Bedford High School Earns High Honor

The Bedford High School boys and girls tennis teams each won state titles during the 2010-11 NH athletics season. Several other BHS squads put together deep playoff runs. Others, still, missed the postseason altogether.

Yet whether the Bulldogs and Lady B's won or lost never seemed to matter. Opponents consistently praised local players and coaches for carrying themselves with dignity and respect.

In recognition of those positive attributes, athletics directors and coaches from around the Granite State voted Bedford High School tops among Division-II institutions in terms of sportsmanship.

And on Monday, Sept. 26, the Bedford School Board also praised the BHS Athletics Director Bill Whitmore and all the program's teams for winning the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association's.

"Only one sportsmanship award is given for each division and it's given to the school with the highest degree of sportsmanship for the entire year, and that includes how athletes behave themselves, how they compete, how coaches coach, if the players and coaches are cordial in both victory and defeat ... and it also looks at the broad base of fans, from the itty bitty ones to the grandmothers and grandfathers in the stands," said Whitmore. "One of our goals as an athletics department and as a school, was to spearhead an effort by our 60-plus coaches and 1000-plus athletes the numerous fans collectively to be a classy program with lots of respect."

Bedford spirit coach Nicole Dudas said her squad proved a perfect example. The majority of her cheerleaders, she said, were freshmen, and didn't have the experience some of their competitors possessed, yet they arrived early to each meet, greeted the other cheerleaders and supported each and every team.

"The end result is the girls felt great about it, and now I'm stepping back and they're leading the sportsmanship push on their own," said Dudas. "Even the parents are supporting the effort with sportsmanship fund ... and now they can walk into every competition confident they're not only improving, but they're doing the right thing."