Winchester player lauded for honesty

WINCHESTER, Ind. – Leah Wren always knew she would get some commendation for her actions.

Her parents witnessed the play and quickly signaled their approval from the stands. As Wren remembers it, her father gave her a thumbs-up. She seems to remember her mother standing up and proudly informing the crowd she was her daughter.

But she never thought a simple conversation with a referee would go beyond the reassurance she received from her parents at the time.

The Winchester setter went up for a block in a match this season against Northeastern, tipping the ball. Wren quickly yelled out that she had touched the ball, hoping one of her teammates could keep the ball in play. None of the other Golden Falcons were able to keep the play alive, though, and the ball went out of bounds.

Northeastern's coaches and players quickly said the ball had been tipped, but the officials weren't sure. They called a conference to discuss the issue. Northeastern won the match in five sets, so every point was hotly contested that day.

Yet Wren didn't hesitate. She told the officials she had tipped the ball and conceded the point to Northeastern.

"I knew I touched it," Wren said. "And I knew it wasn't right not to say that I touched it. So, (I was) just being honest."

Wren just thought she would take her own assurance she had done the right thing, combined with her parent's signal of reassurance and move on with the match. Instead, the action would become a bigger deal.

Referee Phil Ferriel filed an Exemplary Sportsmanship Report with the IHSAA. To the surprise of Wren, her decision to be honest was now going beyond Northeastern's gym on Sept. 16. IHSAA Exemplary Sportsmanship Reports can be filled out by administrators, coaches, officials or fans and are meant to honor acts of good sportsmanship at contests and encourage such behavior in the future.

"I was just kind of shocked that people thought something so little was so big," Wren said.

Teammate Kirklyn Keener remembers going up with Wren on that particular block, and said she didn't question Wren's decision. In fact, she even backed up Wren as she told the officials she touched the ball.

"I guess it was just the right thing to do," Keener said.

Wren was also met with support from Winchester coach Julie Smiley, who told her players they should all put Wren's letter of commendation in their scrapbooks.

"I don't know that it made a big overall difference in the score of the game at that point," Smiley said. "But a point would have been nice, but I think that the recognition that she's gotten has been better than what that one point would have been worth."

Smiley said she told her players she was proud of all of them when telling them to save the letter honoring Wren. She felt Wren's action was consistent with her team's overall culture. She said another one of her players, Randi Phenis, volunteered that she had tipped the ball on another play in a match this season, though that one was more obvious than Wren's touch.

"It's a good culture," Smiley said. "I don't sit here and harp on them to constantly tell on themselves, but we do try to instill integrity. And if they cuss on the court, they have to run. And little things like that we try to make sure they're learning some morals."

Smiley said she wasn't surprised when Wren told the officials she had tipped the ball. But that doesn't mean Wren hasn't surprised her at all this season.

Wren entered the year expected to be the junior-varsity setter, but she has managed to move up the ranks to become her team's varsity setter. She began making appearances as the varsity backup setter, and her strong play coupled with other players' success at other spots in the lineup led Smiley to make Wren the varsity setter.

"This summer I had absolutely no thought that she would be our setter," Smiley said. "And I think that honestly it's those qualities that have thrown her. She started out on JV, she was our JV setter. And I think that her emotional stability and (being) able to handle ups and downs, really has put her up where she is now. She's been dependable for us."