Sportsmanship is the one attribute of a contested game that can be repeated, requires no talent, and is available to every participant.

Its days come and go, some better than others like the games themselves. On occasion, we raise an eyebrow at a hand extended to lift an opponent off the floor or grass, and mainly because we don’t see it enough.

Helicopter parents, hell-bent travel ball coaches — all are around us from time to time at high school sports. They mean well, want something good for the kids, but too often we’re left with distaste at a scene we witness.

Then along comes folks like Jackson Bostic and Jay Raynor at East Bladen. Or Tinyauh Rhoda and Kristen Parker at West Bladen.

And it’s soccer, of all places, where tempers have flared and accusations been thrown. It’s arguably the one sport the two schools play that can get the most chippy.

The county’s two traditional public high schools are rivals. In some sports, there’s more to the rivalry than others — meaning, both teams have periods where they win and lose. There’s give and take, back and forth. Sure, maybe a streak for a year or three here and there, but it swings over time.

Others, like football or girls basketball, not so much. And lately, soccer has been in that mix, too.

But youngsters — they get their life coaching at home long before they get the field version from anywhere else, including at school. And what we saw this spring was the best of both East Bladen and West Bladen.

Coronavirus changed the timing of sports seasons, delaying the fall and compacting them all. It shook out that boys soccer matches, real games, began in late January and were finishing in March, and girls started in March and finished in May.

At West Bladen, a wet winter left the field unplayable. There are drainage issues on that part of the campus property, enough to impact the football practice field and the tennis courts in addition to the soccer field.

So the Knights spent all of the boys season playing away from home. Nary a single home match. The football field next to it wasn’t used as an option, though it typically has its own issues with dampness.

As the time neared for Senior Night, it was Bostic who one day mentioned to Raynor, his head coach, something to the effect of, “What if West Bladen had their Senior Night here when we have ours?”

“That’s a great idea,” Raynor said he told him.

And that from halftime March 4, when the teams met for the first time — the Eagles’ true home match in the season series — on the East Bladen field. Jersey numbers were painted onto the field for the Eagles’ seniors like normal, and there was no discernable difference as they went across in front of the grandstand with the Knights’ senior numbers painted right beside and just like them.

West Bladen head coach Cesar Gonzalez graciously accepted the opportunity. The parents and family came onto the field as he took the mic and told a little about each. Then Raynor introduced his seniors.

There were purple carnations for the Knights, blue for the Eagles.

As March moved on, so did the water. West Bladen played home matches in girls soccer. And the last one this year was with East Bladen, which was barreling toward an undefeated regular season and Three Rivers Conference championship.

Each team had its own Senior Night at its respective field, with West Bladen doing so as the Lady Eagles visited that day. Nothing unusual there.

But there was afterward, when these rivals brought out the smiles of everyone who stuck around for the finish.

The all-terrain vehicle, a Gator, came onto the field. In the back? Buckets of water balloons. Parker was out to say something, both teams were on opposite sides of the Gator, and with Parker making a bee-line sprint away, the teams had at it.

Up until last Friday when Carrboro came calling in the state quarterfinals, that water balloon fight was about the only thing East Bladen had lost all season. And it would have been worse had Rhoda not stopped it early to let the guests get more buckets.

(See, when they started, the home team was a little closer to the Gator.)

Definitely one of her school’s best athletes, and its homecoming queen, she had not played soccer previously because it happens in the spring when she’s earning all-conference honors in track. This year, she’s competing in both — all thanks to COVID-19.

Parker said Rhoda was something of a team mom, and became so instantly upon joining the group.

The water balloon fight was fun. They went at it with plenty of gusto, same as a soccer game, and when the balloons were all thrown but water was left in the buckets, those got dumped on each other, too.

Oh, and Parker and her sprint work? Her team took the bench bucket and chased her down while East Bladen was packing up and preparing to leave. The team is faster, or more resilient. Maybe it’s both — she’s definitely teaching it all.

The Lady Knights coach has revived the program, taking it from five wins and getting outscored by more than 600 goals over seven seasons to winning four each of the last two contested seasons.

She cares and she shows it. And the players have responded.

It’s a remarkable turnaround. But as Raynor noted, she’s done things the right way, too. Parker connected where they were at, then lifted them. She’s taught her team about accountability, about unity, and certainly about sportsmanship.

Raynor’s program rewrote history at a different level this year. They won 14 straight, made a maiden voyage to within a win of the state 2-A Final Four, and won four times by a score of 9-0 – the mercy rule. When powerful Carrboro ended their year by that same score, the compliments from the Orange County guests flowed.

Carrboro parents and friends noted the graciousness in defeat and the compliments toward their team. On the field, the Lady Jaguars faced the Lady Eagles when it was done and clapped in genuine appreciation. East Bladen responded likewise.

COVID-19 took away a lot, including a lot of handshakes and hugs. But it also gave us a few things — seasons in odd places, some with new faces.

It put masks on players, but not on something that matters more than who won or lost.

Sportsmanship is the one attribute of a contested game that can be repeated, requires no talent, and is available to every participant.

And it was mighty inspiring to all.

Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com. Twitter: @alanwooten19.