Tiger Pride Poster: Your Questions Answered
The Tiger Pride posters around Urbana have caused some to question how the decisions were made when it came to what people and sports were included.
Athletic Director Mr. Gregory Hall said, “I wanted to do a poster that would just showcase our athletes.”
Hall began by asking coaches for suggestions and nominations for the poster. He was looking for students of good character who were prominent members of the team when it came to performance or leadership. To help limit the number of students to choose from they narrowed the list down to seniors only.
“I decided seniors because I feel that someone who’s been in a sport and representing that sport for four years has put their time in and earned the accolade of being on that poster,” said Mr. Hall
The sports included in the poster were soccer, football, swimming and diving, track and field, volleyball, softball and basketball. Soccer was the highest represented sport with three members of the poster representing the hands-free game. For a detailed list of who is in the poster please refer to the end of this article. Some sports were not included because there were only 10 spaces on the poster and some cuts had to be made.
Mr. Hall compared the process of picking people for the poster to picking a basketball team. There are only so many spots on the team and you have to pick the best of the best.
Another controversy arose over the volleyball uniform shown, which is technically not within the school’s dress code.
According to Mr. Hall, it is appropriate for the uniform because it allows the athletes to move; however, it is not appropriate for a school environment.
“I’m not going to say anybody on that poster is perfect. They are high school kids just like anybody else,” said Mr. Hall in reference to the academic records of the student athletes.
The only regret Mr. Hall has about the poster was that it could not include more people. He stated that he could think of at least two people he wishes could have been included in the poster.
Mr. Hall said, “There are probably some people not on there that I probably wish were on there. … It’s not because their sport’s not popular. It’s not because we don’t value them. It’s not because they’re not good athletes… They are good athletes they just didn’t quite make the cut here.”
The ultimate goal of this poster is to get people excited about athletics so teams don’t have to worry about having enough people to play the game.
“My goal? For everybody to look at it and say ‘Wow, that looks nice. … That’s something special,’ “ said Mr. Hall.
Students on the poster from left to right:
Eliot England 12 – Soccer
James Cobbs 12 – Football
Diarian Gingold 12 – Soccer
Gabriela Rajic 12 – Swimming & Diving
Conner Gremer 12 – Basketball
Hannah King 12 – Track
Saul Downie 12 – Soccer
Chelsea Skinner 12 – Volleyball
Tanner Russell 12 – Football
Taylor Lovett 12 – Softball
Representatives of each sport:
Soccer – 3
Football – 2
Basketball – 1
Softball – 1
Swimming and Diving – 1
Track and Field – 1
Volleyball – 1
Athletic Director Mr. Gregory Hall said, “I wanted to do a poster that would just showcase our athletes.”
Hall began by asking coaches for suggestions and nominations for the poster. He was looking for students of good character who were prominent members of the team when it came to performance or leadership. To help limit the number of students to choose from they narrowed the list down to seniors only.
“I decided seniors because I feel that someone who’s been in a sport and representing that sport for four years has put their time in and earned the accolade of being on that poster,” said Mr. Hall
The sports included in the poster were soccer, football, swimming and diving, track and field, volleyball, softball and basketball. Soccer was the highest represented sport with three members of the poster representing the hands-free game. For a detailed list of who is in the poster please refer to the end of this article. Some sports were not included because there were only 10 spaces on the poster and some cuts had to be made.
Mr. Hall compared the process of picking people for the poster to picking a basketball team. There are only so many spots on the team and you have to pick the best of the best.
Another controversy arose over the volleyball uniform shown, which is technically not within the school’s dress code.
According to Mr. Hall, it is appropriate for the uniform because it allows the athletes to move; however, it is not appropriate for a school environment.
“I’m not going to say anybody on that poster is perfect. They are high school kids just like anybody else,” said Mr. Hall in reference to the academic records of the student athletes.
The only regret Mr. Hall has about the poster was that it could not include more people. He stated that he could think of at least two people he wishes could have been included in the poster.
Mr. Hall said, “There are probably some people not on there that I probably wish were on there. … It’s not because their sport’s not popular. It’s not because we don’t value them. It’s not because they’re not good athletes… They are good athletes they just didn’t quite make the cut here.”
The ultimate goal of this poster is to get people excited about athletics so teams don’t have to worry about having enough people to play the game.
“My goal? For everybody to look at it and say ‘Wow, that looks nice. … That’s something special,’ “ said Mr. Hall.
Students on the poster from left to right:
Eliot England 12 – Soccer
James Cobbs 12 – Football
Diarian Gingold 12 – Soccer
Gabriela Rajic 12 – Swimming & Diving
Conner Gremer 12 – Basketball
Hannah King 12 – Track
Saul Downie 12 – Soccer
Chelsea Skinner 12 – Volleyball
Tanner Russell 12 – Football
Taylor Lovett 12 – Softball
Representatives of each sport:
Soccer – 3
Football – 2
Basketball – 1
Softball – 1
Swimming and Diving – 1
Track and Field – 1
Volleyball – 1
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