Penn Hills athletes to attend sportsmanship summit

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 27, 2017 | 11:45 PM

One of the biggest compliments one can get is being labeled a leader among your peers. Six Penn Hills student-athletes will have the opportunity to learn helpful tips on how to exhibit leadership qualities and provide good sportsmanship at a local summit.

Junior Hollis Mathis (football), sophomore Colleen Hoolahan (girls volleyball), sophomore Tyree Spencer (boys basketball and volleyball), junior Autumn Blair (girls soccer), junior Tayonna Robertson (girls basketball) and sophomore Iain Krieger (boys soccer) were selected to represent Penn Hills at the ninth annual WPIAL Summit on Sportsmanship at Heinz History Center and Sports Museum on Nov. 9.

“It's a really good honor because I take pride in being a leader,” Mathis said. “It's really humbling to be invited to something like this because I'm just out here trying to help lead my team and my community to be better. I'm not trying to look for any accolades.”

The summit, which will include more than 600 student-athletes from across Western Pennsylvania, will provide an opportunity to listen to speeches from state Sen. Jay Costa, former Pittsburgh Steeler Will Allen, Big Ten basketball official Larry Scirotto and Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke.

“I'm hoping they gain some skills from the summit with how to implement sportsmanship with their team, how they can be a leader not only with their teams but in the school,” Penn Hills athletic director Stephanie Strauss said.

“It's all about perception, too. We want to represent Penn Hills well, and a lot of that is based off of sportsmanship and how we act in games when people are watching.”

Going into the final week of the regular season, Mathis had completed 112 of 187 passes for 1,985 yards with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions to lead Penn Hills to a 7-2 overall record and 3-2 record in the Northern Seven Conference. Mathis added 342 yards on the ground with three touchdowns.

Besides developing his leadership and sportsmanship qualities, Mathis will take advantage of this opportunity to meet other top athletes in the WPIAL.

“I'm going to be able to go there and meet some of the better players in the WPIAL, and I get to meet some of the nicer guys in the WPIAL, as well,” Mathis said.

“I look to build a good allegiance and bond with some of the guys because at the end of the day we are football players from Western Pennsylvania trying to do the same goal by winning a game.”

This season, Robertson will be asked to take more of a leadership role for the girls basketball team as the Indians will look to move on from the graduation of guard Desiree Oliver, who is now at Temple. Last season, the Indians season ended in the quarterfinals after losing to North Allegheny, 50-38, in the PIAA Class 6A playoffs.

“It's an honor to be considered a leader of the school. I just want to get tips on how to be a better leader,” Robertson said.

“Hopefully, I can lead my teammates, my school and my classmates to do better and want to be successful. That is what a leader is asked to do.”

Andrew John is a freelance writer.

Tags: Penn Hills