A letter to all spring athletes: Don't let Mother Nature win

Here we go again.

Snow, the winter temperatures, it's all coming back. Actually, it really hasn't left Havre and the Hi-Line. So, I think, and I speak from a unique persepctive, that it's getting really frustrating for those of us involved with spring high school sports.

I have coached tennis for 17 years, and I have never seen the first 20 days of a season look like this, not for tennis, track, softball or golf.

Sure, we've had our share of bad weather over the years. We have had plenty of practices in the gym, and plenty of meets and tournaments canceled or postponed.

But not like this.

The Havre High track team hasn't seen its track yet, and the Blue Pony softball team has yet to play or practice on the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field. In tennis, we have been outside a few days, but for a comparison, we practiced in the gym twice in all of 2017. This year, we've already had 10 practices in the gym, with more to come. And don't even get me started on Class B-C golf. Those poor kids and coaches are a long, long way from playing anything resembling real golf, unless they head over the mountains to the west side of Montana, anyway.

Yes, this spring sports season so far has been hard and annoying. In fact, with the weather we've seen so far, it's kind of silly to even call them spring sports. Right now, we're playing a spring sport in the middle of winter. That's reality.

And the harshest reality of it all is, there's isn't a dang thing we can do about it. We are absolutely powerless over Mother Nature. She knows full well how mad I am at her right now, but she doesn't seem to care, and in fact, she seems to be punishing all of us for how mad we are at her.

Because it looks like things are going to be like this for a while, I am writing this column more like an open letter to all our area spring sports athletes and coaches, and the point of the letter is two-fold.

First, to all our track athletes, all our softball players and all our golfers, I feel your pain. I know how disappointing and unfair this all seems, because myself and the Blue Pony tennis teams are living this nightmare right there with you.

As a tennis coach for 17 years, I fully understand and appreciate how unfair it is to practice all week, to work hard and do your best and to not be rewarded for it. There's nothing worse than practicing and then not getting to compete on the weekends. It is hard, it is disappointing and, as whiny and silly as it may sound, it really isn't fair.

And it's also unique because in every other high school sport they march on through their season regardless of the weather. Sure, games in the winter have to be postponed or moved because of bad roads and storms, things like that, but at the end of the day, those sports play on.

In spring sports, we can't do that. We can't play tennis if the courts are even slightly wet. We can't run track if we can't even get the snow off the track. We certainly can't play softball on snow-covered or muddy fields, and golf, again, it seems like golf in our neck of the woods is still a million years away.

So trust me, I get it, even if it feels at times, like no one else does.

Having said that, I am also writing this column to encourage all of you in spring sports to not give up. I know that's not easy. Believe me, I look at my weather app 50 times a day. I know what the experts are saying about what's still to come this spring. I know it's a lot to ask of me for all of you not to give up.

But, I really encourage you all to hang in there because I know one thing is a certainity. No matter how many times we practice in the gym, no matter how many times we as coaches have to utter those horrible words "sorry kids, tomorrow's meet is canceled," I do know that, the season will go on. I do know that the divisional and state track, tennis, softball and golf meets will be held.

I may not be able to tell you all when the next time you'll be able to go outside will be, or if your next meet will be held or not, but I can tell you, no one is canceling the season, no matter how long this stuff drags on it.

So again, don't give up on whatever sport you're in. In fact, get mad and get more motivated by it. If you do that, if you let this unfortunate situation we're all in motivate you, instead of get you down, you'll be better for it when you come out on the other side. You'll be more mentally tough than your opponents, you'll be more driven to succeed when you get those opportunites because of how few opportunities you've gotten thus far. If you keep working hard, the hard work will pay off.

That's cliché, but it's also very true. I know and believe that.

I also choose to believe, even if the weatherman won't say it, that the sun will come out again. It has to. At some point, winter will have to leave for good. I don't have a clue when that's going to be. In fact, it's probably going to be a while still, and that sucks. But I know it will happen, and if you stay the course, if you keep working, and keep grinding, when that day comes, you'll be better for having gone through it. It might not feel like it right now, but I promise you, you will.

So that's what I'm asking all of you to do, as track athletes, tennis players, softball players and golfers. Stay with it. Fight back. Stay positive. Keep believing. Keep battling. Don't let this winter beat you. Don't let Mother Nature win. Fight back with all you've got. That's what I'm going to keep doing. I'm not going to give up on this season, not for one second.

We as spring sports athletes and coaches, we're all in this together. So let's keep fighting Mother Nature together. Let's never give up on our passion, and that's to compete in a spring sport.

Let's all keep fighting her, with every practice, every rep, every day, let's fight back against the winter with everything we've got. And someday, as long as we don't give up, we will win. We will beat this.

We will have our day in the sun.