“Win or lose, you always saw the players on their team smiling,” an opposing coach wrote about the Shea boys volleyball team.

The Shea players obviously understood that you don’t always have to carry home a championship trophy to have a successful season.

The Raiders only won only one of their 16 Interscholastic League Division II games this season, but they won a lot of respect from opponents and officials.

“It was a team that worked hard, but didn’t win a lot of games yet they never let it affect their attitude toward their opponents. They always displayed good sportsmanship toward coaches and officials,” the opposing coach went on to write in his nomination of the Shea volleyball forces for the Dick Reynolds Team Sportsmanship award.

The awards, named in honor of the late Providence Journal sportswriter Dick Reynolds and sponsored by The Journal and the R.I. Interscholastic League Injury Fund, are awarded to a boys and girls team in each of the three Rhode Island high school sports seasons: fall, winter and spring. Only opposing coaches and game officials can nominate teams for the awards.

The type of performances mentioned by the opposing coach earned the Shea volleyball team the boys award. The winner of the girls award is the Cranston East lacrosse team.

Opposing coaches and officials are asked to nominate teams that demonstrate courteous behavior by team members and coaches, that adhere to league policies and whose fans and student body also behave courteously.

This is what one official said about the Cranston East girls lacrosse team:

“I have worked over 20 Interscholastic League games this season and the team that exhibits all of the above attributes is the Cranston East girls varsity team.”

“They have persevered in a highly skilled and competitive league. Their seniors have come a long way in terms of knowledge of the game and skills. They are a team that acts and plays like a team.”

The good news for Rhode Island high school sports, and more importantly for the future of the young student athletes who play the sports, is that there were a lot of teams like the Warriors and the Thunderbolt around the state this spring. Teams that, for the most part, didn’t finish the season celebrating a state championship, but did experience the thrill of playing games the way they were meant to be played.

That’s why The Journal and the Injury Fund award the Reynolds Sportsmanship honor each season.

Beginning today in The Journal and on projo.com’s HS GameTime, and continuing over the next 10 days, the top players in the each of the spring sports will be honored with their selections as Providence Journal All-States and Coaches Association All-Division selections.

Spring sports athletes are a special breed. Most of them start practicing in near-freezing temperatures in the middle of March, and this year many ended their seasons in record heat in late May. In between there were proms, awards nights, final exams, the challenge of looking for a summer job and, for some, graduation and the uncertainty of what the future holds. Yet somehow they maintained their focus through all of the end-of-the school year distractions.

The All-State and All-Division honors are recognition of the achievements of these student athletes. Some of the All-States and All-Division selections were members of the 14 teams that were nominated for the Reynolds Sportsmanship awards.

In addition to the Shea volleyball team, other boys teams nominated for the boys award were Tiverton baseball, Barrington and Rogers track, Central and Pilgrim volleyball, and Mt. Hope lacrosse. Girls teams nominated included the South Kingstown lacrosse team, the Portsmouth and Central Falls track teams and the Johnston and Central Falls softball teams.

They are student athletes who combined a desire to win with respect for their opponents. That’s not always an easy mix for teenagers, but the players on these teams did it.

Congratulations.