The world is yours!
This moment is yours. Make it one you’ll remember.
A new school sports year officially kicks off Wednesday with the first Coupeville High School football practice.
Spin ahead five more days to next Monday, and Wolf volleyball, girls’ and boys’ soccer, cheer, cross country, and girls’ swim athletes start their journeys, with middle school volleyball and cross country after that.
I say it every year, and I’ll say it again this time — I hope every student in Cow Town plays a sport.
Whether you harbor dreams of playing college ball one day or have never had a sporty thought in your life before, opportunity abounds.
You live in a relatively small town on a prairie in the middle of a chunk of rock, and things are set up for you in a way in which they are not in a lot of locales.
There are rarely, if any, cuts for Wolf sports teams — show up, put some work in, and you’re on the team, which is not always the case at larger schools such as Tumwater, where I spent most of my high school career.
Two, Coupeville has a veteran athletic director, Willie Smith, who is deeply committed to the welfare of his students, and a coaching staff populated with go-getters like Elizabeth Bitting, Bennett Richter, Jasmine Ader and associates, men and women who deliver more than just wins and losses.
And then there is the little thing that is this blog, where I’ve written almost 12,800 articles across the last 14 years.
There are three school districts on this island, and only one, the smallest, provides non-stop coverage of its student’s athletic accomplishments.
The Whidbey News-Times and South Whidbey Record may have long histories, but their parent company eliminated regular sports coverage years ago.
You can play for Oak Harbor. Or you can star for the Falcons. No one is going to be reading about you most days.
It sucks. But it’s true.
Wear the red and black for Coupeville, at any level, be it varsity or JV, high school or middle school, play little league, ride a horse or a motorcycle, do Scouts or robotics, or just pretty much exist, and I am here to be your personal PR agent.
Take advantage of me!
Whether you’re a lifelong athlete or a newbie, just play.
Take the chance to make memories. To seize the day.
I realize there are a lot of other things you can do with your time.
From holding down a job to taking driving lessons to melting your eyeballs while scrolling on your phone, there are choices to be made, and they’re yours to make.
But talk to the woman who skipped out on her senior season of softball and now finds herself regretting it at age 30.
Or the guy who grew up in a religion where organized sports were shunned, his parents denying him his childhood dreams.
If you have the chance to play, take it. Embrace it. Get everything out of it you can.
Make this moment the best you can.
