High Schools to Participate in Program to Better Student Athletes

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced on Wednesday, July 12, 2017, that in October 2017, his office will again be sponsoring The Uncommon Athlete, a program of Rachel’s Challenge and the Cal Ripken, Sr., Foundation. The events will continue the success of The Uncommon Athlete presentations that District Attorney Hoovler sponsored in March 2016 at Goshen Middle School, and in October 2016 at five other Orange County schools. The March 2016 event brought together over 300 athletic directors, coaches, student athletes, and school superintendents, and the October 2016 events included over 1,700 students and adults from thirteen high schools: Burke Catholic, Chester Academy, Cornwall, Goshen, Middletown, Minisink, Monroe-Woodbury, Mount Academy, Newburgh, James O’Neill, Pine Bush, Port Jervis, and S.S. Seward Academy.

The Uncommon Athlete is designed to bring to student athletes some tools that they can use to make themselves not only better athletes, but better people, and to help them to realize their potential as future leaders of our communities. The program impresses on young athletes the values of Perseverance, Relationships, Integrity, Courage, and Empathy (PRICE). Cody Hodges, former Texas Tech and Tennessee Titans quarterback, provides a presentation that promises to move everyone in the audience.

District Attorney Hoovler will be sponsoring The Uncommon Athlete events on October 10 at Pine Bush High School and Chester Academy; on October 11 at Minisink Valley High School and Monroe-Woodbury High School; and on October 12 at Warwick Valley High School and Washingtonville High School. Middletown High School will join Pine Bush on October 10, and Port Jervis High School will join Minisink on October 11. Other schools attending the events will be determined over the remainder of the summer.

“Bullying is unacceptable,” said District Attorney Hoovler, “and it’s unfortunate that instances of bullying often happen in the context of school sports. In addition, interschool athletic rivalries can go too far, resulting in inappropriate conduct between athletes and, sometimes, adults from competing schools. The Uncommon Athlete provides student athletes and their coaches with strategies that can reduce the incidence of bullying and other inappropriate behavior, and that can help make student athletes earn their places as leaders that other students can look up to. I hope to bring The Uncommon Athlete to our schools often, so that we can begin to create a generation of student athletes that can grow up to help lead us into the future.”