2/4/10

Tied To Sports

Tonight PKR and I traveled to St. Maries to watch Kiki Aru and the other Lady Wildcats from the 8th grade Kellogg Middle School play basketball.  I really enjoy watching those girls play.  Most of them have played together as a team through AAU and school ball since they were in third grade.  It has been great to watch them grow and develop into the players they are today.

I am not a big sports fan, but my life has always been tied to sports.  My dad was a big sports fan, and I still can hear Joe Garigiola announcing the baseball games during the summer.  Even thought I didn't sit down and watch the games, I liked the sound of the baseball announcers.  There was a quiet, almost rhythmic quality to their announcing that I enjoyed listening to.

Monday Night Football was always on the television on Monday nights.  Basketball, golf, even that wierd fake wrestling show was on the television. 

And Raymond Pert was an athlete, so we often followed his sporting events.  I remember traveling around to different places when he played American Legion baseball.  One trip I really remember is to Cashmere, Washington. 

I also remember going to his basketball games when he was in high school.  My babysitter's husband was the basketball coach, so she made her daughter TC and myself little wildcat outfits to wear at the basketball games.  I still remember the cheerleading mascot coming up and giving me a Wildcat button to wear with my wildcat print shirt that AC had sewed for me.

When I was in sixth grade, they started allowing girls to play Little League baseball.  I was actually a pioneer for the Kellogg Little League, by being one of the first girls to play the sport in Kellogg.  In fact, there were two girls on the team, MR and myself.  She was the best player on the team....I was the worst.  I remember my favorite position to play was left field, because the balls hardly ever were hit to left field.

In junior high, I tried basketball, track and volleyball.  The only one I stuck with into high school was volleyball.  But, by my senior year, I wasn't good enough to make the varsity team.  But that is okay, because by this time, band, choir, drama, pep club and school government were much more important to me than playing volleyball.

When I went to college, I discovered the joy of jogging.  I found out I could run at an easy pace and really enjoyed it.  When I moved to Montana, I continued my love of running.  Then we moved to Meridian, and I started doing fun runs, starting with 5 K's, then 10 K's, and finally half marathons.  They were my favorite.  I still have a dream of running a marathon.  I got close once.  The longest run I ever completed was 16 miles.

While in Meridian, The Princess was on the Meridian Swim Team for a couple of years.  I wish she could have kept up with swimming.  She really enjoyed it.

The girls have played softball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, cross country and track

One daughter continues to compete in running.  Z2 runs cross country and track, and I enjoy attending the cross country meets and track meets to watch Z2 and her fellow athletes compete in the meets. 

So I think I will always have a tie to sports one way or another.

1 comment:

Go Figure said...

The greatest thing was having a 'caboose' eight years later and being able to be involved in youth sports and activities a third time around. HA! Wish the grandkids (egad) were closer.