Talkin' Sports, Madison-Style: Why Sports?

The other night I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Madison wrestling team's awards banquet. Being an ex mat-rat myself, I enjoyed being in the company of fellow wrestlers and wrestling parents. At the end of the night, we watched a highlight video of the past season... it made me want to get a singlet, headgear and hit the mat again! It's like broadcasting, it gets into your blood.

But what really got me was after the video. I saw many of the wrestlers, even some of the seniors with tears in their eyes. For some they were tears of sadness, some were tears of triumph, and perhaps even some regret. There's no shame in it, fellas. This old mat-rat shed a few tears when he hung up the singlet for the last time, too.

It got me to thinking about high school sports in general. You go on any message board and you'll hear the one or two curmudgeons say how all high school is about anymore is sports and that school would be better off without athletics... or at the least, reduced to club-level sports like they have in Europe.

Frankly, I think that's a HUGE insult to these kids. In my nearly seven years of announcing area and Madison High School Sports, I have found almost all high school athletes to be extremely dedicated, hard-working, and all-around good kids. They sacrifice time away from friends, family, and jobs to do something they are passionate about. In addition, they are also held accountable for their academic progress, where you don't see that with students that aren't involved in activities*. You can't help but admire that kind of commitment!

I've been very fortunate to witness that dedication and commitment first-hand.. from the Madison gymnasts locking up their record-breaking 14^th straight state championship, to the Madison boys' golf team getting back-to-back state titles a few years ago, and the boys' basketball team coming oh-so-close to a state title and finally getting one. But just as impressive have been the number of All-Academic Teams that have come from Madison and the area. If you're not sure what an “All-Academic” team is, it's basically recognition from the South Dakota High School Actives Association. In order to be recognized, a team has to have cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a four-point scale. Easier said than done sometimes, but we seem to hold our own!

While academics are singularly important, the thing that has impressed me the most about these kids is how they are generally good kids! And not because I'm a “celebrity”, either.** I have seen these kids involved with their church, with other service organizations, or stopping to talk or play with younger kids. In fact, I can remember a few years ago some kids playing basketball and they didn't want to pretend to be Michael Jordon, Allen Iverson, or Kevin Garnett. They wanted to be Jeramy Geditz, Brady Wiebe, Chad White, and Tony Fiegen... Real, POSITIVE role models that young kids can aspire to be.

And some say that sports in school is a BAD thing?

*A lot of recognition also goes to the fine arts programs, including band, chorus, drama, debate to name a few. But this IS a sports blog so I have to keep somewhat on task!

** “Celebrity”, of course, being a highly subjective term. I think I'm about as much of a celebrity as I am an underpants model!

Comments and Questions can be forwarded to me or Perry White (a.k.a Cory Heidelberger).