letourneau. “I can’t say enough positive things about the way she reacted. It was true to her character.’’
Hall was the second Mass. Maritime runner across the line in a time of 24:16, good for 153rd place.
A standout in both cross country and track and field at Duxbury High, Hall has also been the Buccaneers track and field co-captain the past two seasons.
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Our view: A shining example of sportsmanship September 29, 2010 Duxbury Clipper Editorial |
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In this week’s “College Corner,” in Section B, Mass Maritime senior Meredith Hall, a 2007 DHS graduate, gave up her time and place in an important cross country track race to tend to a competitor who was experiencing breathing difficulties due to an allergic reaction. Hall stayed with the competitor, we’re told, until she knew that help was on the way. Meredith’s act of sportsmanship is a credit to her, and to the exemplary kind of student Duxbury High School and the Maritime Academy produces. It should be an example to Duxbury athletes of all ages of the fact that some things are more important than winning. The funny thing about sportsmanship is that it’s getting harder and harder to practice. Youth sports is rapidly becoming a battleground, with frothing parents screaming from the sidelines –– at six-year-olds. Kids are locked into a particular sport at an early age and spend the summers in specialized training camps. There’s more and more pressure for everybody to succeed at a high level, rather than to stay in shape and have fun. Don’t get us wrong, the “everybody gets a trophy” movement is silly and misguided, but there has to be a happy middle ground between that and teaching kindergartners that winning is everything. Playing youth sports is an essential part of growing up, for a whole variety of reasons, ranging from socialization to physical fitness. At its best, playing sports at a young age teaches boys and girls how to win –– and lose –– with respect and dignity. Sportsmanship used to be an important part of that lesson. It’s hard not to read media reports of parents fighting on the sidelines, or eight-year-old basketball teams blowing out opponents by 100 points, without wondering if that lesson is getting lost. Perhaps the deeper question is: does our culture reward sportsmanship? People can’t be expected to do the right thing at the college or professional level if those values aren’t instilled at a youth sports level. Coaches at all levels of play should make sure their players know there are a few things more important than plastic trophies. Moments like Hall’s, and the national story from a few years ago where softball players from the opposing team carried an injured girl around the bases after a homerun, shouldn’t be the exception, they should be the norm. |
