Freshman Football Team Sings National Anthem When None Is Played Before The Game

49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick made headlines last week when he sat on the sideline during the national anthem in an act of protest about police violence against people of color.

The protest turned the tradition of football into question and provoked further discussion. Days later, a freshman football team in Michigan made a powerful statement of its own about the importance of the national anthem at sporting events.

As first reported by MLive.com, the Lapeer freshman football team was upset that the Carman-Ainsworth High public address system would not play the national anthem before their game, so the athletes chose to sing it anthem themselves. The decision started with the team standing and saluting the flag, which inspired singing from the players themselves.

“We’re just super proud of our guys to overcome that situation and take it upon themselves to sing the national anthem. We couldn’t be prouder,” Lapeer High School athletic director Shad Spilski told MLive.com.

Before anybody throws the school staff or district under the bus, it’s worth noting that this was not an act of protest. It’s a common practice for schools to play the national anthem just once when freshman and junior varsity games are played back-to-back, as they were this day. To that end, Carman-Ainsworth Community Schools Superintendent Eddie L. Kindle told MLive that they traditionally choose to play the anthem before the highest level of competition, which was the junior varsity contest on the day when Lapeer and Camen-Ainsworth faced off.

In fact, the Carman-Ainsworth sideline was clearly in support of hearing the national anthem, too, standing and saluting the flag while the Lapeer players sang, according to Lapeer’s head freshman coach.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” Lapeer head coach Bryan Sahr told MLive.com. “I’ve been with most of these players for three years now. They’re just an awesome group of kids. It makes me incredibly emotional and I don’t usually get emotional.

“A lot of teenagers would be embarrassed to do that. I know I don’t like to hear myself sing, … I’m very, very proud of them.”

So were many of the parents in attendance, as the Facebook post above is testament to. If nothing else, the a cappella rendition of the Star Spangled Banner served as an inspiration for a number of athletes, fans and employees of a pair of Michigan schools with plenty more happy to know that it happened even if they weren’t there in person.

The story was also posted to Facebook by Chell Byrnes, who was in attendance:

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[Featured Image: Chell Byrnes]

Freshman Football Team Sings National Anthem When None Is Played Before The Game is an article from: LifeDaily