Small Town Athletics

Being from a small town, youth athletics are a huge deal. Parent's start signing their kids up for flag football and T-ball at age 4 and more times than not those kids play all the way through at least middle school. The entire town fills the stands to watch Friday night football as if it was a sacred tradition. If a sporting event is away, the folks that can't attend are more than likely listening or watching the game live from their radios or computers at home. Friendships and chemistry are made  for many athletes, and even the fans, throughout this 12-14 year span. It is truly heart breaking for the entire community when an athlete has play their last game as seniors in high school. 

I've been a multi-sport athlete for as a long as I can remember. It was like I was born with a ball in my hand. I spent 90% of my childhood at some sort of practice or game, whether it was mine or my siblings. Sports camps consumed my summer breaks and weekends to the point I felt burnt out and wanted to quit everything by my Junior year of high school. It was so easy for the coaches to pack each of their sport with as many training camps as possible, but they never stopped to think about the multi-sport athletes that would spend 9-10 hours a day going back and forth between camps and practices. Coaches at a small town are typically also faculty members at that high school. Whether they are the PE coach, or the history teacher, they usually have a job at the school. One of the major downfalls to small town athletics is the unbelievable amount of favoritism. More times than not their is always a few students who have the "last name" that gets them their spot. Whether that "last name" indicating that they are the coaches kid or the principal's kid, or even just a popular family in the town, they still usually get special treatment and playing time that is definitely not earned. Don't get me wrong, not every coach is like that, but the ones that are really take away from the overall chemistry that has been building with that group of young athletes for years. When it comes the fans, there are so many homegrown people who have followed a local school's athletic department for years on end. They proudly wear our school colors in public, and contribute to every single fundraiser they know about. Without them, small town programs would be hurting. I will say, the thing that really separates city sports from small town sports is the amount of change. In a small town, you grow up playing whatever sport you do with the same small group of people. So by the time you're a senior, you have an unbelievable amount of chemistry. With city schools having so many different kids not joining together until high school, it makes it a little harder to find that chemistry, but at the same time there are a lot more options to choose from.