WPIAL Sportsmanship Summit to be live streamed Wednesday on TribLive HSSN

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, November 17, 2021 | 2:13 AM

Athletes from dozens of Western Pennsylvania high schools will gather Wednesday morning at the Heinz History Center for the annual WPIAL Sportsmanship Summit, which will be streamed live on TribLive HSSN.

This is the 12th year for the event, scheduled from 9:30 a.m. until noon. Former Steelers defensive lineman Brett Keisel is among the guests invited to speak.

“It’s imperative that we continue to educate and continue to make schools and students aware of what sportsmanship looks like and how it needs to be displayed,” WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said. “It’s a great event because it’s not about winners and losers.”

Last year’s summit was canceled because of the pandemic.

Featured speakers include Trib Total Media president and CEO Jennifer Bertetto, and Lisa Scales of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

The WPIAL will recognize winning schools from its food drive.

Attendees also will hear from members of the WPIAL Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council. Scheuneman said she is hopeful school administrators will use council members as a future resource.

“Administrators have the opportunity to reach out and learn more or bring programs into their own schools,” she said. “Sportsmanship is what we’re talking about, but (sportsmanship) can go into the classroom, in the cultural competency of everybody in your school and trying to be respectful of others.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.