Prep Sports

 

No 'roids, rapists or imaginary girlfriends.

I got a phone call the other morning from Sports Illustrated offering me a job as a feature writer.  I had yet to chug any coffee and was extremely groggy from a late night of scribing the evening before.  As it turns out… I was having one of those, I’m awake, but not quite awake yet dreams. Sure seemed real.  Thought the pay would have been a little better, but oh well.  I’m used to it.

That weird little dream, as much as I may want it to come true, is one of those things that you should be careful that you wish for.  You see I’m pretty fortunate here in Heber.  Pretty darn lucky to cover Wasatch High School sports.  Since last July, I’ve gotten to know some really nice kids. A bunch of student athletes who are living their lives to the fullest without the slightest amount of pressure… beyond their home dinner table, that is.

For those of you who do not know – I have a sports blog.  I love to post my thoughts on sports.  In conjunction with that, I am active on twitter… and facebook… and google, and linkedin… and, etc, etc, etc.  I’m into it, but you knew that about me.  One of the drawbacks of being so involved in these sorts of social media is the constant overload of information.

As much as I love sports on all levels, I have to admit even I had my fill this last week.  Not on the games – the games are the payoff – but on the “garbage” that accompanies the games.  The “sludge” that some of our favorite players of these games find themselves wading in.  No sooner than we drop our guard and accept a sports hero into our hearts, so many of them take a sledgehammer to the walls of our inner tickers with hidden secrets of lies, deceit and cheating.  Some, and these are the really sick ones, are involved in the taking of lives.  Awful, hurtful and often permanently damaging visual information left for us to process on a person, who as a professional athlete, we would otherwise worship.

If you’re even trolling this page, chances are you are somewhat in-tune with sports.  Then I won’t bore you with recaps on Lance Armstrong, Manti Te’o or Michael Crabtree.  I suppose, and at least this is true from my view, you would have to have been living under a rock not to know why these three were in the news all last week.

This is why I love prep sports.  Kids whose agents are still their mom and dad.  Students whose friends are still their neighbors.  Athletes whose teammates will remain on their team forever.  Prep sports.  How many of you mothers and fathers regularly look back on your high school volleyball or soccer team photos?  How great is the reunion (and ensuing horrific pick-up game) with your old basketball team?  Prep sports. Probably the only team that you will be a member of forever.

Life has many pitfalls, as we older souls can attest, and the best we can do is educate the young’uns.  Don’t do drugs.  Don’t hang out with the wrong crowd.  Don’t engage in dangerous activity.  We hope for the best and we worry like crazy.  But the world is a harsh place.  Not everyone is from a nice community like Wasatch.  Not all kids have the benefit of family and friends and a good school as they grow up.  And after we have raised ours in this atmosphere, they go out into the world to take their place in diversity.  We can only hope that our influence will keep them strong.  Keep them with the understanding that to be the best in your sport does not include taking performance enhancing drugs.  To find love is no different than for anyone on Earth.  A “groupie” can and will not love you as much as a young man or woman who never saw you play.  A “friend” who gives you a pistol to protect yourself because you are becoming a “popular dude on campus” is probably not a real friend.

Most prep athletes would like to think they can carry on participating in their sport in college.  With today’s growing university progams, counseling and coaching, it is more possible than ever.  It is a very attainable dream – and one to be gone after.

The key is to keep it “prep like”.  Stay grounded.  If a kid is destined for greatness on the field, then greatness will find him through hard work and determination.  If that kid is not destined for greatness on the field, then I’ll bet, if they remain true to who they are, they will achieve greatness in other aspects of life.  This is why I love and have tremendous respect for prep sports and it’s coaches.

Tonight, I will dream of someday getting that call from Sports Illustrated.  But I will remain true to how I got that call.  Prep sports.