Youth sports camps a special rite of the summertime
Throughout the local high school sports calendar, I get to see a lot of the faces of athletes and coaches in the heat of competition, whether it’s joy, agony, passion, sadness, frustration, excitement or about 100 more emotions in between.
While I definitely see a lot of smiles, I can honestly say that none of them match the smiles they have while working with kids during summer youth sports camps.
I’ve been to a few of the local camps over the past few weeks and seen the pictures of several more on social media, and I can say without a doubt that it fills me with pride when I see how important they are to not just the kids but the coaches, players and volunteers that help them.
Think about this? These coaches (many of them teachers) and athletes (all students) just got done with a long school year and a ton of hard work put in to whatever sport they are a part of. A summer break after all that would be a great time to just unplug, relax and get away from things for a little while. But instead of that, they give up a portion of their summer teaching the next generation of athletes about the specific sport at camp, helping them improve their skills and giving them a chance to have some fun as well.
That tells you right there the quality of people there are in the local high school athletic programs, coaches, players and support staff. I think the players know firsthand just how important this time is because not too long ago they were the ones attending these same camps. It’s a chance for them to give back a little bit of what was instilled in them.
All that is long-winded way of saying kudos to those who have been a part of helping with these camps so far this summer and the ones that have yet to happen. There are still plenty more on the schedule over the next couple months too so if you want to get your kid up and active, learning and having fun, check out all the options around the area.
Braves looking unbeatable at the moment
Well, the last time I spoke to you in this medium, it was about how dreadful the Atlanta Braves were. I remember specifically talking about how the team seemed to find a different way to lose every night.
All the Braves have done since then has reeled off 14 straight wins. That’s one shy of the franchise record. They are doing the exact opposite of what I talked about in my previous column. They are seeming to find a different way to win every night.
Things have improved from top to bottom, whether you’re talking about the bats, the starting pitching, the bullpen or the defense. They have all done their part during this winning streak.
In their most recent series, a three-game sweep of the Nationals, Atlanta hit 13 homers and scored a combined 27 runs. In the four-game sweep of the Pirates before that, the pitching staff held Pittsburgh to four or fewer runs in all four games.
Pick whichever recipe you want right now. The result is a Braves’ victory.
Maybe my negative thoughts in the previous column sparked a cosmic turnaround in the team’s fortune. Let’s just hope this positive one doesn’t have the opposite effect. If it does, I will take the blame and get right back to being negative. Whatever works, right?
Local features
Another thing the slow summer sports schedule allows me to do is to dig into some feature story ideas that might have been put on the backburner during the fastpaced athletic calendar of the school year.
Just in the past couple weeks, I’ve gotten to write a couple stories that I really enjoyed, including one about recent national championship winner Victaria Saxton, one about the Schabort family legacy of success and the first Rome Braves spotlight story of the season.
I’m looking forward to continuing the Rome Braves spotlight series, and I’ve got a few more ideas on my list that I will be digging into over the next few weeks. But I am also always welcome to suggestions. If you have an idea for a great story with a local sports angle, please feel free to send it to me. My email address can be found above and at the top of each sports front page in the paper. Thanks in advance.