Eight months after Little Wound High School was placed on probation for an incident following the state Class A boys basketball championship game, school officials are promoting better sportsmanship for players, coaches, cheerleaders and fans.

The school, on the Pine Ridge reservation, has held workshops on proper behavior at sporting events and established behavior standards and consequences in a "Sportsmanship Plan" that is being distributed in the school and at home games.

Wayne Carney, executive director of the South Dakota High School Activities Association in Pierre, praised the school Friday for its positive response to a one-year probation period imposed in April by the SDHSAA Board of Directors.

"They turned it into a positive," Carney said during a sports-behavior program held in conjunction with the Lakota Nation Invitational. "They could have gone the other way. But they took the ball on their own and really ran with it in very positive ways. They did a great job."

State activities officials imposed the one-year probation because the Little Wound Mustangs walked off the floor and didn't return after their loss to St. Thomas More High School in the Class A boys basketball championship in March at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. The Cavaliers won that championship game 71-61, avenging an earlier loss to Little Wound in the championship game of the LNI.

In the second half of the state-championship game, Little Wound coaches and fans increasingly voiced their displeasure at the way three non-Native American referees were officiating the game. After the game, some items were thrown onto the floor. The Little Wound team then left and didn't return to accept its runner-up trophy and individual medals, although some players individually came back to congratulate St. Thomas More players and coaches.

Nine days later, the Little Wound team, coaches and some administrators and fans made a gesture of reconciliation by traveling to St. Thomas More High School for a meal and program. But in April, the SDHSAA board nevertheless sanctioned the school for the team's post-game departure.

Although some Little Wound fans still believed they were unfairly treated, school administrators tried to put the incident behind them by developing a plan to promote proper behavior at sporting events.

"Basically, we just all decided 'no whining,'" school improvement director Terry Albers said Friday. "Instead of whining, we wanted to use the year of probation to turn things around."

Little Wound summarized its sportsmanship goals in a booklet that includes a code of conduct and expectations for students, student-athletes, coaches, administrators, cheerleaders, spectators and school-board members.

Consequences for players include five-minute minimum benching for language- or behavior-connected technical fouls in basketball and for unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties in football. Coaches who get technical fouls in football, basketball or volleyball will be disciplined. Unruly spectators will be warned once, then asked to leave.

"We will be warning fans one time about their behavior, and then we will be escorting them out," Albers said.

Because of the Little Wound walk-out incident and the subsequent probation, Albers and Carney organized Friday's program on managing behavior at school sports events and keeping schools and students eligible for state-sanctioned activities. The morning program, part of the Lakota Nation Education Conference, was for administrators and athletic directors. An afternoon program was for school-board members.

Carney said more schools across the state have developed, distributed and begun enforcing behavioral guidelines at sporting events. Although only recently begun by Little Wound, the effort there has produced a top-notch plan and handbook, he said.

"This is one of the best I've seen," Carney said of the Little Wound plan.

If you go

What: Discussion of crowd behavior and sportsmanship

When: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 22

Where: Sylvan I Room, Best Western Ramkota Hotel, 1902 La Crosse St., Rapid City

Participants: Wayne Carney, executive director of the South Dakota High School Activities Association, LNI director and SDHSAA board member Bryan Brewer, state Indian Education Director Keith Moore, Cheyenne-Eagle Butte coach and athletic official Jesse Mendoza and Custer High School principal and coach Larry Luitjens

Little Wound Sportsmanship Guidelines * Accept decisions of game officials

Appropriate:

* Applaud during player introductions

* Have cheerleaders lead positive cheers

* Have players and coaches shake hands with other team before and after game

* Treat game as competition, not war

* Show concerned for injured players on either team

* Remember that each person represents Little Wound School and the Oglala Lakota Nation

Unacceptable: * Disrespectful yells, chants, songs, gestures or signs

* Booing or heckling game officials

* Refusing to shake hands

* Blaming the loss of a game on an official, coach or player

* Taunting or name-calling

* Being intoxicated or using profanity

* Throwing any object onto the playing surface

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com