Spring brings out the competitive nature throughout athletics

Lynda Richards

Guest columnist

I'm just going to say what everyone is thinking: I love spring. The birds are back in our yard with a vengeance.

The black-capped chickadees love eating out of the caged birdfeeder that hangs outside my office window; the robins fly in when possible and snag a snack while they sing amid the buds on our flowering plum tree.

The small white flowers are just about to burst. Our cats love the entire new aviary display and hope for a morsel of their own.

The crocuses are peeking out of the still-frosty brown earth, ready to display their purple vibrancy.

It’s all well and good, but it’s not what I love most about spring.

Driving home from a long day at work, I glanced over at the Peninsula High School fields and immediately broke into a smile. That’s what I love about spring — spring sports! Kids are everywhere!

There are groups that line up on the tennis court, awaiting their turn to strike at the tiny, yellow ball. A whole bunch of boys run around the baseball field, looking to impress their coaches. A legion of kids mill about the track as they warm up.

There were even several eager students still standing outside the athletic office, hoping to get in on the action. Spring sports have something for everyone, and I do mean everyone.

It excites me to see kids of all sizes, ability levels, and levels of desire who go out for a spring sport. They are enthusiastic to start the season and enjoy the best part of it — sunshine and fun with friends.

Spring sports do not bring the crowds that football and basketball sometimes do, but they come in droves to participate.

And that is what I love.

Several years ago, my boys started to play baseball, just one of the many spring-sport options. They started off in the Peninsula Athletic Association and then became involved in Little League. The Gig Harbor Little League organization has grown by leaps and bounds, but what I enjoyed most about the boys playing baseball during those years was going to the Little League fields behind Crossroads Church on Burnham Drive and seeing just about everyone I knew in Gig Harbor.

We would laugh and talk and watch games all spring, and sometimes into the summer.

In the great Northwest, you can count on a few rain showers, and I didn’t even mind when I sat through hailstorms at City Park under a giant umbrella to watch my boys slide into first base.

I was happy as long as I had a couple of good friends to yell, “Give it a ride!” with.

Now both my boys are at Peninsula High. Only one is still playing baseball; the other runs track. But they are both eager to don their cleats and spikes and dig in to the competition and fun of a spring sporting event.

The days get longer and the opportunity to play does, too.

I can’t speak for other activities during this enchanting time; I just know when I see all those kids on three different playing venues that I sense a jolt of enthusiasm and smile.

They are like so many tulips in the Skagit Valley. Oh, another thing I love about spring!

Lynda Richards is a mother of three, and she teaches reading, writing and thinking. She can be reached by e-mail at richardsl@peninsula.wednet.edu.