Winners of the 5th annual Punt, Pass and Kick (PP&K) championships were crowned recently at White Sulphur Springs Elementary School during the first nine weeks awards assembly. One hundred and thirty-one students in grades three through five competed during PE classes for school championships in Boys and Girls grade and overall categories. Students were allowed three tries each in punting, passing and kicking a football for distance and accuracy, with the highest total of all three winning the Grand Champion prize. Winners of the individual events were the longest and most accurate in each grade and sex category.
“The two week contest followed a teaching unit on football,” said WSSES PE teacher Tracy Asbury. “As you would expect, younger children do not know much about the game of football, but what amazed me most were the number of students that didn’t even know which end of the ball to hold onto when throwing a football,” he said. “This was our Fifth year for the contest and there were a total of three school records set.” The PE classes are now involved in 7 on 7 flag football games where each student is assigned a pass pattern to run. “Playing the games at the end of the unit really helped me evaluate how well the students grasped the instruction,” Asbury said. “By the end of football season, students who had never watched or even seen a football game on TV or in person were coming to school giving me scores from a game they had watched with their uncles and dads, or for the first time, attended a Spartan or Falcon game.”
“I believe that most students are stigmatized by the perceived violence of football. Once we broke the game down into small chunks of information for them, they understood the finer points of football, not just the collisions.” Asbury concluded by saying “We had some very competitive games in class, fun to watch. And to top it all off our Varsity Falcons have won the Super Bowl three of the past four years and our JV made the playoffs in their category.”
“The pride our school has for our football Falcons is more sincere now that the students understand the rules and strategies of the game.” Asbury concluded by saying “Look for the WSS Falcons to play for Championships each year in football, it’s no accident that they are succeeding.”
WSSES would like to dedicate this year’s Punt Pass and Kick contest to Super Father and local retired businessman Ralph Hanna for his lifelong commitment to youth in White Sulphur Springs and Greenbrier County.
2015 WSSE
Punt Pass & Kick – Boys
Third Grade
Grand Champion: Gavin Bare TOTAL – 163’10”
Punt Champion: Gavin Bare 54’3”
Pass Champion: Isaiah Douglas 59’2”
Kick Champion: Echo Carpenter 70’
Fourth Grade
Grand Champion: Isaiah Mattox TOTAL – 167’5”
Punt Champion: Isaiah Mattox 62’
Pass Champion: Hayden Evans 47’10”
Kick Champion: Kaden Munsey 67’
Fifth Grade
Grand Champion: Luke Dolin 190’11”
Punt Champion: Cody Perry 66’7”
Pass Champion: Jude Libby 61’8”
Kick Champion: Luke Dolin 76’3”
A total of 75 boys grade 3-5 participated
2015 WSSE
Punt Pass & Kick – Girls
Third Grade
Grand Champion: Molly Pack TOTAL – 130’9”*
*New School Record for Total*
Punt Champion: Molly Pack 42’5”
Pass Champion: Delaney Starrett 43’9”* *New school record
Kick Champion: Molly Pack 53”* *New school record
Fourth Grade
Grand Champion: Rylan Vaughan TOTAL – 134’
Punt Champion: Rylan Vaughan 47’5”
Pass Champion: Rylan Vaughan 41’11”
Kick Champion: Rylan Vaughan 44’8”
Fifth Grade
Grand Champion: Regan Cochran TOTAL – 125’7”
Punt Champion: Regan Cochran 49’3”
Pass Champion: Mackenzie Friend 44’3”
Kick Champion: Regan Cochran 50’8”
A total of 67 girls grade 3-5 participated
