Is that a softball diamond? With players on it? And are they practicing?
Are we sure it’s not a mirage?
A bit overdramatic perhaps, but when you’re the dad of a 12-year old tomboy that is accustomed to playing multiple sports year-round, these last few months have been especially trying.
So, forgive my excitement that youth sports, at least in some fashion, have returned.
High school sports soon–hopefully, fingers crossed, knock on wood–will follow suit. Then professional sports. And college after that.
Then life, at least in the sports world, can return to some sense of normalcy.
Big-picture thinking? No. I’m well aware that in the grand scheme of things, sports are nowhere near the top of the hierarchy of important.
We’re beginning to peak our collective heads out of the pandemic quarantine bubble while increasing hotspots threaten to plunge us right back in.
Millions of people are out of work. Millions more are arguing seemingly at every turn and about issues both great and small.
And it appears that one segment of the population is finally waking up and listening to what another has been saying for decades.
Yes, #BlackLivesMatter. And yes, all lives do matter.
But when one group of people has serious reservations about if there lives, in fact, do matter, I think it’s fair to place the attention squarely on them. Given our history, it’s the least we can do.
With all that going on in the world though, it’s nice to return to a place that makes sense. That something or that place is different for each of us.
For us, it’s sports.
That First Practice
June 8th, 5:30 p.m., a hilltop field in Wheeling.
That was our first taste of organized sports in months. That was the day my daughter’s soccer team finally began its modified summer season.
The spring season was long-since shot. But I give credit to the folks at FC Wheeling United and WASA for scrambling to put together something, anything, to help salvage the season.
My daughter, who is usually procrastinating and scrambling at the last minute to collect all her gear, was fully dressed and ready one hour before we had to leave.
That never happens. Safe to say, she too was excited.
A week later, I was loading up the Explorer with her bags of softball equipment and a bucket of balls.
Since I help coach, I was just as excited as her to get underway.
It’s not the season I was hoping for. Our organization opted to go it alone this year and not play teams from other times. So, the season is modified, and definitely lacking.
But it is better than no season at all. I know across the river, the Mountaineer League pulled the plug on its season entirely.
I’ll admit it surprised me, having been a part of it for many years. But people have to do what they feel is right and no one person made that decision.
You don’t have to agree with it. But they made a call that they knew wouldn’t sit well with many. That, you have to respect.
Professional Life
I have a full-time job way from the world of writing.
I’ve been able to work remotely this entire time since the quarantine push began and believe me, for that, I am thankful.
I know others haven’t been as lucky.
But for my writing jobs, sports made up a large portion of my subject matter here at LedeNews and, for PrepGirlsHoops.com, that is the job.
So, without live sports to write about, it makes it tough finding this to write about.
In that arena too, I am thankful that the world of competitive athletics is slowly firing up.
It’s just one other thing I am thankful for on this Father’s Day.
As soon as hit upload on this story, the daughter and I will play a little NBA Live, get in a workout and then head to the field to work on some drills.
It’s not exactly how things use to be, but it’s getting there.
And these days, to borrow a song title from Alabama, that’s ‘close enough to perfect for me.’
