To the Editor:

The Northampton and Whitehall-Coplay school districts announced the rekindling of the athletic rivalry the schools enjoyed in the past. It was indeed a once powerful rivalry.

The plan was presented to both school boards and includes about 20 sports. There will be objective criteria to evaluate head-to-head athletic competition. The school that prevails, accruing the most points, will win a trophy that will remain at the victorious school for the next year. It is truly an excellent concept, will breed a rivalry at its best, motivate teen athletes of both schools to work harder and help students to achieve at a higher level.

As a 1971 Whitehall High School graduate, I totally welcome this development. As a former Coplay Borough Council member, Coplay mayor, Lehigh County commissioner and now a Whitehall-Coplay School Board director, my thoughts and concerns travel beyond athletics.

Athletic competition can be a direct avenue to success in life. A reality is many, perhaps most, kids for varied reasons do not experience the opportunity of varsity high school athletics. My hope is this joint athletic competition sees success, a clear benefit to our districts, and takes one more step.

My hope is a second phase develops to the inter-school district competition, one that creates objective measures to evaluate students’ competition in activities, which include community involvement, academics and building teens’ resilience.

Attend any school board meeting and you properly will hear positive statements about the students and successes of the respective district.

Anyone who is current considers the numerous deleterious distractions for our teens and the rampant substance abuse most manifest in the current heroin epidemic can conclude there needs effort at building positive connections and resilience for our teens. Two trains of thought based on one’s perspective are no child left behind, or it takes a village.

The challenge for our two excellent school districts from great communities is to support who scores the most touchdowns, makes the most foul shots or runs the fastest. Athletic achievement can bring a community together and have an incalculable impact on the sports teen participants who stretch beyond athletics.

But the bigger challenge, and it can be posited of greater importance, is the second step. Figure out how to help those teens who face challenges in their family and neighborhood, teens who experience tough breaks in life need community support, so they feel good about themselves, their family and their community.

Resilience is defined as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties and having toughness. The second-phase goal, a challenge for the Northampton and Whitehall-Coplay school districts, will make our teens emotionally tough and resilient.

Bill Leiner Jr.

Coplay